Im kinda glad to see that theres only a few racist comments in this thread, which is probably 100 less than the ones who commented on the official article ( in google ).
Secondly, I think this idea of changing the country's holidays and creating one for eid is never going to work as someone said. In saying that however, i think eid should be recognized in that, prior to eid an employee should be able to tell their boss, look its my festival tomorrow and if its okay with you id like to take that day off to be with my family. That employee can make up for that day on another day. For example my dad works xmas day every year ( hes a doctor and since hospitals are always open... ) and every eid he takes the day off to be with us.
For the person who said to ' go back to where we came from ' and to stop taking for granted this ' invitation ' ( i rephrased what you said, so it may be inaccurate, however the general idea is still obvious ) Id just like to remind you
1) Australia did not invite anyone, the White Australia Policy was only removed to increase the labour workforce. Thats when the asians and middle easterns came in.
2) We play a very big part in your country right now in terms of
Economy/Trade ( Everything ' made in china, ' now if you piss off the chinese and send them all back, prepare to lose all your made in china items because im pretty sure china can sell them else where ). This also applies to India which is the fastest growing economy right now. Needless to say Australia is already on Indias badside.
Education ( needless to say just look at James Ruse and the top ten schools in NSW where the majority are asians who graduate with high 90's uai's and tend to be employed as doctors,dentists,accountants,engineers, getting scholarships/cadet ships etc etc. Now, although this looks like im generalizing, and i do realize many Australians pay a great deal of attention to education. Most that i know have lower expectations than typical asians in that they want 80+ uai, or an apprecentship, tafe, etc etc. Not that these are bad, but majority of people going for the higher sector are of other nationalities. And we do make up a large part of the workforce. We do work for your country, and we do pay our ' dues ' now although we do it for ourselves. Theres a lot in it for you.
Culture: Kebab shops, Thai Restaurants, China Town etc etc. Remove all other nationaltiies and you have maccas, burger ring, kfc. done.
3) Someone said something about Sudanese kids showing the ' darkside ' and how ' how these nationalities has a darkside. ' and something about them ' rolling ' a guy because he wasnt ' another colour. ' Ummm... Indians which were attacked in Melb & Sydney were also told ' to go back where they came from ' & were attacked simply because they weren't Australian. So it seems to me, Australians have a darkside too.
4) Just to state the obvious, this country thereotically speaking, belongs to Aboriginals. Everyone else came here. The " Australians " as convicts from Britian, and the other nationalities sometime later as " workers " We all came here in our own way. Same shit different smell.
I realize my reasons are a bit weak in that i havent really elaborated much or given strong examples, but given this is my ' break' from studying theres only so much i can write lol.
In general all i was saying is. I do appreciate being in Australia. I know if i had to go back to where i came from it would not be half as great as Australia. However in saying that, I hate it when people only point out the flaws these other nationalities bring with them and completely ignore all that we've also contributed to this country.
A lot of people ( extremist Muslims ) do try to impose stupid things, however, you must remember they are a minority and were not all bad.
Furthermore, Australia is what it is because of all of us together. Had Australia, America, UK remained anglo saxon i assure you there would be nothing interesting about the countries except for the fact that they knew how to keep/maintain peace to an extent.
These countries are what they are as a result of group effort. Australia is what it is because we all made it this way. Send everyone back to their own countries and well all be living in shit holes with no variation. I really do believe this.