a multicultural Research Library

Making multicultural Australia

Search the complete site: ... Sitemap » ... Links to other sites »

multicultural Audio »

Category: Audio Interviews »

Subject: Cultural Studies »

thumbnail

Global Cultural Diversity Conference

Paul Keating.

Paul keating on the diversity that exists in Australian society.

Created:

26 April 1995

Date Added:

16 July 2002

Source:

the address opening the Global Cultural Diversity Conference in Sydney, 26 April 1995.

Format:

mov (Quicktime);

File size:

--

Length:

1min 31sec

Transcript

PAUL KEATING
Prime Minister 1991-96

It describes a response to the diversity that exists in Australian society. It’s a policy for managing the consequences of that diversity in the interests of all. This means a policy which guarantees rights and imposes responsibilities.

The rights include those of cultural identity - the right to express and share individual cultural heritage, including language and religion; the right to social justice - the right of every Australian to equality of treatment and opportunity, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, language, gender or place of birth.

The responsibilities, I suppose, might be summarised thus: that the first loyalty of all Australians must be to Australia, to its interests and its future; that all Australians must accept the basic principles of Australian society, including the Constitution and the rule of law, parliamentary democracy, freedom of speech and religion, English as the national language, equality of the sexes and the right of every Australian to express his or her views and values.

That’s the essential balance, I think, in the multicultural equation: the promotion of individual and collective cultural rights and expression on the one hand, and on the other the promotion of common national interests and values. And success depends on demonstrating that each side of the equation serves the other.

From the address opening the Global Cultural Diversity Conference in Sydney, 26 April 1995.