The flood of migrants from everywhere that is currently coming into Australia in an unmistakeable attempt to change the demographic character of the population appears destined to make Australia like a bad (even worse) copy of the European Union. Who has not seen the photograph (a photograph?) of the crowds in Melbourne outside Flinders Street station, where there is hardly a \u201cwhite\u201d face to be seen. But this situation can be turned on its head, particularly when one bears in mind Israel’s success in instituting Hebrew as the language of their state, in glaring contrast to e.g. Ireland’s failure to implant the Irish language as the lingua franca of that country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The attempt to turn Ukraine into \u201cthe new bigger Israel\u201d has apparently failed. Perhaps it is time to take some hints from one of the successful aspects of the colonization of Palestine: Israeli linguistic policy. Hebrew has been successfully introduced as the primary language of the Israeli state, displacing Yiddish, displacing or at least overshadowing, the national languages of the many countries from which Jewish immigrants have come to Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Australia the \u201cwhite Australia policy\u201d, which survived into the mid twentieth century, has been replaced at the official level by a quasi-religious idealization of Australia\u2019s \u201cfirst peoples\u201d. This is due for toning down but in my opinion it is unlikely to \u201cgo back\u201d to anything recognizable from the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As an Australian born in New South Wales but having lived in the 1970s for four years in Melbourne and having some slight contact with trade union activities, I noted that \u201cfirst nation\u201d Australians and others who identified with them were much friendlier to Mediterranean immigrants (primarily Greeks) than they were to Australians of Anglo-Celtic ancestry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Check out this entry from the website of the young Greek-Australian Kanellos Patsios: https:\/\/main.cse-initiative.eu\/?p=1313<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Kanellos recently also interviewed former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, who lived for twelve years in Australia, has a second family in Australia, and regards Australia as his second homeland. Would Varoufakis (and indeed Kanellos) be interested in trying to make the Greek language \u201cthe Hebrew of Australia\u201d? Canada is a dual-language state with English still in the topmost position. But English is much more suitable to be a winner\u2019s Esperanto, as it were, than to be the language of a state. In today\u2019s world English native-speakers who know no other language are at a distinct, and accelerating, disadvantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/cairnsnews.org\/2026\/02\/23\/without-drastic-policy-reversals-australia-will-undergo-irreversible-demographic-transformation-by-the-late-21st-century\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Postscript 28th February 2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Israeli attack on Iran has made it impossible for yesterday’s (Friday’s) proposed discussion focus to stand unaltered. Not that anything essential in the message needs alteration. All that cannot stand without modification is the presentation. The focus on Hebrew was not aimed at promoting Hebrew. Quite the opposite. It was something of a pre-emptive peace offering towards the Israelis who would not have wanted their government to do what it has just done. And yesterday’s message also targeted the Anglophone world, and that targeting stands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The inabiity of thinking Israelis to influence the actions of their government further diminishes them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The flood of migrants from everywhere that is currently coming into Australia in an unmistakeable attempt to change the demographic character of the population appears destined to make Australia like a bad (even worse) copy of the European Union. Who has not seen the photograph (a photograph?) of the crowds in Melbourne outside Flinders Street station, where there is hardly a \u201cwhite\u201d face to be seen. But this situation can be turned on its head, particularly when one bears in mind Israel’s success in instituting Hebrew as the language of their state, in glaring contrast to e.g. Ireland’s failure to implant the Irish language as the lingua franca of that country. The attempt to turn Ukraine into \u201cthe new bigger Israel\u201d has apparently failed. Perhaps it is time to take some hints from one of the successful aspects of the colonization of Palestine: Israeli linguistic policy. Hebrew has been successfully introduced as the primary language of the Israeli state, displacing Yiddish, displacing or at least overshadowing, the national languages of the many countries from which Jewish immigrants have come to Israel. In Australia the \u201cwhite Australia policy\u201d, which survived into the mid twentieth century, has been replaced at the official … Continue reading