Bulletin Board

Last updated 12 September 2001, 5 pm

Extracts from selected public submissions to HREOC's Bulletin Board are reproduced below. These submissions represent the opinions of their authors and do not represent the views of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. They are reproduced on this site to stimulate discussion of the themes of the WCAR in Australia and their inclusion on this site does not imply any endorsement by HREOC.

General Comments

What are your thoughts on Racism in Australia?

AUSTRALIA IS BUILT ON RACISM. The behaviours, values and beliefs that Australia has established itself with since federation are fundamentally racist.

- Economically
- Socially
- Spiritually.

I am a second generation Maltese Australian. It has only been in the last ten years that I have been able to claim my cultural heritage. I lost my language as a child due to the illiteracy of the Maltese Migrants allowed to enter Australia (it's hard to start classes for your kids if you cannot write it yourself) and Australia's Assimilation Policy (you can not speak that here!).

I was finally starting to be proud of my country in 1995, with Wik and Al Grasby's policy which was seemingly embraced by the Coalition parties as well (Fraser government). Since 1996 I have become totally ashamed about what we allowing to happen in our own land. Refugees are not illegal immigrants. They are perfectly legal under international law to claim asylum here.

I hope that those of us who do not 'look' so different, 'dress' so different or 'practice our spirituality' so different from what has now come to represent 'Multicultural Australia' remember this: Whatever we allow to be done on this soil to refugees, Aboriginal people, young people, women, those with disabilities and people from NESB, we are complacent. I am so ashamed to be an Australian. In 1995, I used to think of us as mostly just parochial but we are racist. You think about how many people you know who would say, 'those people are so.....but I'm not racist'.

Ms Rhonda Balzan, Submission 4

The value of people in this country is increasingly seen as being related to financial clout and if you don't have a lot of money it is put across that you must sure as hell be envious of those who do. Increasingly, it is my perception, that Race is not an issue when people have money or political power.

I think it is important to discuss different ways that diverse people see the world. I have found that when people, particularly hurt people, are told to shut up and not talk about how they feel they often contain their hurt and repressed grief at a cost to their health. I think it is important for people to validate the thoughts and ways of seeing the world that are different from one's own. I think it helps to watch the woe and dismal people in supermarkets in the poorer suburbs and country towns to understand that promoting what we have in common may be more helpful then constant banter about what horrible people we have as fellow human beings sharing our home turf.

The way that we pass our fellow man in the street can say more about how we feel for each other then words. I have known some people who would never make what would be considered a racist comment and would never break one of the ten commandments whom I and perhaps others could construe as fuelled by ill feelings and malice.

Kathryn Pollard O'Hara, Submission 5

Racial discrimination in Australia is a demographically entrenched reality.

To understand this it is necessary to realise that firstly this "nation" was brought up under the education method of imperial colonisation. The convicts were taught enough skills to be profited from. Up until very recently the standard English attitude (I have heard this voiced on more than one occasion) is "the Aborigine is a defeated race and therefore has no rights" this is the actual root of the tree. The latent effect of this has not greatly disappeared after MABO much more it has been exacerbated. The entrenched English class system was intensified by deregulation of the economy and has become a money based Anglo-American occidental caste system. Immigration has been fundamental in Australia's development (we're all immigrants except the Aboriginal) however immigrants were treated as peregrine socially. This led them to form their own communities for better or for worse - and who can blame them?

Racial Discrimination will not go away until this nation has an education policy for non-discriminatory education altogether. The Education system in Australia is under huge threat by large financial forces whom merely want to continue raping natural resources and place undue pressure on our Education Board. It suits them to have the nation divided by racial intolerance because they can parade the average Australian to the world as an undesirable and continue undermining our living conditions and dictating the status quo.

Whilst these things are occurring the average person is under enormous stress and this is the major cause for racial intolerance, the people are literally devouring each other.

Submission 6

The Justice System

The introduction to the Discussion Paper (page 7) makes mention that racial discrimination "may be direct or indirect, whereby a particular practice, policy or law that is neutral on its face has a differential impact on a particular racial group." This seems to us to be the case in Western Australia as a whole and in the Kimberley specifically in the case of the approaches to the prison system and the sentencing of prisoners.
[...]
Political use of Language
We believe that the attitudes and utterances of the current Federal Government in relation to off-shore refugees and asylum seekers constitute an obscuring of underlying racism and an incitement of the community to racism. Continually using terms such as 'illegal immigrants', 'queue jumpers' and 'thieves' who have stolen the places of those who have been waiting for years to come to Australia under other migration schemes, is patently inaccurate at best and deliberately misleading at worst.
Marcus Einfeld has responded to these claims well when he says:
"Refugees do not form queues, they escape persecution and possibly death or starvation for themselves and their children, they do not fix or regulate the times of their terror…Australia has an obligation to all refugees, not just to some." (Background Briefing, ABC Radio National, June 3, 2001)

Conclusion
This Office believes that the actions of the Australian Federal Government in relation to refugees and asylum seekers and certain aspects of reconciliation with and treatment of indigenous people constitute discriminatory behaviour.
This Office believes that the actions of the Western Australian Government in relation to mandatory sentencing and conduct of prisons constitutes discriminatory behaviour.
We hope that closer public scrutiny of these actions, both at home and overseas, will bring about better education of people of Australia in relation to them and increased local and international pressure to have them changed.
This Office thanks the HREOC for the opportunity to contribute to the discussion on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. We congratulate the Commission on the Discussion Paper it has prepared and for the sponsoring of the community consultations it plans to hold around the nation.

Submission 2, Broome Diocesan Office of Justice, Ecology & Peace
Note: the full text of Submission 2 is available here for download in PDF (67 K) and WORD (52 K) formats

As an Aboriginal Australian I find it offensive that much of the hopelessness of Aboriginal Australians is attributed to the laziness of us, the Aboriginals at "the coal face". Our main problem lies in that our community leaders lose track of the desires of their people as soon as they get elected to ATSIC to represent us.

The issue of Sexual and domestic violence in Aboriginal communities is merely a flow-on effect from the disgraceful misrepresentation of our desires by those who gain election to office to represent us.

Aboriginal Australia will not proceed to a point of self sufficiency - let alone self determination until our "leaders" understand the pragmatic absolute need for us to become financial stakeholders in our country and our future without that stake being held on our behalf by ATSIC under a caveat.

Our elected leaders partying at sports events and conventions at swanky venues will not liberate us from poverty.
The issue of the treatment of our women folk and children is also a matter which takes second billing to the Elected Ones prancing about trying to buy support with ATSIC or other government funds.

The racist views put forward against us are possibly views held by people who have merely had enough of seeing our leaders milking the money tin for their own ends.

It would help the relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians immensely if they could see that we (the indigenous communities and individuals) are not ultimately responsible for any of our representatives actions nor activities.

As a Koori I know how much it offends me.

