Intolerance is catchy

It takes less than 30 minutes to drive from Sydney's CBD west to Lakemba - a suburb that heaves with joyous diversity. It hosts the nation's largest mosque, set within a sea of dwellings where only a third of the residents were born in Australia, and Arabic is spoken more often than English.

- Bernard Lagan

Its wildly successful Ramadan night markets - set to draw a million visitors this year from mid-February to mid-March - serve up a vast array of fare each night from 6pm until 2am; there's samosa chat, dahi puri, mango lassi, chicken gozleme, satay, noodles, roti curry, knafeh, and many others.

The markets are testament to the nation's transformation since the last vestiges of the infamous White Australia policy were torn down in the early 1970s and replaced with multicultural policies that recognised the rights of migrants within mainstream Australia to express their cultural identity.

But not all agree - and some stridently disagree, such as Pauline Hanson, leader of Australia’s resurgent right-wing One Nation party, now commanding new highs in opinion polls. In late January, One Nation overtook the combined vote of Australia's centre-right opposition coalition for the first time. With more than 20% support, One Nation's popularity is threatening even the incumbent Labor government and, if current trends continue, might yet eclipse it.