Indigenous Australians’ attitudes towards multiculturalism, cultural diversity, ‘race’ and racism

There is a perception that Indigenous Australians are uneasy with or distrustful of multiculturalism. Such unease has been attributed to the problematic positioning of Indigeneity within immigrant focused concepts of multiculturalism and its associated policies in a settler society. What are the attitudinal implications of this concern? There has been scant research on Indigenous Australians’ attitudes to cultural diversity. Nationwide survey findings reveal that despite perceived concerns with multiculturalism, Indigenous people are not uneasy with cultural diversity as such. In fact, Indigenous respondents are largely supportive of diversity, which is one of the central tenets of multiculturalism. In most respects their attitudes on cultural diversity and views on old racisms are similar to those of non-Indigenous Australians. Indigenous Australians are, however, more likely than non-Indigenous Australians to recognise the problems of racism generally and Anglo-Celtic cultural privilege.