This :lol:

Hell my uncle is a dinky di aussie bloke and he mangles the english language :lol: the one thing I'll change is the swearing to god bit. Not everyone religious

Yay, isn't non-assimilation great.

Again there are plenty of greeks, italians, maco's at al who have been for over years and dont speak english. Why is the whole you dont speak english part being bought up now? ?

The fact you didn't speak English when you arrived doesn't mean you'll never assimilate. My Dad, for example, couldn't speak a word of it when he came here in the 60s but if you met him now you'd think he was an ordinary Aussie.

Let people who can't speak the language come here and give them the chance to learn it and become productive members of society. Sure, some people will never learn it and will stick with their own, but that's a small minority. Besides, if your end aim is total assimilation then Australia would be a bloody boring society. Multiculturalism demands a degree of non-assimilation.

And if you don't think multiculturalism is a good thing then there's no point discussing it with you :lol:

Edited by JP: 21/6/2015 09:52:06 PM

You do however, in a secular democracy though, listen to a recitation of the Lord's prayer before every sitting of parliament and a medieval homage to God.

And peanuts still say religion isn't intrusive in our day to day lives.

Here's what's read out before a parliamentary sitting each day. (Senate in this example but house of reps is exactly the same except for the "president" bit.)

http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Senate/Powers_practice_n_procedures/aso/so050

The President, on taking the chair each day, shall read the following prayer:

Almighty God, we humbly beseech Thee to vouchsafe Thy special blessing upon this Parliament, and that Thou wouldst be pleased to direct and prosper the work of Thy servants to the advancement of Thy glory, and to the true welfare of the people of Australia.

Our Father, which art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

Tell me please, with a straight face, how this is even possible, firstly, in this day and age and secondly, in a secular government system which is separated from the church explicitly by the constitution?

The Lord's Prayer, said in parliament in Australia, has to be seen to be believed. I nearly died the first time I heard it. :lol: shocking.

I knew it was there but I wasn't aware of the preamble until I happened upon newsradio one day and caught the opening.

Far worse if you ask me is the preamble.

The prayer bit, although unnecessary, is fairly innocuous and probably there by way of historical precedent. The preamble with the beseeching and begging of God to do His work is bordering on the sychophantic.

Just awful. Get rid of them both.

The churches

All the sycophantic "beseeching" is part of the tradition of the Church of England, which was once wholly influential in the Australian political and institutional landscape. Obviously when Federation occurred, the CofE would have wielded a huge degree of power and I daresay still did beyond the time of Menzies.

I agree it sounds like it's from another planet. For what it's worth the CofE make some truly ripping Christmas carols. In that context, the grandiloquent language sounds good. But in the context of the modern parliament... I guess the Brits have to deal with all this a lot more than we do.

On the issue of not speaking English, I know a number of Anglo-Saxon Australian and British people who don't really speak English either.

Our parliament is a joke. We just elect rude old men who yell over the top of each over. Send them all back to pre-school until they learn to shut the fuck up when other people are speaking.

you get the government you deserve

Australia is full of dumb c**ts, the majority who continually elect these frauds

In China we call man who complain about communists and then complain about right wing government stupid

I think pledge is fair but maybe not work because of god reference

Word mean nothing...they can say it and do the exact opposite ....after they get their residency.

Mute?

How, in any way, is it a tangible positive?

Give me on reason besides food. Multiculturalism isn't just going down to the Chinese restaurant every other Saturday night.

Oh and don't start with that "we're a nation of immigrants" bullshit.


Edited by 433: 22/6/2015 06:38:56 PM

Thanks to compulsory voting, this will never change.

How exactly would non-compulsory voting change it? Should we model ourselves on the US?

Edited by Draupnir: 22/6/2015 06:41:19 PM

You get the typically uninformed and politically apathetic general public to vote, and they only vote for either of the major parties. They maintain their power only because no one cares enough to vote another way.

The difference between non-compulsory voting here and the US is how our voting system is set up. Theirs is done so that literally only the Democrats/Republicans can only get seats in parliament, whereas here you could get an array of parties in.

I've been called racist for suggesting something similar on this forum :lol:

People also go off at France for their position on immigration and integration. I think people accept multiculturalism because they have to show some form of effort to avoid being labelled a racist bogan when the reality is that sub-communities exist within our country.

I think you're mistaken.

Multiculturalism and diversity makes a country interesting. If it weren't for multiculturalism we'd just be another British colonial outpost.

And the "nation of immigrants" stuff isn't bullshit, it's the reality. One in two Australians have at least one parent born overseas. Australia *is* multiculturalism.

But please tell me, what are the negatives? Some social tension? People would find other things to fight about than race even if we were a homogeneous Anglo society.

Also - I'm amazed to hear a football fan complaining about multiculturalism. Football is the immigrants' game in Australia - it would be absolutely nowhere without multiculturalism.

Edited by JP: 22/6/2015 10:20:51 PM

Edited by JP: 22/6/2015 10:21:04 PM

Multiculturalism gave Australia Football ffs. If we didn't have all the post WW2 ethnics coming in and sticking vehemently to their culture, football would have died out long ago and we'd all be stuck watching season after season of AFL.

I said tangible positives.



Rubbish.

English people play football and they are by far the majority of our immigrants.

That's absolute bullshit and you know it.

Nah, legit just morons. I don't think it would be an accurate description to suggest they speak English properly. I've spent a bit of time working in Cyprus and Thailand in the nightlife industry. You encounter plenty of Brits in the former and Aussies in the latter. This is a generalisation because some of those British and Aussie tourists are well-educated, articulate young people. And most of them are decent people. But a heck of a lot of the Brits are chavs and Aussies are bogans. I don't think it would be far from the truth to say their grasp of their own native language is poor, to say the least.

Edited by quickflick: 23/6/2015 01:18:12 AM

I legit don't get why people feel so offended by the idea of immigration. I hear English people complain about the fact that, allegedly, nobody on their carriage on the Tube is speaking English. They feel threatened by a group of people speaking Urdu.

Seriously gotta build a bridge and get over it. It's fascinating that people are speaking a bunch of different languages, not threatening.

Well if you care to look at, for instance, the UK, a heck of a lot of the doctors, other health care workers, people working in public service and people doing jobs that nobody else wants to do either emanate from the subcontinent or other EU countries. The NHS would have probably collapsed but for immigration.