Parramatta Community Consultation Report
Racism and civil society: A community consultation held at the Carlton Crest Hotel, Parramatta NSW, on 20 July 2001
Speakers:
- Maggie Smythe,
NSW Anti-Discrimination Board
- Thang Ngo, Fairfield
City Councillor
- Dr William Jonas,
Race Discrimination Commissioner and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Social Justice Commissioner, HREOC
- Joe Hedger, Aboriginal Youth Development Officer, Youth Action and Policy Association
Theme 1: Sources, causes, forms and contemporary manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
Theme 2: Victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
- Leadership
- Education
- The Media
- Programs to challenge racism
- Racism and the Internet
- Acknowledgement and celebration
Theme 1: Sources, causes, forms and contemporary manifestations of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
It was generally agreed that even though Australia is known as a multicultural country there were fundamental divisions in it with respect to racial discrimination and human rights. These divisions were experienced by people who were migrants or perceived to be migrants, and by Indigenous Australians who suffered racism at the hands of people both from Anglo-Australian and non-English speaking backgrounds. The participants found racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance to be pervasive in Australia. They are often under-reported because people are unwilling to divulge painful experiences. Though racism is perhaps not as blatant and overt as it once was, it was now being experienced in more subtle and covert forms. Many participants gave examples of structural and institutional racism in education, employment and government policies, especially with regard to refugees and practices which serve to exclude smaller migrant groups from access to government services.
The general view was that there is a great deal of ignorance about the experiences of Indigenous people and more recent migrants to Australia. These people have become convenient scapegoats for others who feel disenfranchised or disempowered. Many people felt that in a Federal election year politicians were feeding racial prejudice for political advantage.
There was general agreement that lack of moral leadership was a factor that had increased racism and intolerance in Australian society. Political rhetoric about Indigenous people and refugees is used to get votes and goes unchallenged.
A few people agreed with the proposition that Australians are racist because they have been brought up to recognise and define others by difference by race. Generally however it was agreed that the present culture of racism in Australia is a legacy of its past colonial history and its place as a "white outpost" close to Asia. The culture of racism is fostered in families, not challenged by the education system, and has become entrenched in society in general, and workplace and immigration policies in particular.
Participants revealed that they were experiencing racism across a number of areas of their lives. These included:
- The effect of
local government policies, for example, the local council in a country
town supported community discrimination against the establishment of
an Aboriginal hostel;
- Persons whose
names are not "English" feel they would have to change their
names to get work;
- People are being
set against each other, eg by being categorised and labelled, by competition
for funding, by segregation along racial lines in prison;
- Refugees are
"demonised" by being called "illegal immigrants";
- The media portrays
Indigenous Australians and Australians of Asian, African and Middle
Eastern backgrounds in very negative ways;
- Bureaucrats and
academics are making decisions without consulting or informing the communities
or the "grass roots";
- The Government's
contempt for the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra has engendered
a lack of respect for Aboriginal people;
- Letters sent
to the Ombudsman regarding human rights abuses are ignored;
- Mandatory sentencing
has an adverse impact on mainly Indigenous offenders;
- Racist employers;
- School teachers
ignoring Indigenous students' knowledge of their own cultures;
- The education
system provides education about some cultures and languages, for example,
Italian, but does not address Aboriginal cultures;
- Teachers sometimes
discipline Indigenous students for not wearing the proper shoes or proper
dress;
- Indigenous environment
and habitat have been destroyed by people who profit from the resources,
but don't pay for them. For example, big fishing companies overfish
the waters and then Islanders do not have enough to eat;
- The Federal government
spends millions of dollars on avoiding its obligations to Aboriginal
people, eg the Cubillo case;
- The Department
of Housing officers often allocates housing by race which places applicants
in problem areas;
- Race and money
intersect to create multiple disadvantage for poor people of colour,
for example, in access to the legal system;
- Change from money
transactions being put on the counter instead of placed in a person's
hand;
- Indigenous persons are not afforded the same respect given to similarly situated white persons. For example, an Indigenous magistrate was given the title "Indigenous Activist" by a newspaper instead of the title "Magistrate".
