IMPORTANCE OF IMMIGRATION MUST NEVER BE FORGOTTEN

6 July 1998

The Governor-General, Sir William Deane, said today the importance of the role that immigration has played in shaping the development of the Australian nation could never be over-emphasised and must never be forgotten.

Opening the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships at Sydney University, Sir William said that, apart from the Aborigines, we Australians are all immigrants or, even in the perspective of modern history, descended from immigrants.

"Our real strength is that, while we immediately or more distantly came from all the regions and races of the world, we are united as one people," he said. "The approach, the ethos and the conviction which make that possible, and which have long enjoyed bilateral support in the Australian Parliament, are those of multiculturalism.''

Sir William Deane went on: "Multiculturalism is a long word. However one precisely defines it, its essence is mutual respect for, and genuine tolerance of the different national, racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds and cultures from which we come.

"Within the limits that are consistent with the over-riding loyalties and obligations of Australian citizenship and with all the duties imposed by valid Australian laws, our citizens are entitled to expect and demand that that mutual respect and tolerance be encouraged and honoured.

"The reason why that is so is that to undermine that mutual respect or to defy or deny that tolerance within our land is to defy or deny the very basis of our Australian nation Our multiculturalism is not only decent, just and right. It is not only our Australian way. It is what we are."

Welcoming participants to the championships from a number universities in regional countries, Sir William said: "Your presence reminds us of the undeniable fact that it is in both the short and long-term economic and gee-political interests of all of us in the Asia Pacific region that we develop close and mutually beneficial links between our nations and their peoples.

"Your participation reflects the sense of tolerance, of understanding and of the capacity to see another person's point of view that is so fundamental to the nature of debate."