Claim Aussies ‘demonised’ by multiculturalism

An Australian woman has sparked heated debate over claims Australians from a British and Irish background have been “demonised”.

Audience member Jenny Carrol told ABC’s Q + A she doesn’t believe multiculturalism is a “great thing”, claiming the culture of the “original British/Irish majority has been demonised constantly for the last three decades”.

“Case in point – frequent vandalism of memorials to Captain Cook. How does democracy fit into this atmosphere of beat up the white guy?” she asked, later adding Captain Cook was “just doing a job”.

The question earned a swift expression of disagreement from Youth Minister Anne Aly, who said multiculturalism is “the character of our nation … not a policy that was foisted on anyone”.

“Take a look around you. We are multicultural. It’s who we are,” she said.

Ms Aly, who moved to Australia from Egypt when she was two-years-old, told the audience multiculturalism has brought the country “immense benefits”.

“I’m not talking about being able to have some soy sauce on your sausage roll or being able to wear a sari or any of those things,” she said.

“I’m talking about democracy is more resilient and is better when there are diverse ideas, diverse thinking, diversity of faith, diversity of cultural backgrounds. Democracy is better for it.

“I don’t think we bash the white guy as you might say. And perhaps if we were to trade places for a day you might think differently, because I get quite a bit of racism. Who would have thought?”

Australian National University Professor George Brandis KC, who was Australia’s 36th Attorney-General and worked as Australia’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom between 2018 and 2022, said it “isn’t an either or question”, claiming Australia can “accept Australia is a multicultural society” without “disrespecting British heritage”.

“We want to be the best multicultural society that we can be. On the other hand, that doesn’t — at least to my mind — involve disrespecting the British heritage, which was a very important framing set of values for modern Australia,” he said.

“When we think of our legal system, our parliamentary institutions, our system of government, our commercial practices.”

He added the vandalism of Captain Cook statues angers him as much as the audience member, Jenny.

“So many of the fundamental features of Australian society we owe to our British heritage. And rather than be ashamed of that, we should be proud of that,” he said.

“It infuriates me when people vandalise statues of Captain Cook, and it angers me as much as I’m sure it angers you.”

He also called Australia “one of the world’s most successful multicultural societies” as the country has now reached a point where “we’re proud of our very, very ancient Indigenous heritage” and the “more modern British institutions that go back to 1788”.

However New York Times best-selling US author Roxane Gay said Australia’s history is “not that complicated”.

“There were people that were the First Nations people, and it was taken from them,” she said.

Referring to Ms Carrols earlier comment that Captain Cook was just “doing a job”, Gay said: “Just because something is your job doesn’t mean you should do it.”

“You have the power to say ‘No, perhaps I won’t steal this land’,” she continued, garnering a round of applause from the audience.

“What is the thing that makes you feel oppressed by acknowledging that there are other cultures in the world and that we should create space for all of those voices to be heard?”

“I think that we really have to rethink what oppression feels like because when you have such a significant majority as people here do, I think it’s better to ask how the First Nations people and immigrants to this country feel about all of the British norms that are foisted upon them.”

“CONVICTED FELON”

In a question from a young Australian with Indian heritage, the panel was asked about their thoughts on the significance of seeing themselves in political leaders, after Kamala Harris became the first Asian American and African-American woman to lead a presidential ticket.

The question sparked a fierce debate between Ms Gay and Professor Brandis.

Gay began her answer saying it was “incredible” that Harris was leading the fight against Donald Trump.

“I think it’s incredible. Representation does matter because it shows young people what is possible for them,” she said.

“I know that for South Asian people and for African-American people, this is huge and many of us did not think we would see it in our lifetime and I can only hope the US does the right thing come November.”

Professor Brandis told the audience he agreed and hoped Harris wins the election, despite coming from a conservative side of politics.

He said he hoped Harris wins because “Donald Trump is so dreadful”.

“Everybody thinks Trump is ghastly,” he says, before being interrupted by host Patricia Karvalis telling him many people find Trump appealing.

After further probe, Gay admits she believes Harris will win the election.

“I think Kamala Harris will win. I 100% do,” Gay told the audience.

When asked why she responds: “Because I can’t tolerate the alternative.”

Professor Brandis then turns to Gay and tells her it is a “terrible” thing to say Trump shouldn’t be allowed to run.

The US author responds: “He’s a convicted felon”.

“You’ve heard what I think of Trump, so we’re on the same page on that issue. But on the broader issue of ultimately respecting the sovereignty of the people to make a judgement, even though it’s a judgement that you wouldn’t make, that you might regret or even loathe, is the essence of being committed to democracy,” Professor Brandis continued.

Gay probes: “Would you say that about Hitler?”

Professor Brandis responded: “I wouldn’t say that about Hitler”.

“VOTING AGE SHOULD BE SIX”

Professor of Politics at the University of Cambridge David Runciman also made a big call during the program, claiming people as young as six should be allowed to vote.

“I’m 16 years old. I can pay tax. I can work full-time. I can enlist in the army. I can drive a car, and can be held criminally responsible for a crime. But I can’t vote,” 16-year-old Oliver told the panel.

He added if politicians are wondering why young people don’t feel represented, they should look no further than voting ages.

Professor Runciman went a step further than the teen, revealing he’d drop the voting age all the way down to just six-years-old for “all the reasons that we just heard”.

“We load kids with responsibility, criminal responsibility, we teach them civics, we tell them to be good citizens. We ask a lot of them and yet we don’t give them the basic democratic right,” he said.

He added there’s no age cap on voting for older voters.

Minister for Youth and Early Childhood Education Anne Aly said she’s spoken to teenagers on both sides of the fence, and added she tries to encourage young people to engage in politics in other ways as voting isn’t the “only way of having a say in the things that matter to you”.

Ms Aly also said when applications were open for the Youth Steering Committee there were 1500 applications, demonstrating that “young people do want to have a say and they do want to be engaged”.

“There is a review at the moment about electoral reform, where that might be considered. However, in the youth portfolio, we’re out there talking to young people and trying to find other ways for them to engage and asking them how they want to as well,” she said.

Liberal MP Keith Wolahan also noted lowering the voting age could open up school’s to be a political playground, with political parties heading into schools for “tactical political reasons”.

“I don’t think that would be fair on schools or students,” he said.

However Professor Runciman said politics could be good in schools.

“One of the reasons that children feel a distance from politics is it’s all coming one way. We want them to do things but we don’t give them the right to say who they want to speak for them and who they want to take decisions for them,” he said.

“They have decisions taken for them in their lives all the time and I think a bit of real democracy for kids would be really good.”