Brisbane Community Consultation Report
Racism and civil society: A community consultation held at the Brisbane City Hall, Brisbane Queensland, on 18 July 2001
Speakers:
- Karen Walters,
Qld Anti-Discrimination Commissioner
- Frank Panucci, Acting Director, Race Discrimination Unit, HREOC
Theme 2: Victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
Theme
4: Provision of effective remedies, recourse, redress, [compensatory]
and other measures at the national, regional and international levels.
Theme 5: Strategies to achieve full and effective equality,
including international cooperation and enhancement of the United Nations
and other international mechanisms in combating racism, racial discrimination,
xenophobia and related intolerance, and follow-up.
Recommendations
Theme 1: Sources, causes, forms and contemporary manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
There was general agreement that racism pervades Australian society in several different forms. Racism exists among individuals and groups of white people, against Indigenous people, as well as between white and 'ethnic' people and between ethnic groups.
Institutional racism was identified as the most dangerous type of racism because it is built into the structures of systems and is usually not seen. Law courts, government departments and the health system function in a manner that favours one group over another, reinforcing racist attitudes in the community. Institutional racism is a major problem particularly in terms of the allocation of government resources and the level of priority attached to implementing recommendations made by reports examining issues within the community.
Aboriginal participants reported experiencing racism as a daily lack of acceptance from people, something they could discern in people's behaviour from their visible actions down to more subtle manifestations in their body language. They reported regular experiences of receiving an inferior level of service to that given non-Aboriginal people.
Participants from migrant and refugee backgrounds described persistent difficulties gaining employment if they have an accent or are not white.
A number of concerns were raised relating to manifestations of racism in the media, which in turn encourage further discrimination in the community. It was believed that ethnicity is employed only in negative news stories and especially in reports of crime. "When it's negative they are 'ethnic' when it's positive they are Australian." These stories reinforce stereotypes and encourage the labelling of entire communities, such as the identification of 'ethnic youth' with 'criminal gang'. They also remove the individuality of the person they are talking about. The popular media were seen as the main perpetrators, criminalising entire peoples and trading on fear in the community. More broadly the media removes difference in its treatment of issues, not reflecting the diversity that exists among Aboriginal people or the contributions of migrant groups.
Racism also exists in the use of institutional power in society, and in the use and abuse of power imbalances. Participants agreed that the use of law and language in Australia privileges certain groups over others. Importantly the police and the media are based on, and operate according to, the values of the dominant 'Anglo' culture. This leads to institutional discrimination in their dealings with the different needs and beliefs of people from different backgrounds.
Participants noted that certain laws have a racially discriminatory impact on certain groups in society. For example, mandatory sentencing is racist in its targeting of Indigenous people. One participant also cited the discriminatory impact of the Queensland Vagrancy Act on Aboriginal people and the disproportionate attention paid by law enforcers to Aboriginal youth.
Participants agreed that the current denial of government services to, and stigmatisation of, holders of Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs) were examples of policies motivated by racism. They pointed to community organisations threatened with de-funding by DIMA if they support any people who have only a TPV. The rhetoric of the debate and restrictive practices by government departments tap into many people's deep-seated fears of outsiders and make TPV holders feel they are not worthwhile people in the community. It was argued that governments currently have a vested interest in perpetuating this sort of hostility.
It was agreed that the first cause of racism in Australia lies in the country's history, especially the racist basis of colonisation and dispossession of Indigenous peoples. This history was continued with the White Australia policy and other programs designed to ensure the dominance of white people in the country. Many participants believed that the attitudes of the White Australia policy still pervade Australian society. While the policy is no longer official or active, it still exists as a pervasive element throughout many institutions, including government agencies that don't reflect diversity in the community and serve to reinforce the power of the dominant culture.
Participants were of the view that Australia is reluctant to tell and teach the true history of the country, including its history of racism and xenophobia and the facts of Aboriginal resistance to the process of colonisation. An Aboriginal participant told of his nephew who was recently given a school assignment asking him to answer the question "Who discovered the Darling Downs?" The nephew, who was also Aboriginal, found the question very difficult to answer.
Recent government activities are also causing and exploiting racism in society. Participants believed the government was creating racial division by telling African community groups that their people cannot come to Australia as refugees because Iraqi and Middle Eastern "illegals" are "jumping the queue".
Media plays a dangerous role of reinforcing misinformation, targeting particular ethnic groups and manipulating information. One participant pointed to a Logan newspaper headline: "Illegal migrants out of Logan". These practices reinforce negative attitudes and do not teach people the positive side of how to deal with difference.