If Government organisations and the press would differentiate between them (the elected ones) and us (the communities and individuals) it would soon become clear to all Australians that we are not them and they do not speak for us at the grass roots.

It would also assist if complaints made to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Police etc... were taken seriously rather than being dismissed as being made by people not capable of understanding the necessity to complain.

Mark McMurtrie, Submission 17

Our Northern Territory anti-racism group PARIAH - People Against Racism In Aboriginal Homelands - www.country-liberal-party.com - has been persecuted by the NT Country Liberal Party incessantly, merely for speaking out against racism here.

The NT Government maintains a democratic facade, using a compliant media and the institutionalised racism of its government depts. Racism is so endemic in Australia, that inquiries have changed little and recommendations are just ignored. Racism is the rule among Australians not the exception.

The CLP and the NT Police are white supremacists who consider Aboriginal people inferior and sympathetic whites no better.

Racism in Australia is growing worse, as an economy based on unsustainability and waste impacts its poorest citizens.

You need not take our word that a culture of white supremacy and secrecy exists in Australia. Just pick up a History book, or ask the East Timorese or the refugees who arrive here...

Mick Lambe, Submission 14

Note: this submission also raised allegations in relation to particular organisations and people in the Northern Territory which have not been included in this forum as they do not relate directly to the issues under discussion.

As a citizen of Australia I am still finding a culture within families of racial behaviour. Ever so subtle but nonetheless present. Small comments shouted out at aboriginals in the streets etc.

We all have to take responsibility to stamp this out.

Submission 19, Graham Wadd

The substance of the response to the14 questions below is that sound education is vital to achieve socialization, imbue self-control and mature responsibility in the control and prevention of racism. However, on its own, education is inadequate. Thanks to human genetic make-up, racism can only be controlled by sound and equitable legislation in every sphere of Government. In all legislation, imbalances in equity occur, this allows some individuals and groups to dominate. This is expressed in various ways, one of which is racism. To reduce racism and other anti-social behaviours to a minimum, each country, including Australia, must examine causes of imbalance and work to balance its own legislation in every Department.

Submission 28, Linley Grant and others

Submission 29, Amnesty International Australia

Although Australia prides itself on being a fair and tolerant multicultural society, for many people the experience of living in the 'lucky' country is marred by living with institutional and street racism.

The rise of One Nation, the dismissal of social justice concerns as political correctness and the refusal of political leaders to take a stand on human rights are indicative of a nation that has lost direction in moving toward a just and equal society.

Submission 36, The Combined Community Legal Centres Group of NSW

In addition to responding to the questions put to them, participants [in discussions run by the WA EOC] made various general comments valuable to the discussion of racism. They are:

• Keep racism on the agenda
  
• Multiculturalism needs to celebrated, not undermined
  
• We need to identify our values and help our children to identify theirs
  
• More publicity is needed, at all levels of society, of the consequences of racism, especially regarding workers being exploited
  
• Whenever any group thinks they are better than someone else, we have the foundations for racism
  
• Australia is not outstanding in its racist ways - but we at least voice our desire to be non-racist
  
• Serious attention and priority is required, along with more informed strategies
  
• The structural causes and processes of ethnic inequity and racism need to be addressed
  
• Listen to the aggrieved for possible solutions - stop thinking that government and advisers have all the answers.

Submission 26, WA Equal Opportunity Commission

Theme 1: Sources, causes, form and contemporary manifestations of racism

Question 1

To what extent does racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance exist in Australian society? In what ways do people experience racism? Can you give examples of racism?

There is overt racism that the commission is focused on - eg. inequality before the law.

However, there is often little focus on the covert racism - eg. the lack of inclusion. For instance, how often do you see Aboriginal or ethnically Chinese faces on popular shows such as Neighbours. This lack of inclusion basically sends wide social messages that Aboriginals and ethnically Chinese are not included in the concept of our Australian "society".

This exclusion ensures that the concept of status related to race will continue in perpetuity.

Katherine Teh-White, Submission 3

Skilled Migrants are largely not understood as a skill set. Australia has invited skilled IT, Engineers, Sales and Marketing, Management, nursing and other NESB professionals here but has not created a positive discourse either in the community or business sector.

Indigenous people still do not have control over their economic future, we still as a nation do not trust them to make their own mistakes.

Older migrant communities have forgotten how they were treated and how the stereotypes hurt their chances of success in this country. The worst racist is a NESB one.

The Multicultural Policy has become a dirty word somehow.

Ms Rhonda Balzan, Submission 4

There has always been racism, as you rightly state. However, no proof has ever been forwarded to my knowledge that it is as prevalent as we are led to believe in Australia?

Submission 20, Graeme and Val Wicks

Racism remains institutionalised within the NT education system , despite the obvious good intentions and hard work of large numbers of people who staff this system and try to make it deliver more effectively to its Indigenous students. The racism lies not in the behaviour or motivations of individuals, but in the way the benefits of education are distributed. It will continue whilever the system discriminates, as it currently does, in favour of the non-Aboriginal community and its needs and aspirations, and against the Aboriginal community's needs and its aspirations.

Submission 24, Dr Bob Boughton

A small percentage of Australians actively engage in acts of racism, intolerance, domination and discrimination, from name calling to racially motivated violence. There is a larger percentage which does not act, but is strongly protective of their own particular culture or social group and engage in covert discrimination. The large majority do not condone racism, but do nothing, or are not concerned. A small percentage work actively against discrimination and, there are the many victims of all types of discrimination.
[...]
Racism is evident in, for example -

• Schools, work situations, social situations, politics.
  The need for one person or group to establish social dominance over another occurs in many situations from primary school upwards. Many Australians unknowingly use a patronising approach towards others. Others display mild dominance or rejection techniques in all manner of subtle and not so subtle ways, if not outright bullying and hostility.
• "One-up-manship" and competition is alive and well, in politics, in the work situation, in many social situations, and in schools. Members have reported instances of 'sideways promotion', or no promotion, in which, in some cases, there was evidence of racism.
• Rejection of those who do not conform to established norms, e.g, from 'distancing' to outright exclusion of those whose with "different" standards of manners, cleanliness, physical appearance, speech patterns, language, dress, behaviour, ability, etc.
  
• The disquiet exhibited, from distancing to active rejection, of the Japanese, stemming from their treatment of Australians during WW2, or foreigners, particularly Japanese investors in Australia taking over properties, key positions, etc. People are also becoming more resentful of Americans taking over key positions here.

Many examples have been provided over the years to NCWT [the National Council of Women of Tasmania] of individual's experiences of racism and intolerance, - individuals who have been ignored, patronised, received 'put-downs' moved, etc. The list is continual and endless. Most recently, for example,

• students in the Hmong community experienced a period of 'racism', which has been dealt with by the schools;
  
• bullying is rife in some schools; on five occasions this year parents phoned NCWT for help, in the past it happened more; 'anti' programs are now in place in many schools;
  
• often, experiences of racism against women also appear to be coupled with gender bias; however, more obvious discrimination towards women continues within particular sub-cultures. Many non-migrants feel great anxiety that some migrant cultures are allowed to continue to practice severe gender discrimination, which alienates these women.
  
