No ducking uncomfortable questions

Sometimes I wish I could break the habits of a lifetime and agree with the Left on a controversial issue.

That is my instinctive response to the counter-protests on the weekend opposing the Reclaim Australia rallies.  I wish I could just agree that the real problem is the ‘racism’ of those who promote so-called ‘Islamophobia’. But it’s hardly as simple as that.

In the last few years, in no particular order, the nation has had to confront the following stories and issues:

• The Hyde Park Riot attacking a US film that ‘insulted the Prophet’.
• Government programs targeting the practice of female genital mutilation in Australia.
• Under-age marriages conducted by imams facilitating statutory rape of ‘child-brides’.
• Calls for the introduction of elements of Sharia Law (so-called ‘legal pluralism’) under the rubric of multiculturalism.
• The radicalisation of foreign fighters joining Islamic State, and an escalation in local counter-terrorism activity.
• The politically-motivated re-positioning of the Labor Party policy towards Israel; the Abbott government’s cave in on repeal of Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act to keep ‘Team Australia’ united.
• The Lindt Café terrorist siege in Martin Place.

None of this is to say there is a problem with the vast major of Muslims, who are fine Australians. But these events provoke some uncomfortable questions about the role religion plays in shaping the values and behavior of some people, and how well or otherwise their cultural backgrounds equip them to deal with the rights and responsibility of citizenship in a modern western nation such as Australia.

These are uncomfortable questions because they conflict with our national self-image of a tolerant and accepting country that has run a remarkable successful non-discriminatory immigration policy for decades. Yet this is actually the question that needs answering: why has Australian society been less successful in integrating some members of some ethnic groups compared to other migrants, and what kind of policy response is necessary to deal with an unprecedented challenge to community harmony.