Many participants pointed to the history of colonialism and the White Australia Policy which entrenched racism in structures of power. Once that power is established along race and class lines then fear of difference, of the unknown, and of losing power breeds racism. Ignorance and lack of education about other cultures means that media stereotypes and wrongful reporting are accepted as correct and not challenged. Especially around election time, racism based on the protection of power, knowledge and class is exploited for political advantage.
Another contributing factor to the increase in racial intolerance was times of economic hardship. People are accused of "taking Australians' jobs" or being given jobs just because they are Indigenous. A number of participants were disturbed by the trend to blame certain groups for everything that is wrong in society, citing refugees as the people most recently being used to deflect attention from other issues.
It was suggested that because of their own insecurities some people, even those from minority groups, seek to feel superior by classing others as inferior. Hand in hand with this is the conceptualisation of Indigenous people and people of non-English speaking heritage as the "other". The "other" is characterised as negative. A number of people referred to the division of Australian society into "them" and "us". It was pointed out that those with power assume that the majority "white" culture is natural, there is no recognition it is socially constructed as a means of protecting power. One participant suggested that the Australian legal system based on the rule of law reflected and maintained the power relations of this country.
For a number of participants it was an abuse of power to deny the prior ownership of the land by the Aboriginal nations. This denial created a general assumption that it was natural for white people to own land and exploit it for their own benefit.
Other participants suggested that formal discrimination has been repackaged. For example, the White Australia Policy has been translated into the requirement for economic qualifications in order to migrate.
Some participants found the source of racism in a belief in social Darwinism, the survival of the fittest, in a society which extols the cult of individualism and competition. In their view the majority society encourages indifference to others, lack of respect for other cultures and justification of racial hierarchies. This was seen at its most blatant in schools where one minority group will pick on another in the playground.
There was general consensus that lack of informed education about cultural difference, other peoples and other religions was a major cause of racism. Participants gave examples of schools and universities where ill-informed teachers and poorly drawn curricula and texts perpetuate racism. These serve to keep Australian people ignorant of our history. Many people believed that we need to learn about and acknowledge our past before we can move on. However many participants stressed that children learnt about and become socialised into racism from an early age. Parental attitudes were a predominant source of uninformed knowledge for children.
Some participants named religion, especially Christian dogma, as the cause of racism. Religious belief about racial superiority had been put into practice by missionaries removing Aboriginal children from their homes on the grounds that Christian civilisation was superior to Aboriginal civilisation.
The media - especially TV, talkback radio, and newspapers - were particularly targeted as factors which contribute to racism in Australia. People observed there were few controls over the propagation of racist notions and representations. TV drama was also named as an influential force which did little to dispel stereotypes of Aboriginal people and those of non-English speaking heritage.
There was general agreement among the participants of the workshops that Australia was founded on racism, and that the legacy of colonisation and restrictive immigration policies underlies the current institutions, laws, policies and practices of this country. It was suggested that fringe racist groups and One Nation reflect a surfacing of the debate on racism that has existed here for over 200 years. Hanson did not create racism, she created a political movement where it is acceptable to be racist and express racism. We need to learn from past practices of categorising people by race.
It was suggested that if the current grievance processes had been in place years ago we would be further down the track of dealing with racism. However by beginning to acknowledge our true history some of the past policies and practices such as invasion, genocide, child removal, theft of land and the White Australia Policy are at last being challenged.
Theme 2: Victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
The groups expressed the view that the tacit approval given to racism by our leaders means that Indigenous people and migrants become targets or victims of those who perceive them as getting special treatment. In this situation the label of 'victim' or 'target' was not important, because the effect of racism was the same: the person becomes denigrated, loses respect (including self-respect), and their culture is placed under threat.
