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Acceptance Speech (Cameron Burns)
Firstly I’d like to thank the people responsible
for organising this competition; the Alfred Dreyfus Unit of B’nai
B’rith, the Australian Baha’i community and the Australian Law
Students Association. I feel this competition is a great concept
that gives young people the opportunity to comment and express their
views on Australia’s multicultural society. Congratulations to all
the other participants, I’m sure you would have presented many
valuable views and opinions. My inspiration for writing this essay
comes from my experiences at university. There I learnt the full
benefits of being in a multicultural environment. I and my fellow
students, who were from multiple backgrounds, had to work together
to complete assignments and projects. In finding solutions we also
shared our experiences and cultural traditions, and enjoyed our
friendly interaction. Then, unfortunately, I would see news
broadcasts with violent, abusive exchanges between cultures or
narrow-minded comments against minority groups, and this made me
angry and disappointed, and encouraged me to enter the competition.
Other, more positive influences, including Kevin Rudd’s apology to
the stolen generation, the jubilant mixture of nationalities
enjoying the 2006 Soccer World Cup and the increasing acceptance of
foreign cuisine and culture added enthusiasm to write an essay.
The main theme of my essay is education. I
believe that understanding and equality stem from knowledge. Where
this is most important is in children where their minds and moral
ideals are being developed. By teaching children to have acceptance
and understanding of people from different backgrounds, they will
carry, and practice these morals into adulthood. To make
contemporary Australia more equal and accepting, I suggested changes
to public and private school systems, allowing students to interact
and be exposed to different cultures by having more exchange
students and teachers from diverse backgrounds; changes to
Australia’s identity by including people of diverse heritage in
advertising and on popular television shows; adjustments to
religious and political systems by having holidays for all religions
to celebrate their significant events and having community leaders
from a wide variety of backgrounds. These are just a few of the
proposals I made to correct the remaining prejudice and segregation
that still exists in the community. I hope that the suggestions
generated by all the participants transcend into society and we can
look forward to living, working and growing together in harmony.
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