Pauline Hanson uncovered a less-pleasant aspect of mainstream Australia, I think. And the government of the time, if not exactly supportive, didn't move to smack her down either.
There's been a strong 'white Australia, white allies' thread running through the country for some time, actually. It looked like we'd mostly gotten over that in the 80s-early 90s, but it was only buried in a shallow grave and Hanson and her cronies resurrected it.
Our current PM has more cosmpolitan views in that area since one of his children has a spouse of Chinese descent. He's fluent in Mandarin - addressed the Chinese President in Mandarin when Hu Jintao came to visit Australia and was the Shadow Foreign Minister for a while before he rose in the Labor party.
Obviously the greater positivity towards non-white cultures is mitigated somewhat by economic, political, and ethical considerations, concern over terrorism and the increasing social marginalisation of young non-white males and their anger over it (and how the anger is played out), but I think he's a good way ahead of our last PM as far as 'open-minded to other cultures' goes.
no subject
There's been a strong 'white Australia, white allies' thread running through the country for some time, actually. It looked like we'd mostly gotten over that in the 80s-early 90s, but it was only buried in a shallow grave and Hanson and her cronies resurrected it.
Our current PM has more cosmpolitan views in that area since one of his children has a spouse of Chinese descent. He's fluent in Mandarin - addressed the Chinese President in Mandarin when Hu Jintao came to visit Australia and was the Shadow Foreign Minister for a while before he rose in the Labor party.
Obviously the greater positivity towards non-white cultures is mitigated somewhat by economic, political, and ethical considerations, concern over terrorism and the increasing social marginalisation of young non-white males and their anger over it (and how the anger is played out), but I think he's a good way ahead of our last PM as far as 'open-minded to other cultures' goes.