How did Australia go from a model of multiculturalism to a terrorist attack that murdered 15 innocents celebrating Chanukah on iconic Bondi Beach? James Carville’s “it’s the economy, stupid” helped Bill Clinton bump an out-of-touch George HW Bush from office. In our case, “it’s immigration, stupid”.
There are in fact two dimensions to dealing with this.
Firstly, the immigration issue itself.
In a place where less than 4% of the population are of indigenous origin, Jews, Greeks, Italians, Vietnamese, Chinese, Lebanese and more came in waves to this strange land so far away. Many had survived great adversity (like my parents), and plenty simply in search of a fresh start. They worked hard, enjoyed success, and largely gave back in droves to the country that welcomed them and gave them a fresh start.
This pattern mirrors the story of modern Australia, which began as an English penal colony. Far away in so many ways from England and its class system, we developed an egalitarian culture. This was the place where you can start again, where no matter what your origin, you are no better than anyone else.
Cities developed ethnic clusters, and these locales were places where immigrants and their families were able to both celebrate their home country culture and comfortably integrate into Australia.
Australian multiculturalism was a model of success. It wasn’t clear whether this was the product of clear government policy or something that a feature of our unique culture.
The key was an unwritten compact between the country and her new arrivals: keep your culture, embrace your new home, and leave your old-world hatreds at the door.
Things started falling apart because our immigration model broke.
In recent years, Europe has seen a surge of Muslim immigration driven by labour needs and multiple refugee crises. Once people arrive, they bring their families, which further grows the immigrant population. And in Europe, Muslim birth rates are 2.5-3.0 children per women vs around 1.6 for non-Muslim. Recent figures show France at around 9% Muslim, Germany at 7% and the UK at 6.5%.
Such significant population shifts have led to cultural integration challenges in those countries and throughout Europe. This has led to “no-go zones” in some countries, where even local law enforcement are reluctant to visit.
In 2021, Muslims represented 3.2% of the Australian population, and is currently estimated to be around 4%. We have birth rates issues to Europe, so this will only grow. But between our generous cultural tolerance – 83% of Australian support multiculturalism – and “she’ll be right” attitude, we have allowed a subset of those immigrants to opt out of our social compact.
Radical clergy preach antisemitism and are protected by generous freedom of speech laws. Huge taxes on tobacco have given rise to a vibrant tobacco mafia, but no-one dares mention that these gangs are Muslims. Instead, our progressive government walk on eggshells, concerned about the risk of Islamophobia if we call a spade a spade.
The Muslim population has reached critical mass and has discovered its political power in our most recent federal election.
Since the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, antisemitism has surged in Australia. It went from protests outside the Sydney Opera House just two days after the attacks, to regular pro-Palestinian protests that spilled over into antisemitic rhetoric, to vandalism and arson against schools and synagogues, and now terrorist attack on Bondi Beach.
The second dimension to the problem is the inability to debate immigration policy, because of the deep polarization of society. With apologies to Sir Isaac Newton, actions evoke an opposite reaction of greater magnitude. Political left & right each push further apart toward the extremes. Social media platform algorithms facilitate heated debates between total strangers on other sides of the world who rush to negative assumptions about each other. The algorithms reward outrage, pushing people to more extreme positions in search of likes and followers.
This makes it near impossible to have a nuanced debate on immigration. It’s either ‘tolerate everyone; open borders’ or ‘no tolerance for a broad group that includes an intolerant subset’. In Australia, this is exacerbated by socialist leadership who lack a moral compass. We can’t talk about antisemitism without mentioning Islamophobia. We can’t talk about terrorism or immigration without being labelled a racist. But the vast majority of Australians are not bigoted, just as the vast majority of Muslim immigrants to our country are not antisemitic.
With two dimensions to the problem, the solution starts with two things. Firstly, find the moral fortitude to name the problem, and second, debate it in a nuanced and respectful manner.
The classical liberal position isn’t anti-immigration, but pro-integration. By all means, bring your culture, and meld it into the Australian melting pot, but leave your prejudices and hatred at the door. The people I knew who died at Bondi Beach deserve better than “she’ll be right”.
This was originally posted at The Times of Israel.
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