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At the crossroads... No difference

Geoffrey Blainey.

Professor Geoffrey Blainey, historian, speaks his view on multiculturalism, society etc.

Created:

1986

Date Added:

19 July 2002

Source:

Telephone interview with Andrew Jakubowicz, 1986.

Format:

mov (Quicktime);

File size:

--

Length:

31 secs

Transcript

PROFESSOR GEOFFREY BLAINEY
Historian

My view is that differences between groups should be respected, but that they shouldn’t be positively encouraged.

A society ultimately needs a certain number of shared values and shared attitudes, and it seems to me that one of the difficulties of most state governments' and also the federal government's policy is that they're saying that everybody should be free to follow their original culture. But they are careful not to define what they see as those legitimate parts of culture which they should follow, and those parts which they think perhaps they shouldn’t follow.

CONTINUATION OF INTERVIEW AS TEXT

I’m perfectly happy with multiculturalism if it means that you respect differences and develop a tolerant society. But ultimately you still have to make decisions about where the shared values must begin. And I think that maybe for political reasons, more than anything, both major parties for the last 6 or 7 years have been frightened to make those decisions. I’m perfectly happy that people come from different cultures and retain a considerable part of that culture, but ultimately there are certain situations where they can’t retain a considerable part of that culture.

Telephone interview with Andrew Jakubowicz, 1986.