Australia Swamped with Muslims and Asians

[Guest The Pom Queen]

Population growth has profound impacts on Australian life, and sorting myths from facts can be difficult. This article is part of our series, Is Australia Full?, which aims to help inform a wide-ranging and often emotive debate.

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In her maiden speech to federal parliament in 1996, Pauline Hanson claimed Australia was in danger of being “swamped by Asians”. At her re-election to the Senate on 2016, Hanson expanded her claim to also being “swamped by Muslims”. But is this factually correct?

Using data from the 2011 Census, we analysed the distribution of Asians and Muslims at four spatial scales (neighbourhood, suburb, district, and region) within Australia’s 11 largest urban areas. We found no evidence of any “swamping” by Muslims, or of ultra-segregation into “ghettos”.

There are concentrations of Asians, mainly in Sydney and Melbourne. But they are mostly neighbourhoods and suburbs where they form only a small minority of local populations.

The geography of Asians and Muslims

Asians form small minorities in about half of the more than 33,000 local neighbourhoods (average population of 430) across Australia’s 11 cities.

In another 40% of neighbourhoods, Asians comprise between 10% and 25% of local populations. In only 2% overall do they make up more than half the local population.

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The geography of Muslims is very different, and much less segregated. They are a much smaller proportion of Australia’s 11 metropolitan and major urban areas. But they are almost entirely absent from many neighbourhoods and suburbs.

In only 82 of the 33,337 neighbourhoods and in just one suburb – all in Sydney and Melbourne – do Muslims constitute half the local population. This amounts to 0.025%.

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In only four Sydney neighbourhoods and one in Melbourne (0.015% combined) is the Muslim population as high as 70%.

A figure of 70% or more is regarded in the international literature on Western cities as indicating a ghetto situation.

Which cities stand out?

So, one point stands out: local neighbourhoods where Asians and Muslims form a majority are almost entirely concentrated in Australia’s two major cities – Sydney and Melbourne. Brisbane and, less so, Perth also have very small pockets where Asians form half of neighbourhood populations.

In none of the other nine places is there even a single neighbourhood where Muslims form a majority of local neighbourhood populations. 

In three of them – Newcastle, Geelong and Darwin – there are no neighbourhoods where Asians are a majority.

In Sydney, just under 8% of neighbourhoods contain one-quarter of the city’s Asian population. In Melbourne there are fewer Asian neighbourhoods, with 12% of the city’s Asian population.

The Sydney suburb of Hurstville, which Hanson has identified as somewhere “swamped by Asians”, has 63% of its population Asian. And nine other Sydney neighbourhoods are home to 13% of the city’s total Asian population.

But such a concentration is rare elsewhere. Melbourne has four districts (groups of suburbs) with Asian majorities.

 

Asian populations in Sydney, 2011. Australian Geographer/James Forrest, Ron Johnston, Frank Siciliano, David Manley, Kelvyn Jones, Author provided (No reuse)

 

Asian populations in Melbourne, 2011. Australian Geographer/James Forrest, Ron Johnston, Frank Siciliano, David Manley, Kelvyn Jones, Author provided (No reuse)

Sydney and Melbourne also have the largest Muslim populations. But few are concentrated in areas – even at the smallest, neighbourhood level, where they form as much as half of local populations. 

In only one suburb, Sydney’s Lakemba, is more than half the population Muslim (predominantly Lebanese). But even in a suburb like Lakemba, these concentrations are scattered across different neighbourhoods.

 

Muslim populations in Sydney, 2011. Australian Geographer/James Forrest, Ron Johnston, Frank Siciliano, David Manley, Kelvyn Jones, Author provided (No reuse)

 

Muslim populations in Melbourne, 2011. Australian Geographer/James Forrest, Ron Johnston, Frank Siciliano, David Manley, Kelvyn Jones, Author provided (No reuse)

Why the moral panic?

Polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman argued that populist political parties like One Nation promote their causes by creating “moral panics”, or fears of:

… some evil [that] threatens the wellbeing of society. 

In this situation, multiculturalism is presented as creating such fears where many of the immigrants are seen as “strangers”, culturally different from everybody else.

For some, known as “mixophiles”, the presence of such strangers in their midst is a positive aspect of city life. But not so among “mixophobes”, whom Bauman saw as concentrated among those who:

… lack the capacity to cut themselves off from [what they see as] … all too often unfriendly, distrustful and hostile urban environments. 

