Global demographics are set to undergo unprecedented change as several of the world’s population powerhouses approach stark slowdowns with falling fertility rates and ageing populaces. For much of the world a new era of one child families has dawned and…

Australian-born Nam Quach speaks with a local drawl, barracks for the Western Bulldogs and is the mayor of Maribyrnong. But just last month he was disparagingly called a “Chinaman” and voters even questioned whether he spoke English. This is a…

RAFIK Heshmeh is holding evidence of the unfair world he left behind. At 27, Mr Heshmeh is among the first of a new wave of humanitarian refugees to arrive from Syria, and he is scrolling through the photographs of his…

More than 30 babies born to asylum seeker mothers in Australia will be able to stay in the mainland with their families and not be processed on Nauru under a secret deal struck by crossbencher Ricky Muir. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison announced the decision…

(Warning: this story includes graphic and confronting material) Rafik Heshmeh, 27, a refugee from Syria, has been in Australia for six months but the horrors of the strife and destruction he fled still haunt him. A student, who lived in…

When his boss fired up the barbecue at the site of a massive engineering project in outback Queensland and cooked lunch for everyone, Iranian professional migrant Ali suffered what he calls ‘culture shock’. “I couldn’t believe it,” said the 39-year-old…

Migrants have brought vital skills and labour to help build Australia’s economy and society at critical times in the nation’s history as well as contributing to economically sustainable population numbers, a new study has found. From small business owners and…

Elnaz Tavancheh, an ethnic Hazara who fled her home in Iran to avoid persecution and threats, completed her VCE at the school this year and is hoping to study at university. After fleeing to Indonesia from Iran and taking a…

Commonly held misconceptions about refugees are the target of important new research from Oxford University which explodes many damaging myths about those forced to flee their homelands. Associate Professor Alexander Betts’ work dispels popular assumptions about refugees’ dependence and economic…

Research by VicHealth shows that four out of five (78 per cent) Victorians are in favour of cultural diversity, however, over half (54 per cent) of survey respondents could identify at least one group they believe does not “fit into…

The latest federal budget is likely to exacerbate income inequality and poverty in Australia, including among newly-arrived migrants, according to a Senate report into inequality. The report titled ‘Bridging our growing divide: inequality in Australia’ and produced by the federal…

Greek comedian George Kapiniaris didn’t experience schoolyard racism until he moved from the multicultural inner suburb of Richmond to the ‘Anglo’ suburb of Doncaster, in Melbourne’s outer east. “Richmond High … was ninety per cent ethnic and probably eighty per…