As I said in the OP, I never seriously believed that theory, it was just something that crossed my mind.

The difference I’ve found is that in NZ, if you were a permanent resident or citizen, you were a Kiwi. People were friendly. There was little racial vilification or abuse (although there was discrimination and some racism). So it was easy to assimilate because people treated you as one of them.

Australia is the only country I’ve lived in (having lived in 4) where I feel others utterly define me by my race. I don’t even think of myself as any particular race (my first language is English, I was born in what is now China and I’m of subcontinental ethnicity) yet despite being a citizen for several years, I’m somehow considered “an Indian” despite having never lived in the subcontinent! Additionally, people continually complain to me that “the Indians” don’t assimilate and are an insult to “Australian values”. I’m not even Indian!

I even have friends who are non-white but born in Australia who are considered “one of them” rather than “an Aussie” for no other reason than their skin colour (or in the case of Greeks, Italians and Lebanese, their parents’ country of birth).

Certainly the Muslims in NZ were far more assimilated/integrated than they are here.

I personally don’t mind if people are “assimilated” as long as they are contributing to society and staying out of trouble. Arguably nerds and other subcultures are not “assimilated” into “Australian culture”, however, perhaps that is a good thing