This latter situation provides “highly fertile and nourishing meadows tempting many a political vote-gatherer to graze on them”. This, Bauman argues, is an opportunity:

… a growing number of politicians [not to mention certain media elements] would be loath to miss.

[Guest263228]

Australia is hardly swamped by Muslims (especially) nor Asians, but obviously numbers have substantially grown over the previous dozen years. Certain suburbs like Hurstville in Sydney has some 50% plus of the population born in one particular country that being China.

Australia has largely been enhanced by the growth of multi ethnic populations within its midst, but caution is needed. The population is growing far too quickly for most peoples taste. This in turn, even in a country, which displays as much apathy as Australia tends to around politics and similar topics, promote a very ugly underside which could turn quite nasty given the right spark.

We tend to crow too much with regards to just how successful an immigrant nation we have become/are. We have hardly been tested yet. We need to keep in mind many are doing it tough. The housing market is highly stressful for many.  Job security is something of the past. It wouldn't take to much of a turn in economic conditions to allow a breeding ground of hatred to emerge in particular areas of cities within the nation.

[starlight7]

At our church we have many different nationalities and not many Australian born.  Recently we have had an influx of Chinese born members and they are lovely warm personalities who are bringing so much joy to the rest of us. We have Americans, Mexicans, Scots, Chinese, French, Mauritians, Fillipinos,Hungarians, Germans, Greeks, Slovakians,Sri Lankans and those are just the ones sat around me yesterday.  Fantastic- and when we eat together- wow, talk about culinary delights!

[Parley]

40 minutes ago, starlight7 said:

At our church we have many different nationalities and not many Australian born.  Recently we have had an influx of Chinese born members and they are lovely warm personalities who are bringing so much joy to the rest of us. We have Americans, Mexicans, Scots, Chinese, French, Mauritians, Fillipinos,Hungarians, Germans, Greeks, Slovakians,Sri Lankans and those are just the ones sat around me yesterday.  Fantastic- and when we eat together- wow, talk about culinary delights!

You will probably never get a muslim in your church, so no need to worry.

[starlight7]

No we wouldn't get a practising Muslim but we do have some (several) who were brought up in that faith . We most likely wouldn't get a Catholic ( though the Hungarians used to be) or a Buddhist, either-( some of the Chinese people were once) but we have got some Jews because that is more of a nationality than a belief system.Muslims are not a national group, they can come from any race, as can Christians.

[CaptainR]

The reality is that Australia is much closer to Asia and the future of Australia is going to be heavily influenced by China. 
 
 As for Islam, I have no issue with this religion in general, but the migrants from certain Islamic countries which have no tolerance for Christianity and many of the western values are a concern if they aren't properly integrated.  

[MARYROSE02]

Parramatta where I work is certainly a melting pot. It's one of the Indian - hindu? - festivals at the moment - Divali? Divalhi? Last year the ladies all came into the office dressed very colourfully - reminded me of the Beatles in their Sgt Pepper uniforms. My office is very multi-cultural.

I don't know where all the racists are hiding either. What is the name of that idiot on a mega salary with the supercalfragilicious name? He wrote a piece in the Sydney Morning Herald advising us we all have to be vigilant to stamp out racism, i.e WHITE racism, as of course there is no other type. To hear him talk you'd think Australia was barely one step from South Africa under apartheid.

Aren't there a couple of video adverts out too? I've not seen them, or want to. I heard one is about a racist taxi driver refusing to take a non-white fare, which is ironic as most cabbies in Sydney are not white.

It would be impossible to live a racist white supremacist life in Sydney. All my services are run by Chinese, Thais, Vietnamese, Bangladeshis, etc.

[benj1980]

On 09/10/2017 at 19:00, CaptainR said:

The reality is that Australia is much closer to Asia and the future of Australia is going to be heavily influenced by China. 
 
 As for Islam, I have no issue with this religion in general, but the migrants from certain Islamic countries which have no tolerance for Christianity and many of the western values are a concern if they aren't properly integrated.  

Agreed, Asia has a massive influence on us and will continue to do so. Integration is key and Australia seems to promote it's value better than the UK ever did. Long may it continue!