The Native Title Act was particularly referred to because of its disastrous effect on Aboriginal peoples. Native title claims are driving wedges between communities by making them prove their connection to the land, and compete for land and delivery of services. Some people maintained that the native title laws were overtly racist and were deliberately being used to disempower communities and create divisions between them. Of particular concern was that the Act placed the onus of proof on the claimants, not on those who stole the land.
People from other communities observed that the competition for government resources meant that a number of minority groups are now pitted against one another for funding. This creates contest rather than co-existence.
Two groups identified that the most tragic outcome of racism is that it becomes internalised, hatred is turned in on itself. People are oppressed into silence and their confidence is run down. Lowered confidence ruins cultural structures because people are no longer proud of where they came from. Their cultural worth is undermined. Two examples were given: first, women from a culture that values them staying at home to take care of their children are pushed to work by economic and social pressures from society at large. These women are becoming depressed because they are not meeting their own cultural obligations. This depression spirals into a destructive path of lack of confidence and lack of belonging. The second example is the shocking health statistics of Indigenous people. Aboriginal people are in fact getting sicker as they experience the effects of mandatory sentencing on their communities, the loss of their cultures and the ongoing struggle to achieve land rights. Aboriginal people in the groups referred to white laws which govern matters of their culture such as access to resources and sites, and fishing licence regulation. These create barriers to transmission of culture in a form of cultural and social genocide. The breakdown of customary law means that young Indigenous people do not show respect for elders. Participants from other cultural backgrounds also described this generational gap. Respect for culture is also undermined by people being constantly challenged to identify their backgrounds and justify why they are in a disadvantaged position.
There was general consensus that other experiences of discrimination compounded the effect of racism. Participants pointed in particular to discrimination against young people especially by the police who target Indigenous and Vietnamese youths and violate their civil rights. Racism in schools increases the difficulties for children with learning problems. Children and adults who were disabled and the elderly experience a high degree of racism.
The compounding effect of racism and discrimination on the basis of gender and marital status was experienced by one participant, an Australian citizen. She gave the example of an administrative migration decision where her husband, who is from an Asian country, was refused residency. Yet there are many cases of women from that same country who are given residency in Australia after they had married Australian men.
A participant suggested that educational background and wealth will affect how much racism some people experience. Wealth and education will cushion the effects of racism, but a poor mother with several children and little formal education is likely to be discriminated against in the workplace.
For many Indigenous people, racism was the primary concern and greatest area of discrimination. Being female, gay, or disabled was part of their life experience and could not be dissected from their identity as Indigenous. However some Indigenous women had experienced sexism in Indigenous organisations.
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 were a number of measures on which all participants were agreed: leadership from the "top" in taking a stand against racism; public education about cultural difference; and reform of the media. There was a strong view held by all four groups that solutions to racism should come after consultation with the "grass roots". One participant suggested that if every Australian who encountered a racist remark in their day-to-day interactions said something to that racist individual, racism would decrease. The onus is on everyone to combat racism in his or her daily life.
Participants from the groups identified the following measures by which Federal, State and Territory governments could show their commitment to combating racism:
- Legislative recognition
and implementation to their fullest extent of all international covenants
to which Australia is a signatory;
- Affirmation by
government that racism is abhorrent and criminal;
- Entrench human
rights in the Constitution;
- With the aim of
eliminating racism, carry out reviews of government policies, programs
and practices in public and private sector workplaces, councils, and
schools and provide the human and financial resources to do so;
- Creation of space
- financial, intellectual and cultural - for the examination and open
discussion of racism in Australia using the model of volunteers at the
Olympics;
- Open their own
programs and legislation to public scrutiny and be prepared to be monitored
and accountable;
- Provide publicity
about rights and responsibilities in lay terms;
- Educate the public
about the statutory responsibilities of all levels of government;
- · Agencies
should be made aware that some people might be illiterate. They need
to think of other ways of providing information apart from the written
word;
- Put restrictions
on race haters' abilities to spread their messages. If we cannot stop
racists at least create a climate conducive to tolerance;
- Support and fund
self-determination for Aboriginal peoples;
- Fund community
groups on an ongoing basis without the need to constantly justify themselves
to maintain funding;
- Abandon funding
based on racist labelling;
- Provide leadership
by creating positions for Indigenous and other groups beyond "tokenism",
for example, by supporting staff at executive, senior and managerial
levels, and by providing training. It should be genuine participation
in the workforce, not tokenism.