• there are continuing cases of 'jobs for the boys', the 'glass ceiling' and 'cutting down tall poppies' which also increase the problem for those from other cultures who are rarely completely accepted by those at 'the top', if they are seen as a threat.
  
• Victims often develop a 'victim' attitude and this increases their problem. Members of NCWT are aware of incidents where no bias was intended, or was accidental, but offence was taken.
  
• Where members of a sub-culture have made what seem 'unreasonable' demands on the dominant culture they have isolated themselves more. The task of creating awareness and developing solutions without alienating support demands a fine sense of balance.

Submission 28, Linley Grant and others

The federal and state governments racially discriminate between the communities when placing government advertisements in the non-English language newspapers.

I personally was told by a high-ranking official in the NSW Government a few years ago that the government would like to advertise its services in the non-English language newspapers with high circulation figures and readership, therefore while the newspapers of large communities, such as Chinese, Italian, Greek, Arabic, and so on, are informing their readers in their respective languages, the members of the smaller communities would suffer lack of knowledge about many services; from education to health, from police service to social security.

This may not seem as racist discrimination at the first glance but the members of the smaller (in quantity) communities would be left in dark in regard to a number of vital services just because of their background as they happen to belong to smaller communities.
[...]
We believe the governments should not approach the information dissemination issue from a commercial point of view and should distribute information about their services equally to every English and non-English speaking community regardless of their background and size.

Submission 32, Askin Baran

Despite being a country of migrants, racism, prejudice and discrimination continues to be an ever-present reality for refugee young people in Australia.

Young people's experiences of racism:

• I'll be walking in the street and people will stare at me, just because I am black." (15 year old young person of Sudanese background)
  
• "People automatically assume that I can't speak English and speak to me really slowly, just because I wear a hijab." (18 year old young person of Somali background)
  " "I am of East Timorese background, the police automatically think I am a drug dealer when they see me walking in the street. I am sick of being asked for ID." (East Timorese born 21 year old)
  
• "I choose to wear the hijab to cover my hair, you can still see my face.... Last year I was walking down the road in Footscray and a bus full of older people drove past. As the bus passed an older white male yelled out, gesturing an abusive finger, "blackie go back to where you came from!" At first I was stunned as I was just walking in a familiar area and usually feel comfortable in this area. I then began to feel that everyone around me was also looking at me as if I was an alien. I felt like I didn't belong and that I didn't have a right to walk in this area because I was black. Most of my friends have had similar experiences. It's difficult being a young person and being told you don't belong. It made me question whether Australia was really a multicultural society when racial abuse such as this is so common." (18 year old Somali woman)
  
• "As a young Muslim Lebanese woman I wear a hijab that covers my hair, but my face can be seen. It is with a hijab that I approached five fast food stores [for work] only to be turned down despite having good communication skills and work experience.... [A]fter six months of trying to find a job I took up a friend's suggestion to apply for a job without my hijab on. So I applied for another job but this time did not wear a hijab and to my surprise was rung back and offered a job." (18 year old Lebanese woman)

Submission 21, Western Young People's Independent Network

Macedonians in Australia are currently exposed to three levels of institutionalised racism.

• As regards the manner in which those who originate from the Republic of Macedonia have their country of birth labelled, namely "FYROM" (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia).
  
• The implementation by the Federal Government of an inaccurate and offensive nomenclature directive whereby the nationality of the Macedonian people has been renamed to that of "Slav Macedonian"...
  
• The implementation by the State Government of Victoria of an equally inaccurate and similarly offensive nomenclature directive whereby the language of the Macedonian people was renamed to that of "Macedonian Slavonic"...

Submission 30, Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee

The following tables show the number of race discrimination complaints and racial vilification complaints received [by the Anti-Discrimination Board of NSW for 2001/2000]

Statistics: Complaints of Race Discrimination Ground and Area 2001

2000/2001
Out of a total of 1587 complaints received for all grounds, Race Discrimination complaints (236) and Racial Vilification complaints (52) together represented 18% of all complaints received.

Submission 34, Anti-Discrimination Board of NSW

People from a non-English speaking background (NESB) with disability experience multiple layers of discrimination .... at both an individual and systemic level. Due to the high level of social control that people with disability experience, the discrimination experienced is often institutional.

Research indicates that people with disability from a NESB are often stigmatised and isolated because of attitudes and misconceptions prevalent in their own communities and in the broader community. In respect of the broader community, disadvantage is compounded by discriminatory attitudes towards disability and ethnicity.

Siew-Chin is a young woman of Chinese descent with a physical disability. She is a tertiary student and because of the lack of accessible public transport, she lives on campus. Siew-Chin is the only person from a non-English speaking background with a visible disability living on campus. She has repeatedly been the subject of harassment by some able-bodied students. Her room has been broken into several times, her nametag removed from the door and offensive graffiti alluding to her ethnicity and disability has been scrawled on the door. Some students do not refer to her by name but call her 'crippled nip'.

Mahan and her family came to Australia as refugees from Iran. She is 23 years old and works in a sheltered workshop. She is the only NESB worker in the workshop and is harassed and tormented on a daily basis by her co-workers because she does not speak English. Despite the fact that her work mates have intellectual disability, just like her, she is still singled out and called 'stupid' and 'slow'. Hierarchies exist everywhere, even in the sphere of disability. Mahan aspires to become an actress. It seems her dream will never become a reality because of the hostile environment she is subjected to and the lack of opportunities this presents.

Submission 35, National Ethnic Disability Alliance
Note: the full text of Submission 35 is available by clicking here

It is difficult to accurately measure the true extent of racist victimisation because:

• only limited quantitative and qualitative research has been conducted into the nature and extent of racist victimisation and institutional racism
  
• the strategies adopted by those who are the victims to deal with racism do not necessarily include reporting to any agencies. There is limited external support available anyway even if people did want to report.
  [...]
  In a disenfranchised society people may feel it's no use taking action.

For many people in Australian society racism is part of the everyday experience, being made to feel different is routine and expected, racist abuse is common and is accompanied by physical intimidation and abuse. Dealing with racism is a normal part of life.

This normalised racism is also experienced when people come into contact with government and non-government organisations. This is institutional racism.

Submission 36, The Combined Community Legal Centres Group of NSW

I would like to see the removal of the words 'intolerance' or 'tolerate' from all things to do with human rights. I believe as do most people that to tolerate something is to put up with something or someone. We need to learn to live together in harmony and appreciate each other's differences not tolerate them.

Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance exist at every strata of Australian society eg. individual level, community level and national level.

The only place it would appear to not exist is in very small children. No child is born discriminating: it is learned. That doesn't mean to say that it exists in every individual or every community, just that it is very widespread. As we become more and more multicultural this sort of thing will become more widespread. Different societies and cultures would appear to have different prejudices, beliefs and values.

