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The 1986 Budget Row

Peter Shergold.

Dr Peter Shergold speaks his view on the 1986 Budget Row.

Created:

1994

Date Added:

27 June 2002

Source:

Making Multicultural Australia 1994 and 1995

Format:

mov (Quicktime);

File size:

--

Length:

36 secs

Transcript

DR PETER SHERGOLD
Former adviser to the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia

I'm actually convinced that the '86 Budget was a bureaucratic cock-up rather than a carefully designed political strategy. You see, the range of activities which seemed to spell the demise of multiculturalism were essentially a range of cost-cutting measures imposed at the last moment by the Department of Finance, across agencies...
It reflected, I think, where ethnic issues stood in those departments, that suddenly placed with pressure to find more cuts in their portfolio, they all found an ethnic area to make it...

CONTINUATION OF INTERVIEW AS TEXT

I don’t believe that there was a conspiracy to, in effect, slash and burn through multiculturalism. I think it was absolute, sheer incompetence...
When it was announced, it looked like a wholesale attack on multiculturalism...
But I don't think, in fact I am convinced, there was no design strategy. And I think that government was astounded, following the '86 Budget, when the largest single voice raised against it was from the ethnic communities.

Interviews for Making Multicultural Australia, 1994 and 1995.