It was better when we valued the rich cultural heritage brought by our immigrants.
Multiculturalism was a boon to our nation.
Before the post-war wave of European immigrants Australia's culture was a rather boring and cold British monoculture.
Immigrants brought valuable diversity and richness to that culture.
More recently Asian immigrants have added to that diversity.
Unfortunately fear of foreigners (xenophobia) has grown in Australia and now refugees, mostly from Muslim countries, are sent to off-shore detention centers for indefinite periods, some are even returned to their countries to face torture and death.
Fear rules our hearts.
It would be better to look at the positive contributions that Islamic culture can bring to our country.
Music, poetry, art, cuisine - all these things are positives that Muslims bring.
There are also problems.
But these problems cannot be resolved without dialogue.
Building walls and freezing others out is not the answer.
We should implement dialogues between the cultures in order to understand these differences and find solutions that will last.
Then we can be a truly multicultural society.
Photo Credit: Jethro_aqualung Flickr via Compfight cc
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