There's no singling out either side of politics for special credit as we account for this turn in our public life. The shift in priorities and political sensibilities has been bipartisan. The politics of the 'mainstream' attempts to portray multiculturalism as, at best, the ephemeral fluff of identity-anxiety, or, at worst, the minority interest group tail wagging the national dog. But, whatever the deficiencies of public versions of multiculturalism, the identity, interest group and welfare aspects of multiculturalism are about to be completely eclipsed by business realities. We either come to grips with these realities as a nation, or we face economic stagnation and decline.
Multiculturalism means managing diversity.
In business, this means addressing the hard realities of locally diverse workforces and having a multicultural orientation to niche markets which leads to the customisation of products and services. It also means developing an outward looking and cosmopolitan business ethos in the context of global and regional economic integration. Global communication and transportation technologies are bringing once distant cultural differences ever closer to home. This is why multiculturalism is now a sheer necessity, and why anti-multicultural politics are deeply dysfunctional and contrary to our national economic interests. Witness the complaints of the tourism and education industries about the fact that the Federal Government allowed the 'race' debate to run unchecked for so long.