People experience racism and discrimination in a million different ways both overt and covert.... Because of legislation that may lead to legal action most of the racism and discrimination is now covert.

In a lot of cases people are ignorant of differences or not even really aware they are discriminating because it is so ingrained in their psyche. As an example in a lot of cases teachers and school staff have far lower expectations of Indigenous staff and pupils. In a lot of other cases employers and school staff are very patronising.

Submission 23, Frank Pearce

During February and March 2001 the views and experiences of 15 different people were obtained either through their participation in focus group discussions [run by the WA EOC] or through the completion of an open-ended questionnaire. ...

There was unanimous agreement by participants that racism exists within Western Australia. Most participants agreed that the racism is manifested in many ways, ranging from the subtleness of exclusion through to overt name-calling and occurs at many levels. There is also the perception that there has been a shift from old fashioned, blatant racism to the more modern and subtle forms of structural racism. ...

Taunts and slurs and were nominated by all participants as common experiences of overt racism. The covert experience of racism was summarised by one participant as:

exclusion from equitable consideration, engagement and fair access in daily life - from being served in a shop, to being listened to with appropriate, expected and necessary degrees of concern, respect and cooperation.

Participants described many instances of racism that either they had personally experienced or seen other people experience. Some examples are:

• Witnessed Aboriginal people being treated rudely etc.
  
• Importance placed upon language skills when not necessary for position
  
• 'Institutionalised racism' - prisons, schools etc.
  
• My brother does not want to associate with Indians because he gets called a 'curry muncher' at school
  
• Many Sikhs cut their hair and will not wear a turban to work so as to not stand out
  
• Many Indians abbreviate their names at work and use their full names at home and temple
  
• Aboriginal clients treated poorly by medical and nursing staff in hospitals
  
• My New Zealand qualifications not recognised
  
• Job interviewers refer to my NZ twang
  
• People from Malaysia are all thought to be Muslim and this is not the case
  
• Imprisonment rates for indigenous people
  
• Length of time it takes for professionals with overseas qualifications to have them recognised
  
• One of my students is Anglo Indian and she was very hurt to be asked if she could speak English.
  [...]
  [The following table] shows the number of enquiries and complaints on the grounds of race and racial harassment received [by the WA Equal Opportunity Commission].

Issues of race have consistently accounted for approximately ten percent of all enquiries handled by the Commission each year. Substantial proportions of these are telephone enquiries.

The proportion of formal complaints lodged on the grounds of race and racial harassment is much higher (at between twenty-five and thirty percent) over the five-year period [1995-96 to 1999-2000]...

[Examples of complaints conciliated by the WA Equal Opportunity Commission]

Submission 26, WA Equal Opportunity Commission

The cumulative effect of the anti-Muslim propaganda is to de-humanise Muslims in the eyes of the Australian population. One could ask whether there would be more sympathy for and better treatment of refugees and asylum seekers arriving in Australia were it not that many of them, at this current stage of history, are Muslim. The refugees, both illegal and legal, in the eyes of many Australians and international groups, have had their human rights severely violated. If they were white and English speaking, would the welcome be different?

It thus seems to the MWWA [Muslim Women's Welfare Association of the ACT] that there is a clear case of structural racism targeted against Muslims and people from the third world, who do not have the correct papers to be in Australia.

It is common knowledge that the largest group of visa overstayers in Australia come from the United Kingdom, yet they are almost never chased up by the Department of Immigration. They are not imprisoned in detention centres. The implication is apparently that if they are white, English speaking and Christian, then they will blend in with the Australian population, and it won't matter, regardless of justice.

The term "illegals" to describe - mostly dark skinned or Muslim - asylum seekers arriving in Australia without the correct papers is racist (and itself illegal), and encourages the vilification of asylum seekers among the Australian community. The fact remains that it is legal, under the UN and International law, for any person fearing of suffering from persecution to enter any other country by any means possible, in order to seek asylum.

Submission 27, Muslim Women's Welfare Association of the ACT

[During consultations for the Tracking Your Rights package Indigenous people made the following comments to HREOC]

School

• "As a child, I had my fair share of name calling and fights, and suppose became sensitive to racism and discrimination from an early age. In school, I may have done just as well as some of my white peers, but there was always some reason, why I did not win the prize, or was runner-up etc., but until I was a bit older, it didn't occur to me what the reason might be."
• A lot of schools are still reluctant to do Aboriginal Studies in schools because of the sensitive political issues" - Hobart
• If there is a fight between Kooris and Gubbas the Koori kid is often the only one to get suspended or expelled." - Victoria
• Koori kids have to put a lot of energy into fighting racist remarks and it leaves less energy for their study. Kids are so busy fighting the racist remarks that they don't do what they're there to do and that's study and get their education" - Victoria

Adult Education/Universities

• We have a pretty good set up but we still have to operate in an environment where students and teachers are facing racism. Recently, a senior manager from the college contacted the support unit about a series of videos that were being produced to promote the college. They wanted to take some footage of the programs run by the Koori Unit. She said, 'by the way can you please make sure that some of the fairer students aren't in the group'." - Victoria

Employment

• One person said she was working night shift at the bakery, when one of the workers came in with a shot gun and said, "They reckoned they shot all the Abos, but it looks as though they missed one." He then pointed the gun and dry fired." - Riawunna/ Launceston
• "X and y were trained to work in Woolies but once they were trained they were put out the back to work - you couldn't have Aborigines in the front of the shop, having customer contact." - WA

Shops

• I went to buy a car for myself. When I went to the car sales yard I had my work clothes on and my Aboriginal flag pin. The car salesman immediately assumed I was buying the car with money the government had GIVEN me, because I was Aboriginal. He suggested that Australian taxpayers (of which I am one) would be paying for my car." - Penguin
• That shopping centre always watches the Koori kids. If one Koori kid is caught shoplifting all the Koori kids get banned - from the whole shopping centre." - Victoria

Banks

• I approached a bank for a personal loan to buy a car. I have a strong record of stable and long term employment. I am an Aboriginal Development Officer for this organisation. I put this down on the application form. I was refused the loan. I tried a couple of banks and found the same treatment. Eventually I changed the application form to read Community Development Officer and I got the loan no worries." - SA

Housing

• I applied for a flat with three references, as they wanted and I am in full-time work. I was refused the flat. When I asked for a reason I was told that I didn't have to be given a reason. I believe I was refused the flat because I am black." - Southern NSW
• The Real Estate Agent repeatedly asked my referees if I kept a clean house. They didn't want to listen to any other comments. I was told by the Agent that the house was unavailable. I threatened to go to the Equal Opportunity Commission and I persistently argued my case. I was allowed to move in to the house. I was treated appallingly by the Agent when I eventually moved." - WA

