Chinese Walls: Australian Multiculturalism and the Necessity for Human Rights

Australian multiculturalism is undergoing major challenges and reformulations. In part, this is due to the rapidly increasing presence of Chinese communities. In the past, 'The Chinese' were both a major trigger for the creation of and later protagonists for the abolition of White Australia. The complex and multiple layers of engagement of the Chinese in the Australian political system range from inter-governmental relations, through national political and policy issues, to local politics. Their involvement in a wide range of political parties and the interweaving of international and national politics, and economic and policy decisions, indicates political changes that may transcend the problematic of a multiculturalism constituted before the terror attacks of 2001 and before the rise of China as an international economic and political force in the wake of the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis. Moreover, the effective integration of the Chinese into Australian society may depend on how well the human rights dimension of multicultural policy is applied and conveyed to and through the Chinese population. © 2011 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC