What was multiculturalism's adoption?

Multiculturalism was adopted as official Australian government policy in 1973 by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam's Labor government, with Immigration Minister Al Grassby its principal advocate. The Whitlam government formally ended the White Australia Policy and introduced multiculturalism as the framework for Australian settlement policy, establishing a model that has operated (with various modifications) ever since.

The 1973 adoption built on earlier groundwork. The Chifley Labor government (1945 to 1949) had started large-scale European migration through the post-war displaced persons programme. The Holt Coalition government of 1966 had removed most racial restrictions in immigration. The Whitlam reforms of 1973 explicitly named multiculturalism as the settlement policy framework, replacing earlier assimilation thinking with the principle that migrants could maintain their cultural heritage while becoming Australians.

The Fraser Coalition government (1975 to 1983) substantially developed the policy. The Galbally Report of 1978, produced by businessman Frank Galbally for Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, set out the detailed framework for settlement services, interpreter services, specialised education, and community development supporting multicultural Australia. The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) was established in 1980 to broadcast in languages other than English, starting with radio and expanding to television in 1980. The Australian Institute of Multicultural Affairs operated from 1979 to provide policy advice and research. The Fraser government settled more than 100,000 Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian refugees between 1976 and 1985.

Multicultural policy has continued to evolve. The Hawke and Keating Labor governments (1983 to 1996) maintained and developed the policy. The Howard Coalition government (1996 to 2007) emphasised Australian values within the multicultural framework and renamed the Department of Immigration to include 'Multicultural' in 1996 and then 'Citizenship' from 2007. Successive Labor and Coalition governments have issued multicultural policy statements, with the most recent updates from the Albanese Labor government from 2022 onwards focusing on inclusion, social cohesion, and the evolution of the policy for contemporary Australia. Today about 30 per cent of Australians were born overseas, almost half have a parent born overseas, and more than 270 ancestries and 300 languages are represented across the population, making Australia one of the most diverse societies in the developed world. The 2017 to 2025 anti-racism strategies, the current Strategy on Racial Equality and the ongoing work of the Race Discrimination Commissioner continue to develop the multicultural commitment.