Some participants believed that much racism has economic roots, because racism is often a question of seeking or maintaining control over another group's resources and of decisions made on an economic basis. For example, racism against Indigenous peoples reinforces white control over land that was originally stolen from its traditional owners.
It was noted that people can also bring their own discrimination to Australia when they migrate here, underlining the importance of providing information about Australia's Indigenous people and diversity to migrants.
The main lesson we can learn is the need for education to overcome racist attitudes in society, in particular education from a very young age.
Governments and organisations need to move away from simply managing oppression, as they have done in the past and continue to do. That is, considerable energy and resources are expended in processes that do not substantially change current conditions, for example, the practice of commissioning reports in the community that are subsequently not implemented.
Some participants said that in combating racism we need to remember that human rights are often sacrificed for political and economic gains both domestically and internationally.
Some participants from migrant and refugee backgrounds identified that migrants need to support Aboriginal people in the struggle for their rights. They said that, having migrated to Australia, they are aware that this is not their land and that their roots lie elsewhere.
Another lesson we can draw from our past is the need to move from being a tolerant society to being a respectful society, accepting the challenges and opportunities of difference rather than simply tolerating difference and not engaging with it.
We need to learn from the struggle of white women against discrimination and - where culturally appropriate - adapt their tactics, experiences and efforts to build solidarity to the struggle against racism.
We need to build on the learning circles of the reconciliation movement.
There were also mistakes that we need to learn from. We need strong role models in the struggle against racism. Communities need to avoid "playing the government's game" when politicians attempt to play groups against one another.
Theme 2: Victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
It was agreed that Aboriginal people are the main victims of racism in Australia. Aboriginal participants noted that they had lived with racism all their lives.
One participant from a refugee background described his experience of first seeing racism against Aboriginal people when he came to Australia. He said he was acutely aware of the discriminatory treatment they received, particularly since he came from a country where colonisation, oppression and the denial of Indigenous rights are pronounced and violent. While he feels like an 'occupier' of this country himself, his cultural background and the treatment of his people have taught him the meaning and significance of land to Indigenous people.
Participants also agreed that racism is pronounced against people who are visibly different in either cultural or physical terms particularly when a person is seen as 'white enough' to be accepted or 'not white enough' and therefore to be treated differently.
Racism and its consequences affect individuals and whole communities in profound ways. At the individual level there is a significant impact on the individual psyche of dealing with racism's denial of, or a refusal to recognise, a person's individuality and identity.
It was agreed that racial discrimination also causes unemployment which in turn affects people both psychologically and emotionally, particularly when they cannot get jobs due to their accent when they speak English.
Aboriginal participants spoke of racism causing a form of post-traumatic stress disorder in their communities, which has made Aboriginal people themselves afraid of addressing the problems facing them.
Participants said that the situation for gay and lesbian people who are also victims of racism is considerably worse. They face discrimination on the basis of two parts of their identities and at the same time they may feel they are being forced to choose between their culture and their sexuality. It was also observed that it is very hard to secure funding for programs addressing young, gay Aboriginal men.
There was agreement that women also suffer double disadvantage as women and as victims of racism. White women face many struggles securing employment and equal workplace conditions. Women of migrant backgrounds find it even harder, with potential for discrimination against them on the basis of their race, accent and skin colour, and additional problems such as having their qualifications recognised. Some participants believed that the fear of difference prevalent in the 'mainstream' community in Australia is particularly pronounced when people deal with women from different cultural and religious backgrounds.
People also face discrimination on the basis of their age, either being 'too old' or 'too young', in addition to their race or ethnicity.
The impact of racism is compounded when a person also suffers other forms of disadvantage. They are victims of discrimination on multiple bases from the community at large, and in addition they can face discrimination from within their own communities based on attitudes to women, gays, etc.
Theme 3: Measures of prevention, education and protection aimed at the eradication of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance at the national, regional and international levels.
There was general agreement that schools must tell the truth about Aboriginal history. In order for this to be successful, it must be accompanied by a number of other measures to address racism in schools. These include compulsory training in Aboriginal history and anti-racism issues for teachers. Participants noted that when teachers themselves are racist they will not be committed to effective teaching against racism, even when they do address it in the classroom. They also said that the process for employing principals in particular schools needs to be reformed to ensure that only principals who can demonstrate their skills and attitudes in dealing with diverse backgrounds are employed in diverse areas such as Logan. There could also be programs in place to encourage people from non-English speaking backgrounds to become school principals.
