Australia is a nation where a grandmother in Fairfield speaks Cantonese to her granddaughter, where a family in Tarneit gathers for Diwali, where a nonna in Leichhardt hands down her ragù recipe in Italian, and where a Lebanese Australian family in Lakemba breaks the Eid fast together. This is not a political vision. It is simply Tuesday.
And it is precisely this everyday multicultural reality that Minister for Multicultural Affairs Anne Aly says is under threat from Pauline Hanson’s renewed push for a “monocultural” Australia, a push the Minister called out as one that “almost exists in the imagination of people who perhaps want to go back to a White Australia.”
Speaking on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing, Aly drew on the full breadth of Australia’s multicultural story to make her case, from First Nations peoples who spoke dozens of languages long before European arrival, to every wave of migration that has since reshaped the nation’s character.
“Diversity is etched in our landscapes — from our snowy mountain tops to our pristine beaches, our red earth in the centre to our rainforests. It is etched in our history. It is who we are.”
A ‘monoculture’ — but whose?
Hanson’s position distinguishes race and culture, arguing that Australia can be multiracial while insisting on a single shared culture. But Aly cut to the heart of why that argument is hollow for the millions of Australians who live across cultural identities every single day.
“Who gets to dictate what that monoculture is?” she asked. For a Greek Australian family who speaks Greek at home and English at work, for a Vietnamese Australian whose children celebrate Tết and Australia Day in the same month, for a Sudanese Australian community maintaining language and music across generations, the demand for cultural uniformity is not a neutral policy. It is an erasure.
Aly was unambiguous:
“To denigrate, deny or try and destroy our diversity is really denigrating, denying and destroying who we are as a nation today — a modern, multicultural and diverse nation.”
Aly explains what Hanson would take away
In the interview’s most resonant moment, Aly named the grandmothers of multicultural Australia, the tetas of Lebanese families, the nonnas of Italian households, the yiayas of Greek communities, to put a human face on what Hanson’s agenda would actually mean.
Add to that list the dadi’s and nani’s of Indian Subcontinent families, the lolas of Filipino communities, the nainais of Chinese Australian households, every grandmother in every language who has ever whispered a bedtime story, sung a lullaby, or passed on a recipe in a tongue that is not English.
“She wants to take away the ability of the tetas and the nonnas and the yiayas to speak their language to their grandchildren,” Aly said.
She also listed the abolition of SBS, the broadcaster that serves dozens of language communities across Australia, among Hanson’s targets, alongside cuts to the ABC, minimum wage rises, tax cuts and paid parental leave.
What Hanson has pledged to cut — and who bears the cost:
SBS — the only national broadcaster serving Arabic, Mandarin, Hindi, Greek, Italian, Vietnamese and dozens of other language communities
Community languages — the right of families to pass on Greek, Italian, Cantonese, Arabic, Hindi, Vietnamese and more to the next generation
Paid parental leave — heavily relied upon by newer migrant families still building financial stability in Australia
Minimum wage rises — essential for multicultural workers concentrated in hospitality, aged care, construction and retail
Celebrating together: Holi, Diwali, Eid, Easter — all of it Australian
Central to Aly’s argument is that cultural celebrations are not imports grafted onto an otherwise uniform nation. They are Australia. When Holi is celebrated in Federation Square, when Lunar New Year lights up Chinatowns from Sydney to Melbourne, when Eid prayers fill out suburban parks, when Diwali fireworks go off in Parramatta, this is the country expressing itself.
The Minister said, presenting diversity is not a concession to newcomers but a collective inheritance belonging to everyone.
“Whether that’s Holi or Diwali or Eid, or Christmas or Easter — all of that beautiful, different cultural and religious celebration is what we share as Australians,”
Multicultural workers power the economy — and small businesses know it
Wearing her Small Business Minister hat, Aly also pushed back on claims that Labor’s workplace laws make it too hard to dismiss underperforming workers, a line advanced by both Hanson and sections of the Opposition. The Minister said the real conversation she hears from business owners is very different.
“They’re not saying ‘I can’t sack someone,'” she said.
“They’re saying, ‘I need more workers, I need access to skilled workers.'”
Multicultural Australians — through skilled migration, free TAFE pathways and community networks — are central to meeting that need.
New figures released this week show net overseas migration has fallen to 301,000 for the year to December 2025. While that remains above the government’s preferred level, Aly said the system is being carefully recalibrated — not dismantled — to ensure it serves the interests of all Australians, including the communities that have made skilled migration part of their story.
What the government is doing — and what still needs to be done
Aly pointed to a suite of actions the Albanese Government has already taken to protect multicultural communities from racism and discrimination, strengthening hate speech laws, commissioning both an Islamophobia review and an Antisemitism Report, and working across communities to build a framework that protects everyone.
A formal response to the Islamophobia Envoy’s report is imminent, though the Minister declined to commit to a specific date. The broader message, however, was clear: this government sees multicultural Australia not as a problem to be managed, but as a strength to be protected.
- Government actions protecting multicultural communities
- Existing hate speech laws strengthened to better protect all communities
- Islamophobia Envoy review completed; government response imminent
- Antisemitism Report commissioned and under active response
- Free TAFE expanding pathways for multicultural Australians and skilled migrants
For the millions of Australians who live between cultures, who celebrate two new years, who code-switch at the dinner table, who carry the languages and traditions of somewhere else into the fabric of here, Aly’s message was simple: this country is yours. It always has been.
“Diversity is a strength for Australia,” she said. “Always has been.”
Disclaimer: The Australia Today covers stories that matter to multicultural and diverse communities across Australia. This article is based on Minister Anne Aly’s interview on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing.
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