If we had no hand in the direction of our lives, and if we felt that we were never effective, we'd just sit back.  I don't expect that Muslims are the only people who realise that "change happens".  It does.  Stasis doesn't.  Static circumstances don't exist, even for ROCKS, Soren.  Some changes are rapid and some are very slow.  In fact, some are barely perceivable, but, change happens.  That's not fantastic, it just IS.

We attempt to manage our circumstances by making laws, policies, smiling, shaking hands, conversing, etc, and what we do, as individuals and in groups, does effect future events and circumstances.   The big question becomes, HOW, and whether or not desired effects have been achieved.  It's not always easy, nor obvious, what the consequences, that we reap, will be.  That's not an argument for a passive existence, mind.  Just an acceptance that we KNOW about UNFORESEEN CONSEQUENCES, and what the road to Hell is paved with. 

I've noticed that a lot of people think that the governments under which they live, are PERMANENT structures, even when they are able to see real changes that have occurred.  Now, that's what I call fantastic.  George Bush, for instance, talked about "a century of alliance" between the U.S. and Japan.  He forgot that the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Japan.  That's a pretty big blindspot.  Prior to that there were policies that were not friendly, and after that, there were policies that were not friendly, but he was busy ignoring facts.  He'd claimed that Putin was his pal, and he was busy ignoring facts.  Kind of like you do, when you say that recognizing that change happens is "Muslim thinking." 

See, you might think that I'm championing Muslims.  I'm not.  I'm pretty philosophical, myself, but I'm faithless, and I really want everyone to agree with me, and lose their attachment to the concepts of gods and afterlife, because I see them as problematic.  ... and silly... infantile... and a waste of energy.  ... and just beyond annoying for me, personally, since my particular position is NEVER considered to be one that requires respect... while I'm expected to politely listen to the gibberish that spews from religious people.   I am expected to be tolerant.  I quit. 

I don't live my life based on fear, and I feel sorry for people who do.  I don't hold a concept that includes some sentient state after death, so the time that I have is all there is, and I prefer to do other things, contemplate other things that are more immediately "important" than worrying about fantastic takeovers by "aliens".  I know that real nutters are walking around in my real space, but, even though I know people who have suffered the actions of real, undeniable lunatics, even though I KNOW some, in the broad view, those events were extremely rare.  I can only think of one that was possibly foreseeable, and that was one where a "Christian" family, in their zeal to be more thoroughly christian, I guess, handed themselves and their children to a religious cult leader, who decided to kill them all and bury them in his barn. 

The best tool that we have for ensuring harmony, even if it's not MY kind of ideal, is inclusion/COMMUNITY, and intelligent fostering of that drive in ourselves.  Nuts will happen.  Nothing will keep EVERYONE sane.  Nothing will guarantee absolute safety for individuals.

Wiki - Racial discrimination typically points out taxonomic differences between different groups of people, although anyone may be discriminated against on an ethnic or cultural basis, independently of their somatic differences. According to the United Nations conventions, there is no distinction between the term racial discrimination and ethnicity discrimination.

You keep buying this right wing Islamic fascist propaganda.

Quick question. Has anybody had to actually "change" the way they've gone about their regular (or even irregular) business as a result of, well, anything?

really I don't see an enormous gulf between our views

while I'm expected to politely listen to the gibberish that spews from religious people

That means that I am an extremist, and I know it.  I don't particularly think that extremists should force their views down other people's throats.  I prefer for people to think, rather than react...mostly. 

For any kind of ethics to be taken seriously it would have to be grounded in some form of pragmatism, something tangible, something that people can see and know that it will benefit them in some way.

Basically, what changes have been forced upon individuals here as a result of this supposed (or real as the case might be) increase in Islam in Australia?

But you would happily give up my freedom for secularism. The Muslims would give up my freedom for Islam. It looks to me like your views are closer to Abu's than mine.