Australia’s National Identity Mess: Immigration, Blended Families, and the Inheritance Crisis, By Brian Simpson
As we have argued at the blog, Australia's social fabric is disintegrating under the twin pressures of an immigration explosion and a flawed multicultural framework, with the rise of blended families adding fuel to the fire. The influx of 437,440 migrants in the year to March 2025, far exceeding projections, is reshaping communities and exacerbating economic strains. Meanwhile, the growing prevalence of blended families, 12% of children live in such households, is sparking a surge in inheritance disputes, threatening the $3.5 trillion generational wealth transfer.Multiculturalism, combined with unchecked immigration and shifting family structures, is eroding Australia's national identity, economic stability, and social cohesion, creating a perfect storm of division and disinheritance. The future of this is social collapse, and even mainstream journalists are now contemplating this (as discussed in yesterday's blog re Greg Sheridan), something blog writers have been years ahead of the curve.
The immigration surge, with 437,440 arrivals against a promised cap of 260,000, is strangling Australia's economy. Housing prices in Sydney and Melbourne, where migrants predominantly settle, have soared, with median house prices exceeding $1.5 million, asnoted today at the blog. This crisis, compounded by a rental vacancy rate below 1%, locks young Australians out of the property market. As Alun Hill of Armstrong Legal notes, the $3.5 trillion wealth transfer from Baby Boomers is seen as a lifeline for many, particularly amidst the cost-of-living crisis. However, blended families are complicating this transfer, with disputes arising as children from prior marriages are cut out of wills in favour of new spouses or stepchildren.
These inheritance battles are not just personal, they're a symptom of broader economic pressures driven by mass immigration. The influx strains infrastructure, from overcrowded schools to overburdened hospitals, while inflating property values beyond reach. Disgruntled children, already priced out of housing, are increasingly forced to contest estates as their only path to financial security. Multiculturalism's promise of prosperity rings hollow when it fuels competition for scarce resources, leaving Australians fighting over scraps of their parents' legacies.
Multiculturalism, lauded as a celebration of diversity, is instead fostering division by encouraging cultural silos over a unified national identity. The immigration data, 916,330 Indian-born and 700,120 Chinese-born residents, shows a dangerous over-reliance on two source countries, creating enclaves in suburbs like Harris Park (45.4% Indian-born) and Hurstville (47% Chinese ancestry), as James Reed and Paul Walker also noted. This concentration, as Macrobusiness chief economist Leith van Onselen warns, risks spawning ethnic-based political parties, as seen in London, that value narrow interests over national unity.
The rise of blended families, often tied to immigration-driven demographic shifts, further fractures social cohesion. With 12% of children in step or blended families, inheritance disputes are surging as new spouses inherit estates at the expense of children from prior marriages. This dynamic, as Hill explains, leads to "disgruntled" children contesting wills, particularly when left with nothing while step-parents or half-siblings claim the lion's share. Multiculturalism's emphasis on diversity without assimilation exacerbates these tensions, as differing cultural expectations around family and inheritance clash, undermining the shared values that once bound Australians together.
Labor's immigration policy, which saw a 30% overshoot of its own projections, is not just economic mismanagement, it's a calculated move to secure electoral dominance. Seats like Parramatta (8.9% swing to Labor) and Bennelong (9.34% swing) have become strongholds thanks to concentrated Indian and Chinese voter bases. Van Onselen's warning of a "political gerrymander" rings true: with citizenship granted after three years, Labor is stacking its voter base, ensuring long-term power at the cost of national unity.
Blended families add another layer of complexity. As family structures diversify, often influenced by multicultural immigration patterns, estate disputes become a microcosm of broader societal fragmentation. The political incentive to maintain high immigration aligns with multiculturalism's push for cultural relativism, but both value electoral gain over social stability. The risk of ethnic-based parties, as seen elsewhere, looms large, potentially pressuring Labor to cater to specific communities' demands, such as expanded family visas, while sidelining broader Australian interests. It generates an infinite regress of chain migration.
Multiculturalism's rejection of assimilation in favour of cultural pluralism is dismantling Australia's Anglo-Australian core, which has historically anchored its stability. The rise of blended families, often involving partners from diverse cultural backgrounds, introduces competing inheritance norms, as seen in the growing litigation over estates. For example, a surviving spouse from a different cultural tradition may choose their own children, leaving stepchildren from prior marriages with nothing, as Hill notes. This not only fuels family conflicts but also erodes the shared civic values, fairness, mutual obligation, that once defined Australia.
The immigration-driven growth of enclaves, coupled with family fragmentation, risks creating a society where loyalty lies with community or clan rather than nation. This trajectory, as we've discussed at the blog, mirrors trends in other Western nations like the UK, where multiculturalism has led to cultural and political polarisation. Australia must reclaim a cohesive identity that chooses integration over division, ensuring that family and inheritance practices align with a shared national ethos.
In conclusion: Australia's immigration surge and the rise of blended families, set against a backdrop of misguided multiculturalism, are tearing at the nation's economic, social, and cultural fabric. The 437,440 new arrivals in a single year fuel housing and resource crises, while inheritance disputes, spurred by fragmented families, threaten the $3.5 trillion wealth transfer. Multiculturalism's failure to choose integration over diversity is creating a fractured society, where enclaves and electoral gerrymandering undermine national unity. Australia must reject this chaotic trajectory and restore a cohesive identity to safeguard its future.
"Inheritance warning as 'disgruntled' Aussies left out of wills in growing trend: 'Inevitable'
The rise in blended families has had a major impact on inheritance planning, with Aussies warned will disputes will boom.
Blended families are quickly becoming the new normal and it's set to bring a tidal wave of inheritance disputes. We are entering the biggest generational wealth transfer in Australia's history and a lawyer is already seeing "disgruntled" kids fighting for their inheritance as they are left with nothing.
More than a third of Australian families with children fall outside of the traditional "nuclear" family model. That includes about 12 per cent of children who live in step or blended families, meaning a family made up of a couple and their children from current and previous relationships.
Armstrong Legal national practice director Alun Hill told Yahoo Finance the changing nature of families meant there were a larger number of people that the deceased may be expected to provide for, and this is leading to more will disputes.
"With the rise in blended families, particularly involving second and third marriages, it is becoming increasingly common for a surviving spouse's family to ultimately inherit the deceased's partner's assets at the expense of that partner's children from their first marriage," he said.
"Often, the children of the first marriage will have no recourse but to claim against the estate. The result is increased estate litigation, often involving disgruntled children of prior marriages who would otherwise receive nothing out of their parent's estate."
Hill said people commonly ran into issues where kids from previous relationships were excluded or left with a disproportionately small inheritance compared to their parent's surviving partner.
"A new spouse receiving the entire estate or a big portion of it and then cutting their deceased spouse's children out of their will is another common scenario," he added.
Baby Boomers are expected to transfer $3.5 trillion to younger generations over the coming decades, which is also expected to bring a spike in will disputes.
"That, combined with the cost-of-living crisis and the Australian housing crisis, serves to incentivise people to claim against estates because for many people that is the only chance they may have to enter the property market," Hill added.
Comments