While these issues have manifested in different ways in immigrant-receiving countries in Europe, North America and in the United Kingdom in many cases public debates have questioned the limits of multiculturalism and governments have heightened their regulation of integration, citizenship and immigration. Chief among these has been concern about the global threat of terrorism and the challenges of ensuring social cohesion in societies characterised by ethno-cultural diversity.
Australian public and political debate about multiculturalism in the last decade has been significantly impacted upon by issues that have had international resonance. In the past ten years, at the national level multiculturalism has been subjected to criticism in public and political debate, with some expressions of support for earlier policies of assimilation and integration. Australia's last federal multicultural policy statement was issued in 2003 and intended to apply until 2006, with no new federal multicultural policy statements being issued since. Today all Australian States and Territories have active policies and programs dealing with multiculturalism. While Australian multicultural policy has its roots in government responses to the post-settlement issues facing migrants, through the 1980s and 1990s policy was articulated more broadly as an element of Australia's nation building narratives. While maintaining some core principles, in the three decades since its introduction, federal multicultural policy statements have evolved in response to changing government priorities and responses to the challenges facing Australian society. Multiculturalism has been a contested policy and concept since its introduction in Australia in the 1970s. The author would like to thank Dr James Jupp and colleagues Dr Luke Buckmaster and Dr Mark Rodrigues for their insightful comments and assistance in the preparation of this paper. The impact of September 11 and contemporary debatesĪppendix 1: Key Australian Government statements and reportsĪppendix 2: Key Australian Government multicultural institutionsĪppendix 3: State and territory government websites and reports 'Australian values' and the shift away from multiculturalism State and territory multicultural policies The People of Australia: The Australian Multicultural Advisory Council's statement on cultural diversity and recommendations to government, 2010 Multicultural policy and the Labor Government after 2007 Multicultural Australia: United in Diversity-Updating the 1999 New Agenda for Multicultural Australia: Strategic directions for 2003-2006 
New Agenda for Multicultural Australia, 1999 National Agenda for a Multicultural Australia, 1989
The evolution of multiculturalism as Australian Government policyĪustralia's multicultural policy statements
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