One of the neglected aspects of immigration and multiculturalism is the problem of enclaves, the creation of nations within nations, which was raised in the 1980s, but is not heard much nowadays. However, there is an informative article by Bernard Salt about “non-English-speaking clusters” in our capital cities:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/the-curious-nature-of-nonenglish-speaking-clusters-in-our-cities/news-story/4eaf844601ae657450e40c9c942b4473
“Last year’s census figures confirm our extraordinarily diverse cultural and linguistic composition. About 18 million out of 24 million speak English. About three million were born overseas but are English proficient, including about 1.5 million British and Kiwi immigrants. However, there are 820,000 Australian residents who described their English proficiency as poor and a further 193,000 who are about as proficient in English as I am in Mandarin.
Indeed, the number of residents who say they do not speak English is up from 118,000 a decade ago, which suggests that this cohort is growing by an average of 7000 people a year. If Australia is to remain one of the most welcoming and inclusive immigrant nations on earth then we also need to develop our language skills. And this doesn’t necessarily mean that all migrants must immediately learn English. I think that given the basis of modern Australian prosperity it is entirely appropriate for Mandarin to be taught universally in schools. I learned French in secondary school in the 1970s; today’s kids should be learning the language of our single most important trading partner.
Across the country 16 per cent of the population does not speak English at all or well, but in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide this proportion is closer to 18 per cent. And in parts of each of these cities there are well-defined non-English-speaking enclaves including the northern suburbs of Adelaide centred on Salisbury, the southwestern suburbs of Sydney between Lakemba and Cabramatta, and in Melbourne’s west around Sunshine and southeast around Dandenong. Brisbane’s southside centred on Logan and Sunnybank is also a non-English-speaking hotspot.”