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Subject: Immigration »

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The Bainey debate on immigration

Geoffrey Blainey.

Professor Geoffrey Blainey talks about his view on multiculturalism.

Created:

1986

Date Added:

26 June 2002

Source:

Telephone Interview with Andrew Jakubowicz, 1986

Format:

mov (Quicktime);

File size:

--

Length:

20 secs

Transcript

PROFESSOR GEOFFREY BLAINEY
Historian

I’m perfectly happy with multiculturalism if it means that you respect differences that develop a tolerant society. But ultimately you still have to make decisions about where your tolerance ends, where the shared values must begin. And I think that maybe for political reasons, more than anything, both major parties for the last 6 or 7 years have been frightened to make those decisions.

CONTINUATION OF INTERVIEW AS TEXT

I’m perfectly happy that people come from different cultures and retain a considerable part of that culture, but ultimately there are certain situations where they can’t retain a considerable part of that culture.

My view is that differences between groups should be respected, but that they shouldn’t be positively encouraged.

I think society ultimately needs a number of shared values and shared attitudes, and it seems to me that one of the difficulties of most governments and federal government policy is that everybody should be free to follow their original culture, but they are careful not to define what they see as these legitimate parts of culture which they should follow, and those parts which they think perhaps they shouldn’t follow.

Telephone interview with Andrew Jakubowicz, 1986.