Assimilation, Integration and Multiculturalism in Australia\'s Immigration Policies

Assimilation, integration and multiculturalism 'Capricornia' Novel written by Xavier Herbert was published on Australia Day in 1938; that created quite a stir in the Australian community. The Novel expressed Australia's exact assimilated conceptual community and described variously as 'an Australian Masterpiece destined to be a classic and as disgusting and repetitive' (Castles, 2012).Herbert's (1938) description of living in Capricornia in mythical Port Zodiac is thinly disguised as Darwin, (Northern Territory) was a bold interpretation of Southern and Northern 'white Australian' Life.

Explain the premises of assimilation, integration and multiculturalism in case of Australia?

The policy was assimilation was in full control in Indigenous affairs from duration of 1930's to 1960's. The basic definition of assimilation is the same which was finalized in 1963 by the aboriginal affairs ministers. The assimilation policy holds that aborigines and half aborigines will continue to live with the same standard of living as rest of the Australians as they are a vital part of Australian society. Apart from that, these aborigines and half aborigines will also enjoy equal rights and privileges, have the same responsibilities, will have similar customs and traditions, and have similar ideas, thought process and loyalties as rest of the Australians. Supposedly, this statement may seem quite unpretentious since assimilation is often rigid and complicated in otherwise cases. Russell McGregor (1997) deems that assimilation can't have a finalized meaning. The treatise was agreed upon by different intellectuals who generated quite some varying versions regarding the future of aborigines. The root cause of the clouded definition of assimilation is that the word was employed for integration which had two types itself. The former is known as the biological absorption or in layman words the preferred elimination of the indigenous physical features. The latter is known as social integration in which the Indigenous cultural and social customs would accede to non-Indigenous cultural and social practices.

However, the assimilation concept failed as many immigrants clung to their own cultural beliefs. As events shaped up, the basic definition of assimilation was being questioned as it became complicated. The policy overlooked the significance and resilience of the aboriginal culture. Apart from that, it didn't approve the aborigines to preserve and uphold their culture and traditions. One primary idea behind the policy was that aborigines will accede to the Australian white culture eventually with respect to their style of living, beliefs and customs. The authoritarianism and condescension behind these policies was condemned. The non-aboriginal Australians were largely aware of the aboriginal related problems. The concept of assimilation dictated that 'aboriginal equality would be forgotten ultimately' was discarded. Integration was a term which was employed by critics who discredited assimilation policy in order to pave way for recognition of the aboriginal culture and secure the aboriginal privileges to retain their customs, traditions and language to distinguish their identity from non-aboriginal residents (Gibb, 1973). Integration was later revised as Dr. Raymond Hibbins (2011) notes, integration means living side by side with the society without deserting one's culture and values.

However, Assimilation and integration could not hold their place and Australian Government had to introduce multiculturalism. Speaking broadly, multicultural is just an expression for illustrating the ethnic and cultural diversity of the Australia. It was and still is a multicultural society.

As multiculturalism is a public policy, it factors in government's role in acting in accordance with the diversity. It has no role in migrant selection. The policy only deals with the case of managing the upshot of cultural diversity while safeguarding the interests of such people and society on the whole.

According to commonwealth government, there are three aspects of multicultural policy:

Cultural identity: It's a fundamental right of all the Australians within boundaries to share and express their cultural background which consists of religion and language

Social justice: All Australians have equal right with respect to opportunity and treatment whilst overlooking:

Ethnicity

Culture

Religion

Race

Language

Birth place

Gender

Economic efficiency: The need to utilize, maintain and manage skills of the multicultural Australian population while overlooking their background (Australian Gov. 2014)

Australian Migration

Australia is in immense need of labor (since the local fertility rate has degraded and elongated education period) enabled immigration. The less percentage of Europeans pursuing a higher standard of life in Australia was a prime factor for Asian and Oceania immigrants to head towards Australia.

The numbers below show the tendency of the Pacific and Asian immigrants to Australia (from 2008 arrival statistics) are as follows:

New Zealand ?Australia (33,034)

India ?Australia (16,909)

China (excludes ARS and Taiwan)?

Australia (14,935)

Philippines?

Australia (5619)

Iraq?

Australia (4008)

Sri Lanka?

Australia (3918)

Malaysia?

Australia (3261)

Burma?

Australia (2931) (DIAC, 2010d)

One fact is for certain that since immigrants are largely from Asian-Pacific region, hence Australia can't always have immigrants having a required skill set. Many Asian immigrants are heading elsewhere as their opportunities are expanding since the economies are becoming more stable. Previously, Australia had an edge as compared to other nations in terms of standard of living, lifestyle, security and environment. Now Australia has to contend with other countries as they are becoming equally competent as well. They are also providing better and congenial lifestyle as well. Hence the Australian policymakers should focus on the necessary skill set and devise appealing opportunities for the most competent immigrants (Castles, 2012).

Hospitality Industry in Australia

The hospitality Industry is a booming Industry not only in Australia but around the world. There shall be demand in hospitality industry for good and experienced staff always. However, this industry lacks good staff and career opportunities are vast in this industry. Hospitality industry is not limited to hotels only, but it has a vast business lineage. It expands from restaurants, bars, theme parks, tours, travels, airlines, and tourist attractions to name a few. In fact, tours and tourism industry is the prevalent employer in the world (Blue Mountains, 2011)

Many students are opting for courses in hospitality industry to take advantage of the openings that hospitality industry has to offer. According to PWC survey there are around 199,000 employees, employed by hotel industry itself and around 1 million people employed in tourism and hospitality industry in Australia. (PWC, 2009)

Assimilation, Integration and Multiculturalism in Business

In business circles, assimilation basically means the skill of an organization to accustom a newly hired employee in accordance with the practices of the organization and the methodology of communication with colleagues and clients. It's a fundamental element regarding the human resources process that organizations address by an orientation for a new hired employee (Kokemuller, 2007)

Correspondingly, business integration strategies are employed for cross training management and workforce alike, bridge the communication barrier and minimize supplier costs. While analyzing the organizations operations, ponder upon the various ways possible for integrating various processes to cut costs and lessen overheads, personnel costs by preventing further hiring and allotting resources to them (Root, 2014).

In the present global environment where the marketplace is also becomingly more global in outlook, multiculturalism in an organization is likely to grow. However, transitioning into a multicultural-based organization will definitely result into issues regarding employees, but in the long run, an organization will benefit from multiculturalism (Lewis, 2014).

Multiculturalism in Hospitality Industry

The concept of Multiculturalism in Hospitality Industry can be Booming in attracting visitors, by holding different cuisine festivals, themes, exhibitions, celebrating different festivals etc. Like Chinese new year, India's Diwali (cracker burning Festival) or Holi (color festival) etc.