[Slean Wolfhead]

On 10/9/2017 at 19:03, starlight7 said:

At our church we have many different nationalities and not many Australian born.  Recently we have had an influx of Chinese born members and they are lovely warm personalities who are bringing so much joy to the rest of us. We have Americans, Mexicans, Scots, Chinese, French, Mauritians, Fillipinos,Hungarians, Germans, Greeks, Slovakians,Sri Lankans and those are just the ones sat around me yesterday.  Fantastic- and when we eat together- wow, talk about culinary delights!

went to a wedding on Saturday in Sydney.

An Australian with Indian heritage, Catholic, marrying a non-religious Chinese girl. Talk about a riot of colour and a  hotchpotch of a service, but it was fabulous.  This is the future of the world when we gradually mix and put our faith in reality, making changes to long-established traditions.  Evolution?

(and the food was to die for...)

[Parley]

It is a shame if it goes too far in my opinion.

Countries will lose their identities and heritage.

There will be no meaning in Australian, British or European.

It will just be a big hotch potch of everything and stand for nothing.

Very sad. Immigration must be strictly limited.

[Slean Wolfhead]

1 minute ago, Parley said:

It is a shame if it goes too far in my opinion.

Countries will lose their identities and heritage.

There will be no meaning in Australian, British or European.

It will just be a big hotch potch of everything and stand for nothing.

Very sad. Immigration must be strictly limited.

You'll be dead one day and not have to see it, just like those 107 billion people who've lived and died within their own eras over hundreds of thousands of years....when the first boundaried country was only made about 5000 years ago.   

It really only matters to the living.

[Parley]

10 minutes ago, Slean Wolfhead said:

You'll be dead one day and not have to see it, just like those 107 billion people who've lived and died within their own eras over hundreds of thousands of years....when the first boundaried country was only made about 5000 years ago.   

It really only matters to the living.

Would you really be happy if cockney accents, Liverpool and Manchester accents and every other accent disappeared in Britain.

Everything gone that makes you think of what it means to be British and just replaced with a massive hotch potch of Muslims, Asians and other races.

I would be very sad and yes I hope I am not alive to ever see it.

[DukeNinja]

How about all the cultures and religions that have been "converted" to Christianity by their missionaries? Or cultures radically changed through the invasion by the British Empire over centuries? If we can't take it, the we shouldn't have given it.

On another note, what if humanity was purposefully segregated into different races on different continents, and we'll only pass go and collect £200 once humanity has merged into one race of mixed races, and a singular holistic belief?

[CaptainR]

19 hours ago, DukeNinja said:

How about all the cultures and religions that have been "converted" to Christianity by their missionaries? Or cultures radically changed through the invasion by the British Empire over centuries? If we can't take it, the we shouldn't have given it.

On another note, what if humanity was purposefully segregated into different races on different continents, and we'll only pass go and collect £200 once humanity has merged into one race of mixed races, and a singular holistic belief?

Now that is some seriously deep thinking! None of us like change, but inevitably it will happen. As British we ourselves are mongrels as a direct result of many invasions. Life just moves on. I suppose the hard part is that for many, myself included, we see Islam as a religion completely opposing our way of life and the freedoms our predecessors have fought for. Yet I lived and worked in a wonderful Islamic country for many years and thoroughly enjoyed the minimal crime and pleasant nature of the residents. No drunks on the streets and I could leave my car or house unlocked... 

[ramot]

Not all Muslim countries are as you described CR. Certainly kept our house and gate locked , in the 10 years in Brunei, and it's the only country that We have had our car broken into, or that I have been spat at. Then there were the spate of phone calls threatening the wives when our husbands were away working by a local working in the rostering office. Not funny answering the phone at night and hearing someone say I am coming to kill you.

Loved the way we were always described as Aliens or Orang Putih in the paper, and the local who chased one of my children's friends with a machete certainly couldn't be described as peaceful.

So like everywhere in the world some places are safer than others irrespective of religion.

Edited November 1, 2017 by ramot

[Guest263228]

A somewhat unfortunate heading.  It makes it sound, until read that Australia is becoming over run with Muslims and Asians. Demographics are changing out of necessity and finally an awareness of world position.

Where the problem lays is the near record numbers entering the country. While numbers have declined, Australia is still increasing population at developing world levels. Besides maintaining the housing Ponzi, something I have been at pains to point out for a few years, there is absolutely no need to bring in so many people. Same for the ridiculous, highly  abused 457 visa. The future does not require the workers of old. We are declining in living standards in the process.

Not issues that immediately bother most on here, where increasingly it has become a forum of ways to remain regardless of having a required qualification.