Workshop participants discussed how to reach the broader community and how to implement programs that would change attitudes as well as behaviours. While racial and religious vilification laws and punishments were endorsed, some participants believed the laws were ineffective in changing attitudes. For this reason we also need government and community programs at all levels, including positive projects to combat racism, programs to address people at the family level and grass roots awareness-raising and education. Such programs should be funded by governments on an ongoing basis and be developed and run by communities themselves.
There is also a need to counter misinformation in the community with accurate information about Indigenous communities, migration, Australia's international refugee obligations, etc. Participants agreed that this information should also be provided in community languages to migrants and refugees when they come to Australia, since many migrants also have misapprehensions about Aboriginal people and what they receive.
The media needs to seriously address its own structural imbalances in terms of the views it presents of diversity in Australia and the number of Aboriginal faces on television. Some participants were in favour of compulsory quotas for representation of a diversity of faces, peoples and cultures in the media.
There are a number of programs that governments can implement to combat racism. There are policies relating to multiculturalism, interpreters, language, etc. in place, but they need to be fully implemented. The principles behind such policies need to be applied throughout government institutions and in particular applied in a way that addresses the structural racism which participants believe lie at their centre. A first step towards this would be programs to recruit a more diverse workforce in mainstream departments. Governments should also support and implement recommendations of existing reports addressing community needs. Another suggestion was for government agencies to include access and diversity criteria in the performance management process for senior executives, linking the achievement of diversity targets to individual managers' performance bonuses.
Both government and industry should also implement affirmative action programs for people from diverse backgrounds. It was suggested that compulsory employment quotas could be set for people from Aboriginal and migrant backgrounds.
It was agreed that government needs to take serious steps to address Indigenous problems if they are to have any credibility in tackling racism as a whole. Importantly, there is a need for programs to encourage full involvement of Aboriginal people in managing their affairs and in decisions which affect them. It was agreed that Aboriginal people are the experts in their own affairs.
Participants detailed various programs that they felt had been effective in challenging racism. These included:
- One program aimed to address racism and the lack of cultural awareness within the police service in Logan, south of Brisbane (the area with the highest proportion of migrants in Qld). It brought together twelve broad migrant and refugee communities and forty police officers. In a series of six workshops and a forum, members of the communities outlined issues relating to their cultures and their experiences of police in their countries of origin. Police described operational issues facing them. Communities have reported a change in how police relate to them, and the Qld state government has provided funding for follow-up work with police.
- The "Under the Skin" program of the Qld Education Department.
- The "Racism
No Way" website, with anti-racism materials for use by teachers
and school students. Website found at:
http://www.racismnoway.com.au/ - Multicultural learning circles.
- Cross-cultural exchange programs operating between northern Australia, Asia and the South Pacific.
It was also noted that some of the projects funded under the federal government's Living in Harmony grants had been effective anti-racism initiatives.
The Internet can be used as a tool for developing the capacity of communities to fight racism as well as a means of making anti-racism resources available to a wider audience.
It could be used more widely to bring together Indigenous youth and as a means of bringing Indigenous groups together internationally. There is also the capacity, which is being explored in some parts of Australia, for the development of websites and online projects that allow local communities to share information and develop local solutions. The Brisbane City Council's "Refugees Online" project was given as an example of the Internet's potential to allow people to discuss issues confronting them. The project aims to address the digital divide with refugee communities and allow refugee claimants to use the Internet and to tell their stories online.
The Internet can be a very effective means of sharing high quality information quickly and widely and an education tool for the wider community. Participants believed that we need more anti-racism sites such as "Racism No Way" (www.racismnoway.com.au) to inform people seeking information on the Internet and counter misinformation.
It was noted that in order to have the maximum impact, all websites addressing issues of racism need to pay attention to technical questions of website design. Specifically they need to be clever in their use of 'key words' so the sites are listed by search engines.
Acknowledgement and celebration
There was agreement that the diverse cultures in Australia are poorly acknowledged and their perspectives and needs are marginalised. We need to tell the truth about Australia's history and in particular about the Aboriginal history of the continent. Migrants and refugees who come to Australia should also be provided with materials published in community languages introducing them to Indigenous history.
The needs of Australians from diverse backgrounds are also inadequately recognised and addressed. For example, one participant noted that interpreter services are not linked in with '000' emergency numbers, with the result that people who do not speak English or who revert to their native language in a time of crisis, are unable to make effective use of the community's essential services.
