He's doing well, but some Muslims battle

Devout Muslim and second-generation Lebanese-Australian Mohamad Assoum at the University of Sydney. Picture: James Croucher Source: The Australian

As a devout Muslim and second-generation Lebanese-Australian, Mohamad is a migrant success story, but as he readily concedes, he is not typical of the young men in his community.

He's from Auburn in Sydney's west, the heartland of migrant Australia, a region renowned for what he describes as a "cycle of disadvantage"- where education standards are poor, unemployment and crime are high and public infrastructure and resourcing are so often inadequate.

Less than three years ago, Mohamad's brother Mustafa, a youth worker, was murdered in a drive-by shooting late at night, a killing that was reported like a routine chapter in the "badlands".

In addition to crime and disadvantage, he has grown up experiencing the more everyday manifestations of racial intolerance - ridicule for a different-sounding name and a funny set of customs. "There is no doubting the hurdles we face, the problems," the 21-year-old said yesterday. "So many of the boys I used to know were capable of so much more but they're in prison, or sitting at home, or looking for a job, or on minimum wages because of the limitations put on them, by themselves and by the society."

It's an experience shared by Iraqi migrant Nagam Almamori, 18. As a young woman whose headscarf identifies her publicly as a Muslim, she finds herself the target of taunts. Asked if she had been treated well during her four years here, Ms Almamori, a student in social science at the University of Western Sydney, said: "Yes, a lot of good people, and actually a lot of bad people. Sometimes people talk bad."

Cultural differences, which often prompt hostility in mainstream Australia, are at the heart of this week's intense debate about multiculturalism and levels of Muslim immigration.

On Wednesday night, Immigration Minister Chris Bowen recommitted the Labor Party, and the Gillard government, to ethnic and cultural diversity, and yesterday began the task of selling the vision, designed to win back voter support in its ethnic heartland.

But even Mr Bowen has struggled to define multiculturalism.

"If you respect the Australian values of democracy, rule of law, equality of the sexes, then we invite you to be full members of our society," he told Ray Hadley on Sydney radio 2GB yesterday.

"We'll celebrate your cultures and your traditions, under that underpinning ethos, under those underpinning values of the Australian way of life, which is fair go, freedom, tolerance. . . "

But not all in the Labor movement were happy. Former Keating government minister Gary Johns, who was part of a government that spearheaded the multicultural agenda, condemned the new multicultural policy yesterday, arguing it misread the public mood.

Professor Johns, who is associate professor of public policy at the Australian Catholic University, said forcing people to accept identity politics made them uncomfortable. "You can't say to everyone 'we must all love each other', it's nonsense," he said.

"The government's got a big problem here. It's a lame-brained policy and it's totally inadequate.

"Australians aren't looking for this. They want strong boundaries about behaviour they want here. A policy around multiculturalism will make things worse because they are failing to articulate rules of what is acceptable in an Australian civil society."

The debate within Labor came as Mr Bowen's counterpart, Scott Morrison, sought to deflect reports that he had urged shadow cabinet colleagues to capitalise on the electorate's growing concerns about Muslim immigration and their perceived failure to integrate.

Mr Morrison would not comment on shadow cabinet but he stressed: "The gossip reported today does not reflect my views."

He weathered a storm of criticism earlier this week after arguing that taxpayers should not have to fund the $300,000 cost of bringing asylum-seeker detainees from Christmas Island to Sydney to attend the funerals of victims of December's Christmas Island boat disaster.

His comments, made on the day of the funerals, caused splits within the Coalition, with opposition Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey calling for compassion.

But for people like Mohamad Assoum, who credits a strong family and his own drive with helping him break free of the fate that awaited so many of his school-age friends.

Mohamad's older brother Moustafa was killed in an apparently planned hit by bikies after being lured to the roadside in the middle of the night.

A young father, youth worker and renowned kick-boxer, his death in October 2008 sparked calls within the Muslim community for an end to the violence and "macho culture" prevalent among young men. Youth leader Fadi Abdul-Rahman made a plea at the young man's funeral service: "For the love of Allah, I am pleading with you. Love one another - stop hating each other," he said.

Several Muslim leaders yesterday expressed dismay at being used as a political football by all sides of politics rather than being supported with resources needed to help foster a sense of social inclusion and find employment.

Keysar Trad, president of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, said while it was important for Muslims to acknowledge the problems in their communities, those communities were filled with families committed to the country and the basic concern of trying to forge a better life. "We've worked hard to get rid of this idea of clash of civilisations. It's a false construct. In Islam we are taught that societies progress through a meeting of different people."