‘The future of migration, multiculturalism and diversity in Australia's post-COVID-19 social recovery’

Abstract

This paper considers the future of multiculturalism, migration, and mobility post-pandemic. Taking Australia as a case study, the paper examines how the pandemic is affecting the multicultural agenda and contemplates its multiple cultural, social and political impacts. That is; the ways it is shaping intercultural relations, particularly how it is exacerbating racism and other forms of discrimination; its effects on the equity of social and health service provisions; and how mobility and border issues are being managed within Australia and internationally, specifically in relation to Australian citizens with culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. Secondly, the paper examines the extent to which the pandemic has already revealed new ways of understanding, representing, and characterising multiculturalism in Australia. This analysis considers the significant gaps in data collection on ethnically and religiously minoritised peoples and the ways in which this has hindered public health initiatives. Thirdly, the paper offers insights for how Australia could approach new drivers and patterns of (im)mobility in the post-COVID-19 social recovery, and in subsequent decades, to sustain the country's multicultural social fabric and its economic prosperity.