Police

• People get booked on the way home for loitering. It is alleged that the police circle two or three Aboriginal people walking home. The police pull them up just to see what they are doing and to do warrant checks." - SA
• An Aboriginal boy was walking with his mate down an alley to get to the hairdresser. A woman in a car pulled out very fast and nearly knocked them over. They yelled out be careful. A local shopkeeper heard the noise and came out. He grabbed the boys by the shirt collar and shook them. The boys yelled back and used abusive language. The shopkeeper called the police. The boys were charged." - WA

Sport

• I was awarded the best and fairest player that day but in the same game I got suspended because I gave in to racist abuse, goading and brutality by standing up for myself and my race. I have been suspended for life and the players that abused me are still playing, and received no punishment. I am a good player and could have made the league, football was all I cared about. I felt good about myself when I played football." - SA

Submission 38, Nerida Blair

The reactions of the government and the people of Australia on the arrival of illegal immigrants seem indicative of the structural racism present in Australia. The recent past Premier of Western Australia, Richard Court, just wanted to send them "straight back to where they came from". The Federal Minister for Immigration, Philip Ruddock, locks them up. The Liberal governments seem to have fostered a climate where the attitudes behind racism, those of rejection, judgment, the maintenance of myths about many "other" population groups in Australia, are also allowed, confirmed, and sometimes even promoted. ...

I cannot believe that an Australian Government condones, even promotes, practices which happily trample on ... International [human rights] Agreements. It seems that racist attitudes, when a government does not sound any protest in a loud, clear, fresh, and different voice, are not just maintained, but condoned and promoted. Australians see themselves as not really caring about what a government does, but it seems that the identification with the views of the government of the day runs deeper in Australia than was foreseen.

Jack H. Smit, Submission 40

Question 2

What are some of the sources, causes and factors that contribute to racism in Australia?

Company directors for not ensuring that company management can be judged by the level of ethnic difference and diversity in the organisation. Directors of non-diverse companies should be worried about management generally.

TV (writers, producers and directors) because of the exclusion of people of color in a positive way (eg. if they do have a Chinese person on tv he speaks with an accent and is a criminal).

Politicians (they do not encourage people of color in politics, nor do they challenge the electorate on racist issues)

Newspapers/media - editors need to consider greater ethnic diversity when depicting an "average Australian".

Katherine Teh-White, Submission 3

The media are lazy and shallow in the coverage of ethnic groups in Australia.

Ms Rhonda Balzan, Submission 4

The negative portrayal of Indigenous people in the media is the major contributor!!! As well as teachers in the education system and police officers who were brought up in the White Australia policy days.

Also to a certain extent some indigenous people must accept a certain amount of blame for their racist views (which I believe is expected considering the treatment in the past of their parents grandparents etc and themselves certainly) and negative acts of anarchy (blatant acts of violence against the aged and infirm, mindless acts stealing) which reflects badly on the indigenous population as a whole and is exploited to the maximum by the media.

Roderick Pearce, Submission 8

Previous Indigenous affairs in this country, a lack of understanding of the connection between unemployment, drug abuse, crime etc, to life experience, lack of self esteem, limited opportunities - due to racial discrimination. Also a belief that some people still think that certain people are more intelligent than other races. A lack of tolerance towards people with different opinions, beliefs, and interests.

Kim Luckie, Submission 15

When people believed in God and the Bible, they believed that man was created specially by God. He was placed in a position of responsibility over the area in which he lived. [....] Darwin's theory of evolution must squarely take the blame for various tribes and skin colours being considered as sub-human, or part animal, and to be treated as such.

Submission 20, Graeme and Val Wicks

• Ignorance
  
• Jealousy - refugees and migrants blamed for taking jobs
  
• Lack of understanding of the need for government support and vulnerability of refugee communities
  
• Government needs to stop perpetuating images around boat people and queue jumbers and acknowledge them as genuine refugees.

Submission 21, Western Young People's Independent Network

Racism rarely occurs in isolation. It is most pronounced where skin pigmentation is associated with exploitation, theft of land, theft of natural resources, colonial subjugation, or a combination of two or more of these.
[...]
In Australia, the massive theft of land and massacres of the Aboriginal peoples were accompanied by almost two centuries of misrepresentation of Aboriginal peoples as an "inferior" race, as a "dying race". At the same time genocide of Aboriginal peoples was being committed to "clear" the land for white "settlement"!

Submission 24, Waratah

Racial Discrimination and Disability Services
In NSW, it is estimated that some 3 out of 4 people from a NESB with disability miss out on receiving non-government disability services. In Australia, three out of four people from a NESB with disability miss out on receiving Commonwealth funded disability services. This is in addition to the current unmet need for people with disability in general.

This figure stands despite genuine efforts made by many to redress this appalling situation. This figure points towards the need to seek systemic solutions to a systemic problem that involves the disability services system as a whole.

Many services seem unable to accommodate linguistic and cultural diversity because:

• ethnic communities tend to be overlooked when considering the 'target group'
  
• staff need continual accredited, quality training in cultural difference, diversity and disability, and in particular, the nature and reality of the person's experiences
  
• the disability services system has not adopted even the most basic mechanisms for people from NESB such as the use of interpreters or the publication of material in languages other than English. Poor language skills prevent carers from accessing services so they have less opportunity to develop their personal, social or professional capabilities
  
• there are insufficient strategies and practices to ensure that people from NESB with disability and their families and carers participate in decision-making
  
• the myth of extended family support is still subscribed to by both service providers and funding bodies resulting in fewer services for NESB communities.

Submission 35, National Ethnic Disability Alliance

All racisms have arisen and developed out of unequal power relationships and are maintained by them. The process of social exclusion and discrimination can reinforce the prejudiced beliefs and ideas which inform exclusionary and discriminatory actions. The contemporary manifestation of racisms in Australia is the result of a complex interweaving of historical and current political, economic and social influences. It is impossible to provide a sophisticated analysis in such a short submission as this.

However, it is clear that Australia contemporary racisms are, in part a legacy of colonialism.

Colonial Legacy
Colonial policies depended on the declared scientific principle that the world was made up of distinct and separate species, with each identified racial group having its own 'blood' and 'stock'. The 'races' were placed in a hierarchy of 'civilisation' - with white Europeans, not surprisingly, at the top of the pecking order.

Eugenicists argued that it was important to maintain the purity of the superior races by regulating reproduction, and not allowing intermixing.

These philosophies underpinned the actions of the expanding industrial European empires of the 18th and 19th centuries, in their search for world markets and trade supremacy. They provided the justification for colonising other people's lands, declaring terra nullius, massacres and assimilation, establishing colonial governments and laid the basis of the Anglo-Australian national identity and the ensuing White Australia policy.

For indigenous Australians this has had catastrophic consequences, which are still being dealt with today. The characteristics of colonialism are ever present! ....

Xenophobia and its impact on refugees and asylum seekers
One of the most startling examples of xenophobic, policy and legislative action in the past few years has been the response of politicians in government and opposition, and the media to refugees and asylum seekers.
[...]
The current government have demonised people seeking refuge from persecution and war, people who are principally from Middle Eastern and Asian countries branding them as queue jumpers, and cheats whereas visa overstayers from European countries or North America receive very little attention and are rarely detained.