- Pass legislation
which includes the requirement for management plans based on equal employment
opportunity and affirmative action. Some people however noted that affirmative
action policies are poorly understood, and that unless they are underpinned
by education and understanding, such policies may contribute to racism
by setting people against one another.
- Contracts made
by government with outside bodies should demand a balance of cultures
in the employment profile of those organisations;
- In the police
service, police academies and other government services which work directly
with communities, particularly education and the justice system, officers
should be educated about cultural issues and anti-discrimination legislation.
Those officers should be made accountable for any racist conduct including
not reporting domestic violence from minority groups.
- It was observed
that liaison officers, eg police of particular backgrounds, are often
unsupported and under much pressure. It is not enough just to recruit
them, they need to be given the opportunity for genuine participation,
and support and respect for their work.
- Develop specially
trained police forces who speak the languages of the communities they
serve;
- Commissioners
of Police should meet with leaders of communities they serve;
- Public calendars
should state and recognise days of celebration, mourning, holy days
etc. of all our cultures;
- A number of participants
were offended by the use of terms such as ATSI and NESB in government
multi-cultural programs and suggested they should be abandoned;
- More money should
be provided for legal services;
- Magistrates should
be educated about their own racist attitudes;
- The people must be consulted about the effect of policies and practices.
Every participant endorsed educational programs to deal with racism. The participants identified a need for education about cultural issues in the wider community, schools, and for teachers, public servants and judicial officers. While education programs are vital, some participants said that too much responsibility is placed on the education system and teachers, and that dealing with racism was a societal responsibility.
People agreed that lectures on racism would be ineffective. What was needed were programs which motivated people to change and which challenged them to engage with the basis of their personal beliefs. Not all participants were agreed on the effectiveness of cultural awareness training. Many said that education must be confrontational to really address the core of racist assumptions and to effect change on a personal level. The programs must teach communication skills, human rights and responsibilities.
Cultural beliefs and practices, Aboriginal history and comparative religion should be taught in schools. Schools need to identify students at risk of suffering from racism, provide mentoring over extensive periods and engage community support to try to reduce suspension and dropout rates. Members of different communities should be invited by schools to participate in the education programs.
Education bodies should develop a structured anti-discrimination curriculum and provide training to all teachers to teach anti-discrimination lessons.
Other suggestions
were:
· Cross community exchanges of students, government officers etc,
for example between Indigenous and Asian communities;
· Unions should provide in-service training and employment programs
for Indigenous persons to learn a trade;
· Anti-racism education should be taught to all levels in the workplace,
not just managers.
- Engage the media
and journalists in anti-racism efforts
- Visual and print
media need regulating to create representations and content that is
more accurate reflections of our society
- Positive images
of cultural difference should be encouraged in the media, soapies etc
- Promote examples of Aboriginal achievement
A number of the most effective programs had been initiated by young people. For example Hip Hop groups at a Youth Resource Centre were being used to break down barriers between young people of diverse backgrounds. They were identifying with that subculture and using it to claim their own voice and to express political and social opinions.
Participants described how police cadets who meet members of the Aboriginal community in their early days of joining the police force and receive on-going education about racism often interact better with the communities they serve.
With respect to school education, participants cited the Human Society and Environment Syllabus which teaches strands of culture, identity, and diversity. Also mentioned were the Whole School Anti-racism Programs in NSW which trains community members, teachers and students. The Racism No-Way project was considered by many to be significant because it provides a national framework on what constitutes a good anti-racism curriculum. Its web site is www.racismnoway.com.au. Maps of Aboriginal Australia were found to be useful educative tools.
