Yahoo Finance "It's a disgrace": Mark Latham's take on multiculturalism in Fairfield
Former federal opposition leader Mark Latham has been criticised by Fairfield community leaders after he created a video and described the lack of English spoken in the area as "disgraceful".
In a video published on his Outsiders Facebook page titled 'What’s Gone Wrong With Australian Multiculturalism: Ethnic Enclaves in Fairfield', Mr Latham said 90 per cent of people he approached for comment declined due to language barriers.
“How can we have a proper cohesive, cooperative multicultural community if people don’t even speak the basic language of the nation,” he said in the video.
Mr Latham also said “ethnic enclaves” in Fairfield and Cabramatta indicated “genuine multiculturalism” was not happening.
“The evidence from the past, the community here is that people don’t get down to a place like Cabramatta, which is just a five-minute drive away, talk to the Asian community, get to know people, make friends across racial and ethnic and cultural boundaries. It’s not happening,” he said.
Latham asked Fairfield residents if they travel to Cabramatta, a five-minute drive away with a large Asian population.
A number of those interviewed said the drug problem in Cabramatta made it a less than desirable place to visit.
Latham directed much of his anger about the topic at Labor’s Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen, the former mayor of Fairfield from 1998 to 1999.
“It’s a disgrace that Chris Bowen and others have allowed this to happen,” he said.
Assyrian Resource Centre manager Carmen Lazar said she was “absolutely disgusted and ashamed” by Mr Latham’s comments.
“As Australians we should not use the term ‘disappointed’ in regards to people who have had to forcefully move their lives across thousands of miles; we should put ourselves even for a minute in their situation and so should Mr Latham," she said.
Ms Lazar added Mr Latham should look into the many programs in Fairfield that assist refugees to learn English, such as Navitas English Australia, MTC Fairfield and the Assyrian Australian Association Assyrian Resource Centre.
Asked for comment, Mr Latham told the Fairfield Advance: “If people think the video is the problem and multiculturalism is working to plan in Fairfield, I’m sorry, but they are off with the pixies.”
The Facebook page should not be confused with the Sky News program Outsiders, from which he was sacked in March following a number of controversies, including calling a schoolboy “gay” for his appearance in a video about feminism.
Newsbreak – April 28
