Federal Liberal Leader Angus Taylor has declined to directly confirm whether the Coalition still supports multiculturalism, repeatedly redirecting questions to a focus on “Australian values” during a series of press exchanges.
Taylor was asked five times whether the Coalition backed multiculturalism or supported calls from One Nation for Australia to move toward a “monoculture”, but he did not provide a clear position. Instead, he said migrants must share “core Australian values”.
“You explain to me what you mean by that… the one thing I want all of us to share is those core Australian values,” he said, adding: “We can have people from all over the world… but they must share those core values.”
The comments come amid renewed pressure from Pauline Hanson, who has called for an end to multiculturalism and argued it undermines social cohesion. She said: “Under the failed policy of multiculturalism, all cultures are allowed equivalence to ours,” and promoted a “monoculture” model she linked to Japan.
One Nation MP David Farley said migrants should be “Australian first” and “blend in”, while outgoing Shadow Home Affairs Minister Jono Duniam rejected the concept, calling it “a bizarre concept” and defending multiculturalism as central to Australia’s success.
The Coalition is also proposing a stricter “Australian values test” for migrants, which could affect visas and citizenship decisions.
After Taylor’s comments, Liberal MP Aaron Violi confirmed the Coalition still supports multiculturalism, while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese criticised Taylor for not clearly rejecting the “monoculture” framing, saying Australia “has never been a monoculture.”
Source: ABC News
