Mr Evans had morning tea with more than 50 community leaders and alleviated their concerns of alleged ingrained Australian racism. ``Australian people always say the last wave of migrants won't settle,'' he said.

``There were riots on the gold fields in the 1890s against the Chinese.

``I'm sure that the recent migrants will all be successful.

``We always look back on the good old days and say they assimilated better back then.''

Mr Evans said initial immigration difficulties would pass when the general public became used to the new cultures.

``You fear what you don't know,'' Mr Evans said. ``When people usually have personal contact, they realise [migrants] are human beings as well as just escaping from conflict.

``It's up to the rest of the community to adapt to what migrants bring as well.''

Mr Evans rejected the idea that Australia was a difficult place for newcomers to live in.

``I am a migrant myself from Wales,'' he said. ``We are a migrant country founded on the back of migrants. After visiting here last year, the UN High Commission on Refugees now goes around the world saying Australia does it best with migrants.

``He raves on about it.''