Above : Australia First Party sticker, accompanying BBC report, Australia racism ‘still serious’: “Researchers in Australia have concluded that people are becoming more tolerant of cultural diversity. But racism remains a problem, with one in 10 Australians believing some races are superior to others…”
The results are in. 4 in 10 Australians are ‘racist’; 1 in 10 ‘racial supremacists’.
Well, that’s apparently what a recent survey ‘Challenging Racism: The Anti-Racism Research Project’ concludes. The SMH provides a ‘positive’ spin, selecting a photo of Asma Yusra, “a 21-year-old Muslim from Lakemba who will speak at [a forthcoming] conference”, holding the Australian flag, to accompany the article; the ABC goes for the more straightforward ‘One in 10 Aussies are racist: study’.
Simmering tensions seen as downside of diversity
Sarah Price
The Sydney Morning Herald
September 28, 2008
“NSW is the most racist state in Australia, a 10-year study has found. Challenging Racism: The Anti-Racism Research Project also found that while Australians were largely welcoming of diversity, the view of national identity was still narrow. The first results of the study will be unveiled at the 4Rs international conference – Rights, Reconciliation, Respect and Responsibility – at the University of Technology, Sydney, which starts on Tuesday. The full results will be released early next year, with the data to be used by human rights and anti-discrimination agencies across Australia to implement strategies specific to the needs of each region. The study, led by human geography and urban studies professor Kevin Dunn, from the University of Western Sydney, found high rates of migration meant NSW, on average, was the least tolerant of all the states and territories…”
The Australian adopts a less positive approach:
40pc believe others don’t belong here
September 28, 2008
“FORTY per cent of Australians believe some ethnic groups do not belong in the country with one in 10 having outwardly racist views, a new study shows…”
The study itself is certain to be more nuanced than a newspaper headline. A few points:
The results as reported are non-specific in terms of allocating particular attitudes to particular ethnic, racial, cultural and national groupings. It also appears that religion — in particular, attitudes towards Islam and Muslims (and to the extent that these may be separated from attitudes towards peoples from the Middle East) — play a large role in shaping overall attitudes. The SMH report states, for example, that “Women were found to be more tolerant than men, with one exception – attitudes towards Muslims”. Further: “Prof Dunn said people also revealed who they singled out the most. ‘The most often-mentioned groups were Muslims or people from the Middle East.’ The overall figures surge to 65 per cent for people over 65 but drop to 31 per cent for those aged 18 to 34.”
That ethnic/racial/cultural/national prejudice is much more common among older citizens than younger is not an unexpected finding, and reflects, it seems, more general attitudes towards ‘difference’. An earlier study — ‘Mapping Homophobia in Australia’, Michael Flood and Clive Hamilton, Australia Institute Webpaper July 2005 (PDF) — concludes that “Older Australians are considerably more homophobic than young adults. However, those in the 14 to 17 age group, especially boys, are much more inclined to hold antigay views than young and middle-aged adults. Homophobic attitudes are closely related to levels of education − 25 per cent of those with tertiary education hold homophobic views compared to 40-50 per cent among those who did not complete high school.”
The survey (again, according to the SMH) “scored highest when people were asked if Australia was weakened by ethnic groups sticking to their old ways and if there were any cultural or ethnic groups that did not fit into Australian society”. Which is an interesting finding — how are ‘old ways’ understood, and by whom? Which “cultural or ethnic groups”, in particular, are considered as unsuitable for Australian society, why, and what distinguishes the ‘cultural’ from the ‘ethnic’ — or are these terms synonymous?
Finally: “On average, about one in 10 people said it was not good for people of different cultures to marry and about the same number said not all races are equal. “It’s only about one in 10 people now in Australia across the different states that would have that sort of view – the racial supremacists for instance,” Prof Dunn said. “That’s still quite high I suppose – there’s a lot of concern that comes out of that”. Yeah… read literally, that means that there’s a political market of around two million or so people in Australia for whom (White) racial supremacy is appealing. Sadly for the supremacists, the major parties, especially the Tories, are well aware of this reservoir, and — leaving aside the brief challenge posed by Pauline Hanson and One Nation — appear reasonably adept at absorbing such sentiment into their programs and policies. Of course, given the diverse constituencies on which they rely for support, this is unlikely to always be the case, and so it’s certainly possible that, probably in response to other, future crises, this sector could be mobilised by other political forces less interested in ‘social harmony’.
