When did Australia adopt multiculturalism as official policy?

Australia adopted multiculturalism as official policy in 1973 under Prime Minister Gough Whitlam's Labor government, with Immigration Minister Al Grassby its principal advocate. The Whitlam government formally ended the White Australia Policy through the Migration Act amendments of December 1973 and introduced multiculturalism as the explicit framework for Australian settlement policy, replacing earlier assimilation thinking.

The 1973 adoption was the culmination of progressive reforms that began with the Chifley Labor government from 1945, expanded under the Menzies Coalition government's gradual loosening of restrictions, and accelerated with the Holt Coalition government's March 1966 reforms removing most remaining racial restrictions. The Whitlam reforms made the shift explicit and ideological, moving from a policy of merely tolerating diversity to one of actively supporting cultural maintenance alongside Australian citizenship.

Al Grassby (1926 to 2005), the Italian-Australian Minister for Immigration from December 1972 to November 1974, was the policy's most visible champion. His August 1973 paper 'A Multi-Cultural Society for the Future' set out the framework. Grassby's flamboyant personality and his championing of multicultural Australia made him a figure of both celebration and controversy. He was later prosecuted (and acquitted) over an alleged criminal libel matter in the early 1980s. He is now widely recognised as the father of multicultural Australia.

The policy was substantially developed under successive governments. The Fraser Coalition government (1975 to 1983) commissioned the Galbally Report of 1978, which set out detailed settlement service frameworks. The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) was established in 1980. The Australian Institute of Multicultural Affairs operated from 1979. The Hawke Labor government's 1989 National Agenda for a Multicultural Australia provided the first comprehensive policy statement. Subsequent Labor and Coalition governments have maintained and developed the framework, with various updates addressing specific contemporary concerns including settlement of refugees, response to September 11 2001 international terrorism concerns, social cohesion in the context of religious and racial tensions, and the development of the Australian Citizenship Pledge in 1994 that frames citizenship as adherence to shared democratic values rather than common ethnic background. The 2024 Multicultural Framework Review, conducted by Christine Castley, has informed the current Albanese Labor government's approach to the policy's continuing development.