A Documentary Analysis of Australian Multicultural Policy under the Howard Government

Abstract

This thesis aims to analyse the significant evolution of the multicultural policy under the Howard government and explore its meaning under the twin frames of globalization and the changing Australian political culture. Australian multicultural policy has been an established public policy addressing the consequences arising from an ethnically and culturally diverse population for the past thirty years. It is not only concerned with the metaphysical conceptualization of national identity, citizenship, equality and so forth, but also leads to practical government actions, as reflected in the institutional embodiments and the series of services, programs and legislations introduced over the years.

This research is informed by rich scholarship on the contending notions of ethnicity, the interplay between ethnicity and nationhood and voluminous discussions of different modes of ethnic governance. By reviewing the publications displayed on the website of the Commonwealth Department of Immigration and Citizenship, I have collected all the key policy papers launched by the Howard government, which cover the time frame from 1996 to 2007 and clearly demonstrate the incremental development of the major planks of multicultural policy in this era. In addition, National Agenda for a Multicultural Australia (1989) introduced by the Hawke government and Multicultural Australia—The Next Steps—Towards and Beyond 2000 (1995) supported by the Keating government are also selected for comparative purposes, shedding light on the continuity and divergence of Howard’s policy against the historical trajectory.

In accordance with the generic characteristics of policy papers, I will employ documentary analysis in the form of a combination of discourse analysis and semiotic analysis with the six selected policy papers as units of analysis. While the discourse analysis aims to spell out the interacting discourses of the multicultural policy under the discursive groupings of national identity, social justice and productive diversity, semiotic analysis focuses on the technical side of the making and legitimation of meaning, drawing attention to typical rhetorical devices, manipulative frames of interpretation and communicative strategies in public persuasion.

The comparative study between representative documents of the previous Labor governments and the series of policy papers launched in the Howard era demonstrates a distinctive policy departure from the progressive course of multiculturalism toward a civic, conservative model of ethnic governance. As my findings indicate, the refocused multicultural policy attaches great importance to basic structures, core values and civic duties, highlights the potential economic gains from migrants, but virtually eliminates the plank of social justice, which used to be the policy priority for previous governments.

This new version of multicultural policy is contextualized in the dramatic transformations of the Australian political culture and intertwined with other key issues such as economic reform, gradual weakening of the welfare state and the general backlash against progressive social movements encompassing groups such as the Indigenous peoples, feminists, environmentalists and trade unions. The refocused multicultural discourses correspond with the ascendant ideologies of economic rationalism and social conservatism, reflecting and contributing to the mounting influence of the neo-conservatives from the perspective of ethnic governance. On the one hand, the new discourse of national identity neatly fits into the conservative ideology by constructing the hierarchical order between the core culture and minority cultures. On the other hand, the demise of social justice and the utilitarian perception of cultural diversity are tied up with market-oriented economic reforms, indicating the government’s shifting interests from minimizing the existing barriers of language, culture and prejudice to maximizing cultural dividends through diversity management strategies.

The significance of the refocused multicultural policy is manifold. For one thing, it signifies the predominance of the civic-nationalistic paradigm over the pluralist one in the policy area of ethnic governance. For another, it is part of the broader intellectual debates on the future course of liberal democracy in Australia and is closely related to the fierce contestations of fundamental notions like democracy, justice and equality. Despite the current centrality of rationalist and conservative ideologies, the exploration for the proper mode of governance will be an open-ended process, which requires responsible political leadership, evidence-based policy debates, a nuanced understanding of both sides of arguments and the healthy engagement of all sectors of the society. In view of the challenges of globalization and the breakdown of broad consensus, ethnic governance will remain to be an important policy area which reflects, informs and inspires the theoretical exploration and democratic construction in Australia.