Today’s society stands on the shoulders of all of our forbears, extending right back to those who came on the convict boats in the very early days.

The only people who can honestly claim to have no migrant history would have to be our Aboriginal people who were well and truly in existence long before the white people arrived and took over their land.

As far as ‘boat people’ are concerned – Australia is an island continent, and prior to aeroplanes, the only way anyone could come here was by boat, and I don’t imagine those boats were first class ocean liners.

The richness and diversity of the history of our forbears has left an indelible mark on today’s multicultural society,not a blot on the landscape. When we look at the huge number of people whose lives are in limbo because of inadequate visa processing, we might hang our heads in shame.

There are still people waiting longer than five years for their applications to be properly attended.

From a very reliable source I read that there are now 17,666 people living here in Australia, including 2956 children whose support services have been suspended, and who are now desperate to find work of any kind in a matter of weeks.

About 245 people are still surviving on Nauru, including 22 children, with another 750 people living in the community on Nauru. As an Australian, that simply is not good enough.

The comments made by Fraser Anning recently in his maiden address to Parliament have raised concerns in many quarters. I heard this described by a justice advocate as neoliberal, nationalist, and authoritarian thinking to the extreme.

Race, colour and creed are not the criteria for citizenship, and the Koran is not a manual instigating war, terrorism and extermination of those whose beliefs differ from the ones we hold.

With the change in Peter Dutton’s ministerial position it will be interesting to see who can take over the role and turn the tide from endless detention, inadequate support and deprivation of hope, to a new horizon of rights and entitlements and a reasonable time schedule for the processing of all applications.

The lesser known second verse of our national anthem sings of making this Commonwealth of ours renowned of all the lands.

It then goes on to sing: “for those who’ve come across the seas we’ve endless plains to share”. Can we take up the challenge and make this a reality?

Country towns and cities like Orange are quite capable of helping newcomers settle into the Australian way of life, and Orange City Council even has a support worker doing excellent work in this field.

Another song running round in my head is the Bruce Woodley and Dobe Newton I am Australian.

They sing of being one, and being many, and coming from all the lands on earth, and acknowledging that citizenship is both personal and communal.

Multiculturalism is here to stay. It’s up to each of us to make sure that bias and prejudice don’t interfere with the respectful recognition of traditions from other countries.