[Guest263228]

On ‎1‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 16:52, ramot said:

Not all Muslim countries are as you described CR. Certainly kept our house and gate locked , in the 10 years in Brunei, and it's the only country that We have had our car broken into, or that I have been spat at. Then there were the spate of phone calls threatening the wives when our husbands were away working by a local working in the rostering office. Not funny answering the phone at night and hearing someone say I am coming to kill you.

Loved the way we were always described as Aliens or Orang Putih in the paper, and the local who chased one of my children's friends with a machete certainly couldn't be described as peaceful.

So like everywhere in the world some places are safer than others irrespective of religion.

You have discussed Brunei experiences with me previously and never mentioned fears for your safety. Orang Putih , is not considered a bad term. Purely means a white person.

[Flano]

Aussie chat
Dual nationality,
Can I claim to be an Aussie because I’m here , just like them politicians or do I still have to go back England in a couple of weeks .
I wish I was a natural born slimy lying bastard like some other people

[Guest263228]

Australian politicians. They do make one wonder just whom they work for. Increasingly all is being revealed. lol.....

[Guest263228]

On ‎31‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 13:15, Parley said:

It is a shame if it goes too far in my opinion.

Countries will lose their identities and heritage.

There will be no meaning in Australian, British or European.

It will just be a big hotch potch of everything and stand for nothing.

Very sad. Immigration must be strictly limited.

Not sure what this means in the Australian context. I'm reasonably sure the original inhabitants have long felt identity and heritage issues. So much so that a rediscovery of meaning was/is necessary. Not dissimilar from other colonised and settler countries.

Europe, a continent with far stronger roots planted into the ground, it is a loss. Although I blame the global imposition to a larger extent than pure immigration.

[Guest263228]

On ‎31‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 13:33, Parley said:

Would you really be happy if cockney accents, Liverpool and Manchester accents and every other accent disappeared in Britain.

Everything gone that makes you think of what it means to be British and just replaced with a massive hotch potch of Muslims, Asians and other races.

I would be very sad and yes I hope I am not alive to ever see it.

Have you not been to London for sometime? Cockney is well on the way out and now found more in Essex, I believe, than the East End. The multi cultural London accent now rules the streets there. I think its even called something alone those lines.

When last in Yorkshire funnily enough, all the young Pakistani Muslims I heard spoke in the local dialect and were as British as anyone else, if another strand of Britishness.  

[ssiri]

Would you really be happy if cockney accents, Liverpool and Manchester accents and every other accent disappeared in Britain.
Everything gone that makes you think of what it means to be British and just replaced with a massive hotch potch of Muslims, Asians and other races.
I would be very sad and yes I hope I am not alive to ever see it.

Britain will never lose its heritage - which is centuries old. As the centuries continue to rack up, what went before just gets assimilated and included in its heritage and culture.

Colonialism and the influences from the colonies were part of that heritage long before the first major wave of immigrants came on the boat to Britain - we are talking around abolition of slavery times here.

For example if I go into a church, I don't have to burst into a Bollywood song and dance number, or Jewish, Polish, Somali, Caribbean or Muslim (insert immigrant or religious background here) song and dance routine just as if I go into a pub or club or hotel anywhere in the land. Unless it's a specific Bollywood other ethnic/ religious event of course.

Similarly I don't feel the need to burst into the chorus of Jerusalem, or onward Christian soldiers (and don't see anyone else feeling the need to either) at a non-Christian event.

My point is, British heritage and culture hasn't changed by the assimilation and aggregation of others it's only grown and been enhanced. Heck a Ruby Murray is just as British as Fish and Chips now - anywhere I go in Britain. And we (mostly) all love it.

I lived in the Home Counties, before moving to Oz. It's very conservative (Tory) , affluent all the way to working class backgrounds. The people I mixed with (in one whole group, not individual groups I might add) were white, black, Asian (Far East and Sub continent), Christian, Muslim, Atheist, Hindu, working, and middle class to affluent. Straight and Gay.

All these families and 'cultural' groups of people mixing in the one group- sense of community and helping each other out was still there - no segregation or barriers. They were all British and we all really got on. There were some Europeans and Africans who'd visit also.

Non of this ethnicity based segregation I see here in the suburbs or country here in Sydney/NSW, did I experience in England, where I lived. This was in one of what could be called the whitest party's of the Country - Buckinghamshire - in a part of the country where 13.6% of the population were non white (compared to 14.6% across England). A very bastion of English countryside, market towns and rolling hillside (The Chilterns). No Chelsea London lefty, liberals/luvies here in Bucks - and it's not inherited wealth either.