A representative from one community described a program where school students at risk of being excluded from school for poor conduct were paired with adults or older students who acted as mentors and friends to help them through educational and social problems at school. One participant noted that it sometimes needs a community crisis to generate effective responses to racism. She cited how the proposed closure of a High School brought together parents from many ethnic backgrounds to fight what they saw a racist government decision.
Many participants endorsed community activities such as Sorry Day and Reconciliation events such as the Bridge Walks as effective ways of educating the general public.
A Councillor from Waverley Council described the Council's programs in relation to Indigenous people. The council consults with native title holders about development in the area even though there is no legal obligation to do so. Agreements are reached between Council and the people, for example, in relation to the laying of cables, development of sites and use of natural resources in the area. At the request of the Indigenous people the Council has provided facilities for the erection of memorials and plaques acknowledging prior possession. Additionally the Council has an "affordable housing policy" which gives preference to native title holders to assist them in re-establishing their connections with the area.
Some participants affirmed that the Human Rights Commission Community Consultations were useful to challenge racism in the community.
It was generally thought that the dissemination of information and knowledge on the internet represents a positive force to counter to the ignorance which breeds racism. The internet gave the opportunity for better communication and information sharing amongst peoples and across cultures. An example was given of Racism No Way website which was especially useful as it provides resources for teachers and is an interactive website designed for young people. To increase public knowledge about cultural difference and issues of racism it was suggested that consent to use material eg from government organisations including ATSIC, be automatic.
Some participants were greatly concerned about the proliferation of racial hate sites on the internet. The information contained in them and who can access them cannot be regulated under current Australian law. It was recommended that there be international regulation to address the problem. A participant observed that young people who were accessing these sites in a community centre stopped doing so after they were trained in more sophisticated use of the technology. The young people had only accessed the hate sites because they did not know how to use the internet more constructively. One participant suggested hacking into racist websites; another that a filtering system be developed to monitor racist websites.
Acknowledgement and celebration
Many people responded that Australia was only prepared to acknowledge diverse contributions in sport, food and the arts. This meant that people felt that they could not contribute in other meaningful ways to Australian society. Participants suggested that politicians should keep the vision of multiculturalism and the value of diversity alive by funding and by publicly affirming those values.
One suggestion was that a positive way of acknowledging Indigenous contributions was to earmark and allocate certain amounts of the GDP in perpetuity. For example, $14 million has been generated from Aboriginal art. A percentage from those sales and from tourism should go to paying rent to Indigenous communities. This would acknowledge the profit made from Indigenous culture and land.
Theme 4: Provision of effective remedies, recourse, redress, [compensatory] [1] and other measures at the national, regional and international levels.
It was generally agreed that the current laws were not only inadequate but also inaccessible. More public information about them was needed in plain language. Participants identified three main problems:
- The individual complaints mechanisms were unable to detect and deal with experiences of systemic racism such as those in the workplace.
- Race discrimination and vilification were too difficult to prove under current legislation.
- The onus of proof is on the person being discriminated against. This should be reversed.
Some participants believed that the laws themselves perpetuate systematic discrimination, for example, the way complaints have to be made and how they are dealt with.
It was generally felt that the current laws could be used to educate and punish under a "carrot and stick" approach if:
- The international
covenants were enforced in Australia;
- The efficiency
of current enforcement was improved;
- The laws provided
criminal sanctions for racial vilification and all discriminatory acts
- huge fines would deter racist conduct;
- The remedies
and names of offenders were published;
- The remedies and legislation were presented in lay terms.
