AustLit

'The 'history wars' debate in Australia has a strong subtext of conflict over the development of Commonwealth Government policy and programs to address Indigenous disadvantage. The election of the Whitlam Labor government (1972-1975) marked a watershed; the Commonwealth became involved in addressing the disadvantage that state governments had seemingly ignored. The policies were called policies of 'self-determination' for Australia's Indigenous people as they involved the direct funding of Aboriginal community controlled organisations. These policies are often opposed by sections of Australian society as being potentially divisive and unnecessary. The simplistic mantra of Pauline Hanson, Australians should be treated the same', encapsulates this point of view, and represents a thinly-disguised attack on the validity and integrity of Indigenous survivors of colonialism and also a denial of the role of history in contemporary life. In the light of this, it is. '

Noting that 'Thirty years after its introduction, the meaning, impact and politics of multiculturalism are still contested issues in Australia', the author aims 'to examine some of the concepts, metaphors and rhetorical strategies commonly deployed in contemporary political discourse in order to tease out the complexity, or, to put it more bluntly, conceptual muddle, informing the construction of multiculturalism in Australian public debate' (Australian Cultural History Vol:28 No:2/3, 2010, p.131).