It appears that as the number people seeking asylum and refugee status have increased the government has sought to scapegoat the very people in need of support. Instead of investing in a program which can deal effectively with early decision making, political attention and capital has been diverted to the detention centre system....

Religious racism
Religious belief has often provided the basis for racist action and sentiment. Anti - Semitism in the form of attacks on synagogues, cemeteries, social centres and pernicious cultural assumptions are ever present in Australian society. However, monolithic assumptions about other religions especially Islam, permeate the media, political pronouncements and popular belief. Islamaphobia as it has been called, labels all followers of Islam as intolerant, anti-Western fanatics. It does not recognise the diversity of Islamic faiths, the range of cultural beliefs within Islam and the ways in which Muslims in Australia combine their religious belief with being part of Australian society.

The media play a major part in the demonisation of Islam. References to Islam and Muslims are often combined with negative labels, such as fanatic, fundamentalist and unAustralian.

Islamaphobia can indirectly shape attitudes to particular groups in society. In Sydney the focus of police, media and political attention on Lebanese young people as problem youth may well be shaped by Islamaphobia despite the fact that the Lebanese community are Christian as well as Muslim. Islamaphobia can also lead to street attacks and verbal abuse directed at Muslims, during the Gulf War physical attacks and harassment against women who wear the veil intensified. Lack of understanding of Islam has led a number of Councils to prohibit the building of mosques, or prevent the change of use of churches to mosques.

Submission 36, The Combined Community Legal Centres Group of NSW

• Religion is often used as a basis for discrimination and it is important that this be highlighted for further discussion in terms of its existence and development of strategies to combat this form of intolerance.
  
• In addition to the argument that race is a social construct, there is a need to consider the recognition of cultural differences as permissible and valuable in order to enjoy, learn about, experience and ultimately, celebrate a variety of cultures. To ignore cultural differences is not beneficial in the promotion of harmony within ethnic diversity.
  […]
  
• The [HREOC] discussion paper could also explore the community expectation of homogeneity in ethnic groups. For example, when Indigenous groups disagree it may be taken to imply a lack of truthfulness or used as an excuse not to support Indigenous issues. Similar expectations have been held in relation to refugee groups, in that they are not expected to express any emotion other than gratitude to their country of asylum. Examples include the changing public attitudes towards the Kosovo refugees and the asylum seekers rioting at the Woomera detention facility.
  
• MAQ would suggest that the word 'acceptance' replace the word 'tolerance', as 'tolerance' implies a patronising allowance of others to exist.

Submission 37, Multicultural Affairs Qld
To read this submission please click here

The first educators of young people are their families and this can be a source of a large amount of racism and discrimination. Young people tend to take on a lot of the beliefs and values of their families, particularly immediate family.

All forms of media play a large role in influencing both negative and positive racism and discrimination for all Australians. ...

Legislation at all levels and laws at all levels also are a large factor in perpetrating ongoing racism and discrimination. A lot of this may be unintentional as they were designed for a different era or are now being interpreted differently.

Submission 23, Frank Pearce

A number of participants [in discussions conducted by the WA EOC] suggested that a generational intolerance appears to exist with a measure of ignorance bred through a lack of insight and awareness about where people have come from. This appears to be perpetuated through the culture of families and the community. The following comment was made:
Discriminatory behaviours seem to be learnt from family and family peers.

The example was also given of peoples' perceptions being based on media coverage that persistently portrays the indigenous community in a very negative way.

One participant noted that, with the advent of One Nation, it is perceived to be safe to express racist attitudes.

A few participants particularly commented on the existence of racism being more prevalent and overt in regional areas. For example:
People in Geraldton will cross the road when they see an Aboriginal person coming towards them.

Submission 26, WA Equal Opportunity Commission

[During consultations for the Tracking Your Rights package an Indigenous person made the following comment to HREOC]

"Teachers are ignorant in terms of communication styles with our kids and about cultural differences." - Melbourne

Submission 38, Nerida Blair

In my experience as a Social Worker and Community Work Lecturer, there are certain characteristics which seem to be present amongst those people who seem to always be drawn towards making discriminatory, derogatory, judgmental and prejudicial remarks about Aboriginal people and/or other non-Caucasian ethnic groups in Australian Society.

These characteristics seem related to norms and values, and the way these are held. It seems that a strong conservative set of typical views can combine with lack of cultural-specific background knowledge, and a dose of anger about a migrant group or Indigenous people into a volatile mix of racial slur and innuendo. People who strongly believe that everyone ought to be a "useful, independent and contributory member (a "good" member) of society, who holds a job, a vocation, a profession or a metier, and be an active member of a money-centred economy, may by definition exclude people who do not have a job. It seems that the enslavement to a money-oriented society creates an achievement drive which may, if going in excess, lead to racism against those groups in society, who are NOT primarily partisan to this "enslavement".

Submission 40, Jack H. Smit

Question 3

Is there anything we can learn from past experiences of racism in Australia? If so, what lessons can we draw from our past as we evolve as a diverse society? What are the achievements we need to build on? What are the mistakes we need to learn from?

No exclusion - should be a cultural activist movement so that any show that doesn't have diversity could be attacked, any party without diversity, any company without diversity. Seems to be the only way - a punishment to initiate serious interest, and then recognition for those that are changing (maybe even a government tax benefit for those that are seriously changing or are already good).

De-funding advocacy groups has been a mistake in Australia because it has meant that organisations are dropping further and further behind international standards on a range of change issues - eg. human rights, labor rights and environment. This will disadvantage them in trade terms in the coming years.

Katherine Teh-White, Submission 3

The Multicultural Policy created in Australia is not about the diversity. If Australia closed its doors to all migrants right this very day we would still be a multicultural country. The policy proclaims our RIGHT to diversity. Look at United States of America or Indonesia if you would like to see diversity without rights.

Ms Rhonda Balzan, Submission 4

Shun Darwin's theory of evolution as being the unscientific theory it really is and teach that humans were created, or came to be, equal and that every human being is equally entitled to enjoy their lives in whatever way they see fit providing it is according to the law and the common decency of a civilised society. This doesn't mean we have to force them into our "white" culture. Even whites are unhappy in our "white" culture! We need to recognise that sometimes, people are most contented when they are left alone to get along with their lives, unencumbered by government decisions dreamed up by bureaucrats who have never experienced the contentment of sleeping under the stars and fishing and hunting for their day to day subsistence.

Submission 20, Graeme and Val Wicks

Discussions about education provision in Aboriginal communities rarely touch upon the question of human rights, and yet racial discrimination is at the heart of current problems. In my view, the evidence is overwhelming that the situation in Aboriginal education in the NT today has resulted from a history of denial to Aboriginal peoples of their basic human rights, including their specific rights as Indigenous peoples. This history is not simply 'in the past'. It continues up to the present, and if dramatic changes are not made, will continue into the foreseeable future.

