University student Anhaar Kareem has criticised Harmony Day and broader multicultural rhetoric in Australia, arguing they mask the country's entrenched racism. Writing in a personal essay, Kareem contends that such celebrations create a false illusion of tolerance while making support for immigrants and people of colour conditional on their economic contributions.
Pauline Hanson's platform and rising anti-immigration sentiment
Kareem watched Pauline Hanson's National Press Club address, where the One Nation leader repeated calls for Australia to be 'monocultural'. Hanson used marginalised communities as scapegoats for broader social problems, which Kareem says stem from entrenched inequalities in a capitalist, colonialist country that subjugates Indigenous people, migrants, and other historically disadvantaged groups.
Days after Hanson's speech, the Lowy Institute's annual poll revealed a 17 percentage point drop in the share of people who say cultural diversity has been good for Australia, from 90% in 2024 to 73%.
Harmony Day's origins and impact
Kareem recounts how her father explained that Harmony Day was introduced by the Howard government in 1999 to 'hide the longstanding systemic racial discrimination many people have faced in Australia'. The day coincides with the United Nations' International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which commemorates the 1960 shooting of anti-apartheid protesters in South Africa.
'Having a day to celebrate supposed harmony diminishes the ongoing truth of racism in this country, and instead reinforces a comfortable and easy myth: that Australia is a global example of a tolerant and accepting multicultural society,' Kareem writes.
Conditional empathy and systemic issues
Kareem argues that many multicultural narratives emphasise what immigrants contribute to society, such as labour, food, or ethics, making empathy conditional on economic value. This strips immigrants of their humanity and uses economic metrics to determine worthiness of inclusion.
She notes that affirmations of immigrants' ability to 'assimilate' or stories of remarkable achievement make inclusion more palatable but also conditional. While such sentiment is appreciated in a time when acknowledging people of colour as equal is contested, Kareem remains sceptical of its validity.
'Simplistic celebration of Australia as a multicultural country hides what this nation truly is: a colonial project which continues to struggle with enrooted issues of racism,' she concludes.
