ABSTRACT
The term ‘multiculturalism’ has had a rapid rise in prominence in Australian policy discourse. For more than a decade now, it has been widely used in most of the public policy documents which governments have produced. It has become a catchcry, a political metaphor, by which Australians of all backgrounds have been asked to think about their society. It has invited us all to celebrate the fact that Australia is a culturally diverse nation. In more specific terms, multiculturalism has meant the allocation of funds for a variety of services to enable the participation of Australians of non-English-speaking background (NESB) in the mainstream institutions of this country and to give them a greater and more equitable chance of obtaining the social and economic goods Australia has to offer.