The quickest and surest way to achieve change in this system is for the people most affected to take action to change it themselves, employing the full range of legal and political remedies available nationally and internationally to people whose rights are being denied. This is unlikely to occur unless the immediate and primary focus of those seeking reform is placed not on the schools, or on the children attending or not attending them, but on the parents and community leaders and organisations who have primary responsibility for the welfare and education of their children and young people.

In other words, Aboriginal people and their organisations must become more empowered in relation to the education system before real change will occur in this system. Achieving this requires an approach informed by theories and practices from the field of adult education and development, in particular its work in the area of human rights, indigenous rights, and the right to development.

Submission 24, Dr Bob Boughton

Some mistakes Australia can learn from -

• WHITE AUSTRALIA POLICY, TREATMENT OF MIGRANTS AND NEIGHBOURS
  The 1860-80s fear that Asians would 'flood' Australia, lead to the White Australia Policy. It was a 'mistake', but it did reduce fear and tension within Australia, for a long time. That fear has re-turned and is well entrenched. Action needs to be taken to reduce fear and threat by, for example, community consultation and from this, the creation of satisfactory controls on a more effective and obviously fair and migration programme. Recent community tensions re illegal immigrants, have caused a need for urgent nation-wide fora and community input, which is actually taken account of, at both state and nation-wide levels, with a plebiscite or policy development once major areas of agreement have been extrapolated. Also, rather than depending solely on defensive power, more action needs to be taken towards building sound, comfortable relationships with Australia¹s Asian neighbours.
  [...]
  
  
• INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
  Australia has a poor reputation regarding is past relationship and care of its indigenous people, notwithstanding that many mistakes were made with the 'best of intentions'. Some mistakes we can undo and should, but we cannot undo many of the past mistakes. We can take care not to perpetuate them in the future, or make further mistakes. It is important that Australians as a whole, are given the opportunity, via nation-wide fora, state and nation-wide 'think-tanks', and, once the best ideas are elicited, to develop sound policy, along the lines of 'do as you would be done by' and to build good relationships with indigenous peoples. If Australians as a whole, are given the opportunity to develop and take ownership of future policy, there will be the opportunity to act magnanimously and with tolerance and pride, on both sides. Without this, there will be continuing, festering resentment on both sides.
  
  
• Amongst many careful decisions which are needed, the Commonwealth Government needs to make a decision regarding who are the indigenous peoples. The majority of non-aboriginals approve the aboriginal population receiving special (and needed) programs and support mechanisms. However, there will be continuing resentment and acts of racism from some of the community, if such support is given to those with little, or no aboriginal genetic material, who claim aboriginality. This matter cannot be left to the aboriginal community to decide. The nation must decide. Besides special programs for indigenous people, there is a particular need for those who are of less than half aboriginal descent to receive particular, but different support, to meet their considerable needs. This cannot be left in the 'too hard basket' or there will be increasing resentment on both sides.
  [...]
  
  
• LACK OF EDUCATION IN TOLERANCE AND COURTESY
  Over the past 30 years 'individualism' and 'competition' have been key words in education policies for this nation. Everyone has to be socialized to learn to recognise and be responsible for controlling their basic genetic inheritance re greed, anger, envy, etc. and have sufficient practice in how to control these destructive behaviours for the common good. People have to recognise that humans genetic make-up as is the same, regardless of superficial difference, e.g. skin colour, eye shape, gender. No-one is 'better than' another.

• LACK OF ADEQUATE LEGISLATION AGAINST DISCRIMINATION
  In the past there was little legislation to prevent discrimination. That has changed. In all the above, the key to a reduction in racism is sound legislation at every level and in every Department, not only the justice system. In the public debate by student teams, conducted by NCWT during the UN Year of Tolerance (1995), on the topic You Cannot Legislate for Tolerance, it was clear that legislation is essential, and mistakes in legislation in the past have lead to increased intolerance and racism.

Submission 28, Linley Grant and others

Need to further acknowledge indigenous people and educate newly arrived migrants and refugees about indigenous Australians being the first Australians.

Programs and discussions that recognise indigenous Australians as the first Australians have also helped refugee young people understand that Anglo-Australians were once also new settlers/migrants. Discussion identifying indigenous Australians as the first Australians also assist in challenging racist issues towards newly arrived refugees and migrants.

"Oh yeah, the first Australians were black" proudly announced by a Sudanese young woman.

Comments like this and making that link with Australia's Black/indigenous history have helped refugee young people feel more accepted in the mainstream community rather than feeling like an outsider/the other.

Submission 21, Western Young People's Independent Network

As an Indigenous person with very strong ties to the past I believe the mistakes of the past need to be studied to find better and more appropriate ways of doing things. We need to have meaningful discussion, more listening than talking with our elders both Indigenous and non-Indigenous about past events and life experience. ...

We need to take what we are told as the truth and use it as a base to look for solutions without touching it up to make it more user friendly to those it may offend.

The fact that racism and discrimination are now predominantly covert shows a lot of progress has been made. Whether this is because of the fear of legal action or because people are changing is yet to be proved. The 'behind your back' covert stuff is much harder to deal with because in most cases you are not aware of its existence, only its effects.

Submission 23, Frank Pearce

All participants [in discussions conducted by the WA EOC] agreed that Australia's history fails to include Aboriginal history and is generally incomplete. The following comments were made:

• It does not include the contribution made by Asians
  
• 99% is missing - everything but politics and sport
  
• We are in danger of rewriting history
  
• Contributions that our non-British ancestors have made are not included
  
• The inglorious bits are missing
  
• The colonisers and dominant culture are celebrated and serious inhumanities are neglected
  
• Abuse of human rights from an indigenous perspective and racist actions that occurred during wars are missing
  
• The Aboriginal perception of colonisation
  
• The colonial and imperial system is made out to be romantic when it was not the case.

Submission 26, WA Equal Opportunity Commission

Australia is striving to find its way out of a very racist past and has made considerable progress since the early 1970s. Those white Australians who reached maturity here before 1970 unfortunately were brought up in a society which taught the unquestioned supremacy of British culture. It was an outlook which justified the occupation of this continent and the seizure of Aboriginal children on the grounds that assimilation was for their own good. Only those Australians brought up since that time have grown into a society in which different cultural values are acceptable and in which what is British is not necessarily what is best for everyone. A continuing education program is needed to maintain the momentum, and to avoid slipping back into a pre-1970s mindset.

There are still improvements to be made however. As members of Australia's Muslim community, around 1% of the population, we feel that we are not treated equally in particular in the press...

Submission 27, Muslim Women's Welfare Association of the ACT

We already have learnt many things from past experience of racism in Australia. Aboriginal people do NOT get beaten up any more. Employees of the Western Australian police force do not go on revenge missions any more. There are better controls in place, and there is a gradual shift of the human paradigm towards inclusiveness. ...