Whatever…
Shameful but not surprising, if you took into account the racism & denial about Aboriginal genocide on this continent as well, the number of racist ozzies would probably jump up to 70 per cent, disgusting, nothing to be proud of at all. It makes all those of us who fight racism in Australia more crucial than ever.
Kia Kaha
[Blah blah blah…]
[Blah blah blah…]
I believe media in Australia plays a major part in the way that the common aussie thinks. If a person of diverse ethnic background was a weather man/woman a news anchor or a sports reporter on any of the main free to air channels (apart from SBS) it would go a long way to raising comfort levels of racial diversity in this society. This society we live in simply shelters itself from other cultures because it’s not comfortable with its own right now. And frankly the only way Australians will feel comfortable with their own culture is when they realise that Australian culture is the mix of cultures (NOT just any ONE culture) that makes this young country what it is …Australia.
Anyway that’s my thoughts.
ok vids, but I reckon the music vid “Kill All The White Man” really sums it up!
I think this one’s a pretty good summary…
Right wing mainstream journalist have been responsible in not supporting multi racial diversity . These Journalist from the arts to radio programing to main media ( news) sensationalize racism for their own on a personal level in their internal racist agendas . they control what the public hear, read , and perceive.
These days when I read derogatory statements about a community , or a multiracial or ethnic personality made by a right wing racist journalist I question their integrity .
These Journalist should be prosecuted for creating racial intolerance .
Australia is a great country . Lets move forward in creating a fair society .
Look at the rich diversity we have and the immense contributions from Australians of different backgrounds .
We need a declaration of human rights so these liars stop their condescending statements . Make them accountable for their statements and actions .
FREE AUSTRALIA FROM THE CHAINS OF RACISM [!]
I’m the one in ten, and i dont know where you got the people for the surveys, but i think its higher than that, all my friends are racists and i will bring my children up as racists, [it’s] the importation of these scum bag immagrants [sic] that is ruining our country, that’s why there are different countries, so you can live with your own, we dont want you here, close the gates, australia is full, we need to have a annual ethnic cleansing day every year to cull these fuckas from our shores and restore our country.
Muslims should be the first to go, get a big boat and send em all back to where they came from so they can kill as many innocent people and rape as many people and steal and bash from as many people as they want.
If a black man stands up and and says ” I am Black and Proud , Black Power ” you troubled , peace loving faggots applaud. WHITE PRIDE , WHITE POWER and we are condem[n]ed. Why is it so hard for non whites to understand we are Happy , Successful and Loving with them but more so with out them.
G’day Angle Aussie,
A few points.
1. Your comment bears no relationship to the post — a fairly typical characteristic of the contributions of the racist drongos who comment on my blog.
2. I don’t recall having witnessed a black man stand up and say “I am Black and Proud , Black Power ”. I have, however, seen black stand-ups, and they were funny, and I did applaud. Dunno if that makes me a troubled, peace-loving faggot, however; an amused, slightly drunken heterosexual, maybe.
3. It’s spelled ‘condemned’. With an ‘n’ between the ‘m’ and the ‘e’.
4. People may find you ‘hard to understand’ because a) you talk a load of dribble and b) you appear to have a few kangaroos loose in the top paddock.
Cheers and beers,
@ndy.
All this talk about “My Country” by the “White aussies” is so amusing! This country has been settled by the Aboriginal Nations for over 40,000 years. “Aussies” were either kicked out of Britain or migrated here a mere 200 years ago! Why don’t the “Aussies” and “southern cross soldiers” go back to England?
Hami why don’t you fuck off back to where you came from.
Yes, hami and his racist mate Andy should go back to England.
Your shout?