Participants noted that while there are many multi-cultural festivals and weeks of celebration in Australia, the challenge lies in maintaining momentum to acknowledge cultural diversity after the week is over. This is a living process that must be present in the society's every day culture.
Theme 4: Provision of effective remedies, recourse, redress, [compensatory] [1] and other measures at the national, regional and international levels.
Many participants were of the view that none of Australia's laws dealing with racial discrimination will be strong enough until they are embedded in the country's constitution. This will ensure that the laws have enough strength to be effective and at the same time set out the ethical standards for which the country stands.
Laws dealing with racial discrimination need to be effectively implemented in order to have their full effect. However some participants questioned whether laws alone are enough to change the attitudes that motivate acts of racial discrimination. They noted that legislative standards and enforcement mechanisms must be accompanied by government and community programs to address racism and racist attitudes at all levels of the community.
In addition to constitutional reform to guarantee a right to non-discrimination in Australia, the laws could be strengthened by the inclusion of criminal sanctions for acts of racial hatred, with an emphasis on sanctions that provide a remedy for victims of racial hatred.
Some participants believed that racial motivation should be included as a consideration when the courts assess the seriousness of a criminal offence, especially where violence is involved.
The first aim of laws addressing racial discrimination should be to set out the society's values and articulate its expected standards of behaviour towards other people. Participants believed this is why anti-discrimination laws should have a constitutional basis.
The second aim should be the prevention of racial discrimination through education campaigns based on the standards set out in the laws. Education is vital in order to reduce the incidence of racism in the community and to ensure that legal proscriptions do not simply lead people to hide their racism or to express it in more covert ways.
The third aim should be to provide the hard edge of deterrence and punishment for perpetrators of racism, taking account of the impact of racist violence and the impact of racism in general on its victims. Laws punishing racial discrimination must provide the means to work with the perpetrators and to prevent reoccurrence by dealing effectively with people who do not want to change.
A treaty or peace accord should be negotiated in Australia, setting a new basis for relationships between Indigenous people and the rest of society, including migrants and institutions of government and civil society.
Theme 5: Strategies to achieve full and effective equality, including international cooperation and enhancement of the United Nations and other international mechanisms in combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and follow-up.
The international arena now has a very significant influence on many areas of Australian life. Participants discussed the influence of globalised media - controlled by particular people and their interests, drawing on limited sources of information - and the complex manner in which they reproduce overseas stereotypes in Australia.
Some participants were of the view that globalisation has meant the precedence of the values of 'global corporatism' over local community interests, a shift that may serve to the disadvantage of efforts to address racism at the community level.
Australia's policies on a range of issues are increasingly global policies. For example, it was said that Australian policies regarding refugees and asylum-seekers are in accordance with those of other Northern countries, although it was noted that many Northern countries receive in a day the number of asylum seekers Australia receives in a year.
Organisations working to defend against racism need to forge new relationships with others doing similar work internationally, including bringing together common issues in the Indigenous and broader human rights agendas.
There is a need to promote Australian best practice, research, risks and solutions in addressing racism before global approaches are taken on.
There needs to be a stronger system of regulation of the activities of foreign companies in Australia, and in particular to make it clear that if they cannot abide by certain values - including workplace diversity and anti-racism - they will not be permitted to operate here.
Participants noted that human rights need to be the heart of all international relationships, but they are often sacrificed for political and economic gains.
Organisations in Brisbane are seeking to address issues of human rights and discrimination in a people's forum held in parallel with the CHOGM meeting in Brisbane in October.
Recommendations
1. That government funding for SBS be increased.
2. That the ABC or SBS commission a "500 Nations" style of program for Australia, examining the history and cultures of Indigenous peoples in Australia.
3. That all levels of government condemn racism and commit to tackling it with the allocation of adequate resources for programs to address racism.
4. That all levels of government improve mechanisms for co-ordination among governments in addressing Indigenous issues.
5. That governments support mentoring programs across all communities.
6. That governments fund programs to target the anti-racism message to volunteers, corporations, professional and business people, including through the use of plain language materials and positive images of diversity. That these programs be appropriately articulated to reach their respective audiences.
7. That strategies be developed to ensure that more young people and second generation immigrants are directly involved in the development of programs aimed at eliminating racism.
8. That there be programs aimed at developing values of inclusion and acceptance specifically targeted at families.
9. That there be specific anti-racism and Indigenous culture programs for young people in schools.
1. Note: The word compensatory was in brackets as there was no consensus among governments to include it under this theme.