So I don't see this tragic dilution and subjugation of heritage and culture you talk about - in what is one of the most British parts of the country....instead almost everyone assimilating and getting on.

[Toots]

3 hours ago, Pura Vida said:

Have you not been to London for sometime? Cockney is well on the way out and now found more in Essex, I believe, than the East End. The multi cultural London accent now rules the streets there. I think its even called something alone those lines.

When last in Yorkshire funnily enough, all the young Pakistani Muslims I heard spoke in the local dialect and were as British as anyone else, if another strand of Britishness.  

Yes of course and in Scotland the Indians and Pakistanis talking in a broad Scottish accents - great curry restaurants.  Best one I ever went to in the whole of the UK was Stirling.  Also when on the island or Oransay (Inner Hebrides) the only shop there was owned by an Indian family.

[Guest263228]

2 hours ago, Toots said:

Yes of course and in Scotland the Indians and Pakistanis talking in a broad Scottish accents - great curry restaurants.  Best one I ever went to in the whole of the UK was Stirling.  Also when on the island or Oransay (Inner Hebrides) the only shop there was owned by an Indian family.

Which goes further to support though complexions change little else does. Well at least in the form od accent. London appears to be a special case. Being perhaps the worlds most multi cultural urban centre a unique sound, not fully of English intonation but with Caribbean and possibly some East Asian influence has developed and seems to be the patter on the streets by the young at any rate. 

[Guest263228]

4 hours ago, ssiri said:

 

 

 

 

Britain will never lose its heritage - which is centuries old. As the centuries continue to rack up, what went before just gets assimilated and included in its heritage and culture.

Colonialism and the influences from the colonies were part of that heritage long before the first major wave of immigrants came on the boat to Britain - we are talking around abolition of slavery times here.

For example if I go into a church, I don't have to burst into a Bollywood song and dance number, or Jewish, Polish, Somali, Caribbean or Muslim (insert immigrant or religious background here) song and dance routine just as if I go into a pub or club or hotel anywhere in the land. Unless it's a specific Bollywood other ethnic/ religious event of course.

Similarly I don't feel the need to burst into the chorus of Jerusalem, or onward Christian soldiers (and don't see anyone else feeling the need to either) at a non-Christian event.

My point is, British heritage and culture hasn't changed by the assimilation and aggregation of others it's only grown and been enhanced. Heck a Ruby Murray is just as British as Fish and Chips now - anywhere I go in Britain. And we (mostly) all love it.

I lived in the Home Counties, before moving to Oz. It's very conservative (Tory) , affluent all the way to working class backgrounds. The people I mixed with (in one whole group, not individual groups I might add) were white, black, Asian (Far East and Sub continent), Christian, Muslim, Atheist, Hindu, working, and middle class to affluent. Straight and Gay.

All these families and 'cultural' groups of people mixing in the one group- sense of community and helping each other out was still there - no segregation or barriers. They were all British and we all really got on. There were some Europeans and Africans who'd visit also.

Non of this ethnicity based segregation I see here in the suburbs or country here in Sydney/NSW, did I experience in England, where I lived. This was in one of what could be called the whitest party's of the Country - Buckinghamshire - in a part of the country where 13.6% of the population were non white (compared to 14.6% across England). A very bastion of English countryside, market towns and rolling hillside (The Chilterns). No Chelsea London lefty, liberals/luvies here in Bucks - and it's not inherited wealth either.

So I don't see this tragic dilution and subjugation of heritage and culture you talk about - in what is one of the most British parts of the country....instead almost everyone assimilating and getting on.

 

 

Ethnic segregation has likely been watered down over generations with non white immigration being in place far longer in UK than Australia. Apparently it still exists in certain  locations like former mill towns in Yorkshire, not that I have witnessed it.

I do recall Brick Lane and the area being magnet for Bangla's and Brixton for Caribbean's etc. In the case of Australia the vast majority of our Indian born population for example has arrived since  2008. Newbies often cluster.

My area of London W2 was a complete mix on nationalities. Loved the locality. There was a time it was even known as Brazilwater due to a lot of that nationality moving in. But there was so much diversity in language in reality it was hardly noticeable. English did appear to be a minority language a lot of the time.

Edited November 3, 2017 by Pura Vida