Social cohesion is in decline. This has become a common refrain, along with despair about a crisis in our democracy. Yet amid the platitudes and wishful thinking about reversing that trend, there is a glaring absence of strategy or urgency.
At different stages of our history, social cohesion has meant different things. It is an elastic term. Today, it is built on values of inclusion, harmony, respect, equality, fairness and, particularly, multiculturalism. But it has not always been thus.
There was a time not so long ago when maintaining the White Australia policy was claimed to be essential to maintain social cohesion. What was then widely accepted as Australia’s “natural” order was threatened by anyone with dark skin or Asian heritage.
