98 · Suzanne D. Rutland
Australian colonies in 1901. One of the first acts of federal Parliament
became known as the “White Australia” policy. It virtually excluded all
Asian immigrants, as well as those from the Muslim countries of Malay-
sia and Indonesia. Government policy was that the Australian population
should be 95 percent Anglo-Celtic, and there was no separate immigra-
tion department. In 1945, the government decided to sponsor immigra-
tion from Europe, and a department of immigration was created, but the
focus was still on white Christians.^1 The official policy was to sponsor
Anglo-Celtic conformity. Migrants were encouraged to learn English, An-
glicize their names, and avoid speaking their native language.
The election of the Whitlam Labor government in December 1972, af-
ter twenty-three years of conservative Liberal government, marked a ma-
jor sea change in immigration policies. For the first time, non-Christian,
non-European immigrants were allowed to enter Australia, providing
the basis for Muslim immigration. Attitudes supporting pluralism were
also fostered, which “symbolised the acceptance that multiculturalism
had replaced assimilationism or even integrationism as the basis of a na-
tional immigration policy.”^2 In 1974, the Labor minister for immigration,
Italian-born Al Grassby, established a committee to examine community
relations as they affected the integration of migrants, identify sources of
discrimination, and suggest ways to remove or ameliorate undesirable
attitudes or practices. He appointed Walter Lippmann, a German-born
prewar Jewish refugee, to chair this committee.^3 Its recommendations
included allowing ethnic groups to maintain their own cultural heritage.
The federal government accepted its recommendations, and an office of
multicultural affairs was created, with state governments establishing
various bodies to promote the rights of ethnic education, radio, and tele-
vision directed to ethnic communities. The Liberal government under
Malcolm Fraser further reinforced multiculturalism from 1975 to 1981.
Later, under John Howard, these policies were updated, reaffirming the
promotion of cultural diversity and supporting “the right of each Austra-
lian to maintain and celebrate, within the law, their culture, language, or
religion.”^4 The 2001 census showed that 23 percent of Australians were
born overseas, and 20 percent had at least one parent born overseas, with
two hundred languages being spoken and a wide variety of religions.