Pauline Hanson wants a ‘monocultural’ society. But this version of Australia has never existed | Alan Atkinson

Multiculturalism has always been here.

Like it or not, it is part of the way we are

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Pauline Hanson says Australia cannot be multicultural and must exist as a “monocultural society”.

And yet Australia has never been monocultural, except as an unrealised dream.

Multiculturalism means having several cultures, or ethnicities, within a single nation-state.

Of course, multiculturalism is only a halfway house.

You can also have various language and legal traditions under one government, which it is fair to call pluralism.

The United Kingdom, for instance, including England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, is a pluralist state.