Positive and Negative Ways of Decision - Makers Dealing with Sensitive Multicultural Issues

In the last century, it is well recognized that Australia in the post-war period has received an impressive diversity of immigrants from a multitude of nations. People from all over the globe have settled onto Australian shores bringing with them, their life experiences. Due to these facts, Australia is known to be a multicultural society; very diverse in ethnicity, culture, age, gender, race and class. Religion has been one important variety which immigrants have brought with them; however it has been very evident through my own findings, that religion is less widely part of research and informed discussion. As described by Bouma, G. (Mosques and Muslim Settlement in Australia, pp.iii, 1994) the role of religion in settlement, and the experiences of those professing a faith different from the majority of other members of Australian society, is relatively neglected in literature and immigration research.
Bouma G. shows that nearly 1percent of the Australian population indicates Islam as their religion. As part of my report, I have chosen to focus on religion, Islam in particular, and using local examples I will discuss how decision-makers work with communities in relation to religion, and provide examples where the values of different community groups living in the same area have come into conflict.
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