Social exclusion and inclusion of immigrant minorities in Australia

Australia has, in relative terms, more immigrants from a greater diversity of ethnicities than most countries in the world today. While Australia’s policy of multiculturalism proclaims equality of all irrespective of ethnic, national or religious background, the reality is different. This paper looks at the often contradictory evidence for immigrant social inclusion and social exclusion across many different objective and subjective dimensions of contemporary Australian life. It draws on primary data drawn from recent research with immigrant youth to map out subjective feelings of aspiration, belonging and experiences of racism and exclusion. It also looks at secondary data sources of socio-economic data and research comparing labour market profiles, unemployment rates, income and poverty rates and racial discrimination experiences of immigrant minorities and the white majority. The paper also looks at experiences of racism in Australian today.