Dick Smith's lower immigration campaign has come under some predictable accusations of racism from Social Justice Warriors types.
As a member and supporter of Sustainable Australia Party, I quickly found a similar accusation being hurled at us; we were using sustainability as a cover for racism. No consideration of the 'finite planet' and 'carrying capacity of the continent' points were given. The messianic, self-confident belief in the inherent evil of people was assumed by those who regard themselves as sole custodians of love and compassion.
The trouble with being an advocate of lower immigration (back to 70,000 "zero net") and smaller families, whilst also being pro diverse and multicultural Australia, as Dick and SAP do, is that zero net immigration will have the effect of preserving the predominantly European character of Australia, so they'll always be accused of being racist. That accusation is unfair, but they might want to consider abandoning the 'diverse and multicultural Australia' position anyway for the following reasons.
Multiculturalism is not working. Professor Blainey warned of this back in the 1980s (1). The evidence abounds. People do not have a good understanding of other cultures, let alone their own in Australia. Let me give you an example. Just recently in a share house, a Latin American temporary resident came to blows with a permanent resident Kiwi and the Aussie landlord over use of kitchen facilities. He demanded immediate emotional resolution. The others needed time out, to calm things down. Never the twain should meet. He showed little learning of Anglo-Celtic ways of dealing with emotional conflict even after having been in the country for more than 2 years. Also, he expected his cultural norms to be effective. Not surprisingly, he moved out. Hardly a multicultural success story.
Many Australians, when asked with mocking undertones, "What's Australian culture?" are at a loss to answer or even agree with the insinuation that we lack culture. Sadly, many are unaware of our rich heritage, both traditional and modern because we've allowed it to be subsumed by globalization and materialism. Also, because we don't have a list of national recipes as long as your arm, it's assumed we don't have a culture compared to others that are known for their cuisine. But simple, low-preparation food is our culture, because we are, in the Anglo Celtic mold, a cerebral lot who have focussed on other things like political development, literature, language, art, music and all the rest. That Aussies have no answer to that mocking question is indicative of a paralyzing inferiority complex. Where once we had the cultural cringe in the face of the British, now we cringe in the face of the demands of globalization and internationalisation.
It's a major task for Aussies and Aborigines to co-exist, let alone add another culture to the mix. Add multiple cultures to the mix and the social stresses rise astronomically. I'm not saying we shouldn't try, because the world is a village now, but the fact that people go into enclaves in Australia proves the point. Why then, do Aussies expect so much of themselves compared to other countries that have no similar pretensions whatsoever and are in fact doing the opposite; growing their population, protecting their culture and exporting people and their culture.... mainly in to white western countries? Inferiority complex. We're not good enough, or culturally rich enough without them.
For those reasons, I'm an Anglo Celtic Australian ethnic preservationist, or promoter. I'm not racist and I certainly don't think my racial/ethnic group is superior to any other.
The fact is, we can't go back, but we can put a brake on it and give ourselves a chance to come to grips with the huge task we've given ourselves.
(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Blainey#Views_on_Asian_immigration.
