Best of 2025 - Australia’s fragile multicultural consensus under threat
Anti-immigration rallies around Australia in late August and mid-October exposed public divides over migration, social cohesion and national identity.
Recent articles in Immigration
7 January 2026
Best of 2025 - Courts brace for next wave of 'sovereign citizens'
When I wrote about the “Cavalcade of the Cretinous” in February 2022, I thought the anti-vaccination early incarnations of “sovereign citizens” were just a hopeless joke (“Summernats without the sophistication”) that would quietly go away.
17 December 2025
A beautiful mosaic: celebrating multicultural Australia
Multicultural Australia has enriched the nation’s cultural life, creativity and global standing. These achievements deserve recognition and defence at a time of growing hostility to migration.
10 December 2025
2025 in Review: immigration policy turns back toward dog whistles and drift
2025 marked a turning point in Australian immigration policy, as long-term planning was abandoned and discriminatory rhetoric returned to the political mainstream.
6 December 2025
Refugees aren’t politically progressive by default – and policy needs to catch up
Australian settlement policy often assumes refugees will embrace progressive politics. Research and community experience show refugee political identities are far more diverse – with important implications for law and policy.
5 December 2025
Fear versus facts: why migrants strengthen Australia
Australia’s multicultural society is not a modern experiment or a social crisis. It is the product of shared effort, grounded in First Nations custodianship and strengthened by generations of migrants who have helped build the nation’s economy, culture and community life.
21 November 2025
Assessing the Liberal Party's policy-making capacity
Good policy should be evidence-based. But this is not the case with the Liberals energy policy and seems unlikely with their migration policy.
21 November 2025
The shadow of the Tampa
Nearly 25 years on from the Tampa crisis, Australia needs a parliamentary inquiry to lift the lid on offshore detention.
19 November 2025
Migration myths
Migrants aren’t to blame for expensive houses or stress on infrastructure: in fact they’re making more contribution to our shared assets than Australians.
14 November 2025
As Australia welcomes its millionth refugee, its hardline border policies endure. We can lead by example again
Any day now, Australia will welcome its millionth refugee since World War II.
7 November 2025
Australia’s fragile multicultural consensus under threat
Anti-immigration rallies around Australia in late August and mid-October exposed public divides over migration, social cohesion and national identity.
4 November 2025
When will immigration return to 'normal'?
Despite assurances from Immigration Minister Tony Burke that immigration is “trending back towards historically normal levels”, all indicators suggest it is once again overshooting Treasury’s projection. Indeed, it looks like the descent may have stalled and might rebound.
3 November 2025
The pearling past and the multicultural present: A story of connection and contribution
In the late 1990s, during a field study in Wyndham, a remote town in Western Australia, I met a small tourism operator whose story has stayed with me ever since.
Catch up on other sections
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12 September 2025
The retreat of social democracy and the rise of the hard right
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12 February 2025