Some participants were concerned that there were calls for increased enforcement and penalties for anti-discrimination laws. Such laws are drafted by parliaments which are not free of racism and enforced by police and other bodies which reflect the racism of Australian society. Punitive sanctions whether, real or perceived, will not, it was expressed, service to reduce racism. It was claimed that there is a real danger that they will be enforced in such a way as to aggravate the behaviour which they purport to address. Some participants believed that a prison sentence would not serve to cure anyone of racism. It was recommended that a better case could be made for restorative sanctions, such as conferencing backed with civil compensation provisions.
Other measures to ensure effective remedies
Participants had a number of suggestions for ways of ensuring adequate remedies for victims of racism:
- Establish a truth
and reconciliation tribunal process;
- Pass a Federal
act to prohibit religious discrimination;
- Pass a Bill of
Rights to ensure citizenship rights;
- Recognise prior
ownership through a Treaty between the Australian Government and Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander peoples;
- Pass legislation to implement equal employment opportunity policies and enforce it.
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.
It was pointed out by many participants that globalisation has had negative effects, creating fear and insecurity in many people's lives. Economic globalisation and multi-nationals create a widening gap between rich and poor. This leads to the breakdown of social cohesion, which can lead to racism. Externally it was believed that it has increased the North/South divide especially in relation to Australian companies selling their goods to poorer countries in the hope of fostering dependency on Australian goods. Some participants suggested that our leaders are hypocritical with regard to globalisation: they want it for economic reasons, but are not willing to align Australia's human rights standards with other advanced countries.
On the positive side however, participants believed that the globalisation has provided us with international examples from which to learn, for example the need for a Bill of Rights. Globalisation has given activists access to tactics and strategies employed in other countries to promote human rights.
Recommendations
In response to the issues raised in the workshops the participants made the following recommendations:
Legal changes
While acknowledging that laws by themselves do not change public attitudes the law needs to change in the following ways:
1. Australia should fully ratify international treaties, conventions and covenants on human rights by removing reservations. It should then legislate accordingly.2. Enforce international human rights norms and standards through the use of test cases and appeals.
3. The UN draft declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples should be finalised and ratified. Australia should push to hold a world conference on the rights of Indigenous peoples.
4. Australia needs a Bill of Rights (not all participants agreed with this, some preferring constitutional change).
5. The Constitution be amended to provide an adequate baseline for protecting people against human rights violations.
6. Some participants wanted s 51(xxvi) Constitution, which gives the Federal Parliament power to pass laws for the people of any race for whom it is deemed necessary to make special laws, to be repealed saying that this power could be used in a racially discriminatory way.
7. Develop a Treaty between the Australian Government and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
8. Indigenous people to be given sovereignty over their land and self-determination over their affairs.
9. The Migration Act to be reviewed and amended to reflect Australia's humanitarian responsibilities.
10. Racial hatred legislation to be strengthened to include criminal sanctions.
11. Anti-discrimination laws be strengthened generally.
12. International conventions should be enforced against Australia in the International Court of Justice with penalties for its violations of international law.
The media
13. With regard to the issue of negative representations in the media the participants recommended that there be positive promotion of cultural diversity in the media.14. Television stations, their producers and advertising agencies should be lobbied so that the media appropriately reflects the diversity of communities in this country.
Education
15. With regard to public education, campaigns against racism could be developed along the same lines as "Clean Up Australia".
It was suggested that a logo could be developed which would indicate and promote companies and organisations which are anti-racist. The Heart Foundation was suggested as a model for this.16. Develop and implement coherent and continuous anti-racism curricula in schools. This education should start in the early years and continue through secondary school. It must be adequately funded.
Government
17. Government needs to fund genuinely representative bodies instead of its own appointed bodies such as ATSIC and HREOC. Some participants however endorsed a recommendation for more funding for HREOC.18. Diversity must be promoted at all levels (not just management) in public sector and community service agencies.
19. Local government authorities must provide affordable housing strategies to assist the re-establishment of Aboriginal peoples on their land.
20. Government must listen to the people and especially involve elders and youth at all levels of discussion and consultation.
1.
Note: The word compensatory was in brackets as there was no consensus
among governments to include it under this theme.
