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White Australia Policy
Most us take a multicultural, multiracial reality in our stride – a normal and welcome part of life. It is a very recent development. For a Faith that arrived in Australia when the White Australia policy was the law, it inevitably raised questions for some of the newly enrolled Baha’is. How were they to square their religious beliefs – with the expectations of the society around them? And maybe with their own unexamined prejudices about their fellow human beings? The period in question unfolded mostly during the time that Shoghi Effendi led the Baha’i Faith. And at a general level, the likely answer was clear enough. Baha’u’llah came to establish the…
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Crossing Over: does immigration policy discriminate?
Does immigration policy discriminate? The White Australia policy is gone – so we might conclude that it doesn’t. And indeed Australia would be unrecognisable to those who created the White Australia policy at the end of the 19th century. Times change and such racist practices are now a condemned part of the past. Today Australia celebrates the diversity and strength of its people: actively creating pathways and welcoming individuals and families from around the world into its community. Race is not relevant. That’s not the full story of course. Currently a human rights inquiry is investigating the treatment of children in Australian immigration prisons. These are children from families, or…
