Introduction
Cultural wars have been witnessed in Australia since the 1960s and the 1970s when liberalization started in a previously conservative country. The politics changed and this brought about many transformations in almost every sector of the country, these included transformations in beliefs, styles, and roles of gender in society. Ever since the conflict in Australia between the conservatives and liberals started, it has been a chapter that never concludes.
The cultural war has been mainly due to politics over their cultural alignments. Various debates have arisen through the years, from the media to the respective societies to discuss this subject (Red Apple Education ltd. par.1). This paper will attempt to investigate the origin of culture wars and Australia’s involvement since early 1990, its relation with the struggle between Keating and Howard, the Media’s role in promoting a focus on culture, and the nature of conflict in Australia.
Origin of Australian Cultural Conflict
Australia, like the United States of America, is mainly composed of migrants. These people came from different cultures and backgrounds, and then they slowly built the country into what is currently known as a multicultural country. The British colonizers assimilated the Aboriginal people who were few. Migrating into Australia was difficult due to the implementation of the White Australian policy, which only allowed the whites who were of European descent to migrate into the country. It is believed that the effects of the Vietnam War helped in accelerating this change in migration policy.
It is at this moment that a 70-year-old policy came to a halt and more Asians could migrate into the country. Given the role of Australia in the war, it had a responsibility to allow the Vietnamese refugees into their country. Malcolm Fraser the Australian leader of the liberal government took the Vietnamese refugees and allowed a controlled migration. This was caused fear on the perception of the Australian citizen who could not contemplate the consequences of such large migration of Asians into their country. There was also the fear of cultural distortions among the people and this made the Australian conservatives question the move by the liberal government.
When the Government shifted from the assimilation policies to that of integration, its essentiality was realized when Australia resorted to helping the refugees. A positive move was in the late 1960s; it gave the indigenous people the freedom to practice their culture without interference from the whites as was experienced during the assimilation era. In this regard, Australia set the stage for multiculturalism. Although some citizens embraced these changes, other cultures never agreed with the government’s policy towards multiculturalism especially the conservatives. This has generated strong debates and put the political parties at crossroads.
The main issues surrounding these cultural wars are the main values of the Australian people, these include: The government’s policy on multiculturalism which is opposed by the conservatives and they have tried over the years and succeeded in modifying it, how history is taught which displeased the conservatives since it nurtured cultural values, the treaty with the local people; these people were discriminated and they needed freedom, the way Australian refugees are treated and the ever-changing Australian identity (Red Apple Education ltd. par. 1-4).
Keating and Howard
Keating, a prominent political protagonist in Australia and a former labor leader and Prime Minister, supported the idea of relating Australian identity with multiculturalism, which led to the integration of the cultures and freedom of diversity. This developed into the vital Australian present national identity as opposed to its connection to its British colonizers. He created and implemented various policies on multiculturalism, even funding the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) which was running parallel to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) as they both gave significance to the diverse cultural and ethnic communities.
Howard on the other hand, being the conservative leader and succeeding Keating as the prime minister, after his election in 1996, changed what Keating had put in place, closing the BIMPR (Bureau for Immigration, Multicultural and Population Research) and (Office of Multicultural Affairs) OMA, which had been put in place to improve cultural interaction. This move eventually stopped the impact of the programs amid protests from the various ethnic leaders. He never wanted multiculturalism as he claimed it was irrelevant in the contemporary world. He reviewed the Multicultural policy in 1999 and 2003 and brought the notion of equity and harmony to reach out for the social issues which were not effective.
In the course, essential issues like, social justice and reconciliation were ignored. Community development was affected and multiculturalism controlled. Keating and Howard have had a prolonged dispute over the identity of Australia, this has transformed into a big debate both in the media and the public. During the late 1980s when Keating was in power, Howard was very hostile to his policies on cultural wars.
This went on through to the 1990s when he became the prime minister and as expected made the changes. Being the protagonists who have held power over long periods in Australia, their diverging policies on multiculturalism has led to instability over the identity of the country and influenced vigorous debates which are still on. The cultural war over the identity of Australia has indeed been influenced greatly by the two protagonists (Jacubowicz pp. 3-6).
Role of the Media
The media has contributed largely to multiculturalism in contemporary Australian society. From the history of Australian multicultural policy, Media has played a vital role in community development. During Prime Minister Keating’s time, ethnic stations were numerous in strengthening the different cultures, media services such as the state-funded Special Broadcasting Corporation (SBS) were introduced as early as the 1980s and played a major role in the integration of different cultures. ABC was also vital in this transformation. The media was a fundamental part of this integration in the 1980s and early 1990s.
This was reversed by the election of Howard, the conservative coalition leader who practically closed the media that were directly related to ethnic values and changed the policies on multiculturalism. Presently the media has accelerated this debate by inviting main protagonists in the debate on multiculturalism. ABC has also been credited with promoting cultural diversity and has been criticized in the previous governments especially during the Howard leadership. Views and debates have been organized by various media in discussing the subject, in which both the conservatives and other stakeholders have been invited. The media has taken a major role in the reconciliation with the indigenous (The Sydney Morning Herald pp. 3).
Reconciliation with the indigenous
One of the cultural conflicts is the reconciliation with the indigenous population. This issue has been a major cause of division between the conservatives and the liberals. Their attitudes towards the indigenous have been outrageous and the limits and disadvantages they get are unrealistic for such a developed country. When the British colonized Australia, they found inhabitants who were very few, having settled in that place, they assimilated them and took away their children restricting them from some basic human rights like census among others. They could not observe their cultural beliefs as they had previously done.
This looked like the apartheid in South Africa where the whites of European descent were considered more important than the natives. This caused struggles and racism during this time and proper solutions were required to stop this. Although major shifts took place during the liberal’s reign in the 1970s, it didn’t give them the full freedom and rights as the rest of the population. Their relations with the nonindigenous population have been impaired.
Mitigation measures on the policy to reconcile the indigenous people have greatly been opposed by the conservatives. Changes to policies that are friendly to the Aboriginal people have so far flopped, though hopes are being raised on the possibility of reconciliation. Former Prime Minister Howard’s leadership did not make it any easier for these Aboriginals, he placed much of his policies on suppressing multiculturalism which was not friendly to them as they needed their rights as other citizens (The Sydney Morning Herald pp.2).
Conclusion
Cultural war has been a growing concern in Australia and requires being resolved for a healthy society. The media has been vital in cultural focus and should be given more edge to help foster reconciliation. Australia has made several steps in fostering since the Second World War from assimilation, through white policy, multiculturalism, and now to the edge of resolving its identity. However, the farther push should be made to resolve this issue which if left could in the future haunt this great nation.
Works Cited
Jacubowicz. Auditing Multiculturalism: the Australian empire a generation after Galbally. 2003. Web.
Red Apple Education ltd. Australian culture. Skwirk interactive schooling. 2010. Web.
The Sydney Morning Herald. A truce in the culture wars. 2008. Web.