Harmony Day, held every year on 21 March to coincide with United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, celebrates Australia’s cultural diversity.
The message of Harmony Day is ‘everyone belongs’. The Day aims to engage people to participate in their community, respect cultural and religious diversity and foster sense of belonging for everyone.
Since 1999, more than 70,000 Harmony Day events have been held in childcare centres, schools, community groups, churches, businesses and federal, state and local government agencies across Australia.
Australia’s Cultural Diversity
Australia is the world’s second most multicultural nation, tied with Switzerland behind Luxembourg that sits at the top of the table.
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Since 1945, more than 7.5 million people have migrated to Australia
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Nearly half (49 per cent) of Australians were born overseas or have at least one parent who was.
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We identify with over 300 ancestries.
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Apart from English, the most common languages spoken in Australia are Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Italian, Greek, Tagalog/Filipino, Hindi, Spanish and Punjabi.
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More than 70 Indigenous languages are spoken in Australia.
The State of Race Relations in Australia
Although 85 per cent of Australians agree multiculturalism has been good for Australia, many Australians experience racial or ethnic discrimination.
Consider the following findings from the Australia@2015 Scanlon Foundation Survey ‘Australians Today’;
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No group reports close to zero experience of discrimination because of skin colour, ethnic origin or religion. The lowest level of experience of discrimination, in the range of 10-15%, is reported by third generation Australians, closely approximated by overseas born of English speaking background at 16%, (a notable outlier being New Zealanders reporting experience of discrimination at 50%). The level of discrimination reported by overseas-born of non-English speaking backgrounds is 29%.
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Recent arrivals (residency of 10 years or less) experience higher levels of discrimination – 33% for those with English speaking background and 41% among non-English speaking background. The highest reported experience of discrimination for new arrivals was for those born in Malaysia (45%), India and Sri Lanka (42%), Indonesia, China and Hong Kong (39%), Africa (54%). The highest level of discrimination, at 77%, is reported by the South Sudanese – 43% reporting property damage and physical attack, compared to 6% of third generation Australians.
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The reported discrimination by Indigenous Australia respondents is at a very high level of 59%
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With respect to religion, the experience of discrimination was reported among 34% of Muslims, 22% of Buddhists, 20% of Roman Catholics, and 19% of those who identified as Christian.
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Close to 5% of survey respondents are negative towards Christians and Buddhists, but almost five times that proportion, 24% are negative towards Muslims. The Scanlon report notes, however, that the figure reported might not be a true reflection of public opinion as some respondents may not disclose their feelings when asked by an interviewer because of social desirability bias. Online surveys of third-generation Australians report that 44% of third-generation Australians are negative towards Muslims, a figure consistent with the result of the Essential survey on Muslim immigration that reported almost half of Australians were in favour of a ban on Muslim immigration.
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Among all faith groups, 10% more women than men report experiencing discrimination, but among Muslim respondents, 50% more women than report experiencing discrimination.