If we look at the work of ANTaR, the Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation, we notice a great flood of non-indigenous people who publicly, openly and actively choose to support Australian indigenous people. There is a Sea of Hands, and this movement was an emotional expression of rights for acceptance in Australian Society of Aboriginal people. Universities, major employers, and Australia's Public Service have Aboriginal Employment Strategies, and the Sea of Hands also stretches out in help on many other levels of social justice.

The dark side of where things are not moving is amongst those who do not join in a new awareness of equity issues and a non-judgmental attitude. The current Liberal Government is an example. It does not matter whether this "old attitude" is expressed towards illegal immigrants or other groups in Australia's society....

What seems to be fundamental then to a true learning from the past, is that we know how to capture a vision of the past, a vision which dares to acknowledge the dark side of our own society, a vision which knows that our own psyche is partial to views derived from that dark side, and a vision which seeks to actively overcompensate that dark side in our approach to groups which are vulnerable to discrimination. Such an overcompensation seeks to say "sorry", seeks to acknowledge instead of hide the "stolen generation", seeks to admit the stupidity of past governments, because it seeks to heal from the "sociosis" which had flooded western society.

Submission 40, Jack H. Smit

Theme 2: Victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance

Question 4

Who are the victims of racism in Australia? How does racism affect individuals, communities and Australian society in general?

Anyone who is not white, and can't get away with being non-Anglo Saxon, experiences racism in Australia. The level of racism impacts self esteem, perception of self, and thus ability to perform, grow and become as successful as possible. In turn, this means that the community never becomes as successful as it could have become

Katherine Teh-White, Submission 3

Right now I would say Arabic Australians and Indigenous Australians. Really we are all affected. The way we treat each other will grow this community into the very thing the Minister for Immigration Minister Ruddock is most afraid of: A community divided by factions of disaffected and isolated 'second class citizens'.

Ms Rhonda Balzan, Submission 4

The entire community is effected. "Nationalism is the measles of mankind" - Albert Einstein.

Submission 6

If you live in the township of Murgon and are white, you would say you are the victim as you walk down the streets being called "[expletive]…" by certain Aborigines, knowing that if you retaliate, it's likely you will take the rap over the knuckles in a court of law.

Submission 20, Graeme and Val Wicks

The problem Aboriginal people face in relation to the education system in Central Australia is that the society and economy which this system has primarily been designed to serve has almost no place for up to half the students whom it enrols. These students are currently destined to become an impoverished 'surplus' population, whose needs for housing, infrastructure, health and welfare services, and for minimal levels of administrative oversight and regulation, will maintain a need for skilled non-Aboriginal labour to migrate here form the urban areas in the south and east, thus boosting local demand and helping to drive economic growth which benefits them very little.

The education system contributes to this development process in at least two important ways. Firstly, the education industry is a major employer of the non-Aboriginal professionals who migrate here from the cities, many of whom remain here only for a short while. Secondly, the education system helps legitimate the current and worsening levels of impoverishment within the black population - which makes up the majority of those who will remain permanently in the region - by 'failing' them according to its standards, which are largely determined by the needs of the non-Aboriginal economy and society. This will continue to be the case until such time as the NT adopts other models for its economic and social development, ones which do not treat the Aboriginal population in central Australia as 'surplus', and which do not rely principally on non-Aboriginal labour.

Submission 24, Dr Bob Boughton

Everyone is [a victim], including the very powerful and/or rich. From a patronising attitude to actual violent acts of racism, every Australian is diminished, in the same way as every other belittling act of behaviour diminishes the individual, the group and the nation.

Racism increases tension, mistrust, breakdown of relationships; it increases isolation, hatred and violence - for a very long time. Racism and other forms of 'one-upmanship' destroy each person's, each group's and each community's ability to work co-operatively and think constructively. People are too busy looking for or instituting hurt, to see the good in the other.

Submission 28, Linley Grant and others

Many in Australia find themselves the victims of racism or xenophobia - immigrants, foreign workers, and asylum seekers. Yet undoubtedly it is Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders who face racism and racial discrimination more often than any other Australian. Indigenous people still face discrimination in almost every aspect of their lives and are still targeted for a wide range of human rights abuses almost everywhere they live.

The legacy of generations of human rights abuses committed against Aborigines is still apparent in the administration of justice. Aboriginal people are vastly over-presented in both the juvenile justice and criminal justice systems, and are more likely to die in custody than non-Aborigines.

The reasons are disturbing - Aborigines are still suffering economic disadvantage, social disruption and systemic discrimination. This is compounded by the reluctance of the Australian government to confront provincial authorities over their responsibilities for past and present discrimination faced by Aborigines.

Submission 29, Amnesty International Australia

Newly arrived refugees and young people.

The impact of racism cannot be understated even though most young people have been forced to come to terms with it. Racism reinforces young people's feelings of insecurity and discomfort and emphasises the differences between them and "other Australians". Racism can create a feeling of not being a part of the mainstream community and result in young people feeling isolated. Racism can seriously impact on young people's mental health and development.
[...]
Overt racism is obviously damaging, however, more subtle forms of institutionalised racism can be as difficult to cope with, and can exclude refugee young people from exercising their rights to information and participating in the community.

Submission 21, Western Young People's Independent Network

The Macedonian community finds itself in a particularly unique position as compared to other minorities, as the only ethnic group in contemporary Australia to be the target of INSTITUTIONALISED RACISM at both the State and Federal Government levels. Perhaps the only other recent example of similar state initiated and supported racism was that suffered by the Aboriginal Community.
[...]
The directives [referring to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, "Slav Macedonian" people and the "Macedonian Slavonic" language] have had a detrimental impact upon all members of the Australian Macedonian community. For example, in relation to the language directive, students and teachers involved in Macedonian language programs in [Victorian] State Schools have experienced unprecedented examination and VCE certification problems, the likes of which have never appeared in multicultural education.

In renaming the Macedonian language and ethnicity the Victorian and Australian Governments have marginalised the Australian Macedonian community. This has had an overall demoralising effect on the community and has eroded the foundations upon which multiculturalism has successfully thrived in Australia.

The directives have acted as a psychological trigger for trans-generational trauma within the Macedonian community.

Submission 30, Australian Macedonian Human Rights Committee

Migrant teachers, as a special category of skilled migrants are often the brunt of many instances of unsubstantiated prejudgment both as an individual or as a group.... The hostility of such prejudice against migrant teachers can engender, and has as its end-result a positive discrimination against migrant teachers. This is due to actions on the part of a dominant population usually of Anglo-Celtic origin, towards an ethnic group of migrant teachers which can and has caused great human suffering to them.
[...]
Every migrant teacher begins at the bottom rung as a relief teacher. They make progress from temporary, to permanent-on-probation and finally permanent positions. Many migrant teachers [in one recent study] expected to be discriminated against as 30% of them cited racism as a cause for their not being able to find work. 33% of migrant teachers whose quali