I believe some people don’t belong in Australia, I believe it with all my heart. Most people don’t take a dislike to people from other races and cultures being here just because they are different, the reasoning is far more deep rooted than that. People cry out about things when there is a problem, not because they are all racist. The main issue I see in Australia is the lack of assimilation with certain ethnic groups. Groups who are segregating themselves and speaking ill of Australians, yet are more than willing to accept our generous welfare payments for the 10 or so kids they breed here. In my opinion those people are attempting to live a life that they did not earn and should not be able to even access. Our nation is a prosperous, modern nation. But, it is also a nation reaching capacity in every sense of the word, and the flood of ethnic immigrants is not helping. Our bleeding hearts and greedy [politicians] are to blame for that problem and they should be ashamed of themselves for it. They can let a large, unskilled ethnic family come here, access welfare payments and not expect them to work, while it is far more difficult for an American skilled worker to come here to make a new life. What really boils my blood though, is the the way the Australian [government] will accept third world immigrants by the thousands and give them welfare payments for their incredibly large families, yet they have to debate on the decision to give our pensioners an extra $30 a fortnight. What a disgrace! The ethnic population of Australia has already given us all they can, including the problems from their homelands, I see no reason to accept more. Furthermore, I believe on top of zero net ethnic immigration, our intake of refugees should be scrapped completely and foreign aid should also be halted. The world’s problems are not Australia’s problems and we should not be responsible for bailing out Nations who can’t run their government well enough to develop the infrastructure [necessary] to deal with their own disasters. We have enough problems in our own nation to deal with, I suggest before looking to save the world you should put a band aid on your bleeding heart and look at the problems at home. I would rather one homeless Australian be given a chance in the place of 1000 from overseas simply for the fact that we are not responsible for them. A government like our current government is going to ensure that the general Australian population will be enduring more hardships through the modern immigration and welfare policies. I am grateful though, that the current generation of young people are becoming more aware of the [negative] aspects of multiculturalism and multiracialism, and are developing Nationalistic political beliefs. It will be our nation’s only saving grace.
Dear “Mr Morris”,
You raise a number of points and make a number of claims above, and I’m unsure how these relate to the study I refer to in the original post. Nevertheless…
First, for the past three financial years, the United Kingdom has been the major source country for migrants. I’m not sure why you believe that these migrants are disposed to speak ill of Australians, or to have large families upon arrival, or have a tendency to obtain welfare payments to which they are not entitled (access to which is governed by a range of different government regulations). In the absence of any evidence to this effect, your claims would appear to merely reflect a form of prejudice based on ignorance.
Secondly, there is no ‘flood’ of ethnic immigrants. Rather, since the end of WWII, successive Australian governments have developed a migration policy, one which determines the entry into Australia of foreign citizens, and their eventual settlement. Thus:
In other words, for over 60 years there has been a relatively constant influx of immigrants. What has changed somewhat during these years is immigrant country of origin; thus, while the UK (and New Zealand/Aotearoa) has almost always provided the largest portion of immigrants in any given year, over the preceding few decades, there have been relatively fewer people emigrating from Europe and relatively more from parts of Asia, the Middle East, and, recently, Africa.
Australian refugee policy is another matter.
Finally, your comment is littered with various factual inaccuracies and fallacious claims, but what you term ‘Nationalism’, and what is otherwise known as ‘racism’, while persistent, is actually declining among the general population, and this is especially the case among younger people. Nevertheless, the situation is complicated, and if the findings referred to above have been released, I’m unaware of them.
Think for 3 seconds about this, then come back and give us the answer.
Eyes speak louder then [sic] words, Frankel [sic].
*Asians make up 50% of Victoria.
*Population of White Australian’s have dropped from 98% ~ 80% in 30 years.
“Think for 3 seconds about this, then come back and give us the answer.”
A. You’re a racist wanker.
I deserve more respect then that.
Lemme guess. Because you’re a BigBeautifulMan?
PS. It’s ‘than’ not ‘then’.
Nope.
Mick Reyfield, SKOT or Peter Watson?
Neither!
PPS. It’s ‘none’ not ‘neither’.
*Asians make up 50% of Victoria.
*Population of White Australians [no apostrophe] [has] dropped from 98% ~ 80% in 30 years.
Is there a source for these claims?
What is their significance?
What do these ‘facts’ have to do with the subject of ‘Racism in Australia’?
Can you physically prove me wrong, or require a book to support your arguments?
I can mentally prove you wrong.
I am the father of two Aussies. I live in the UK, things are terrible here thanks to our government’s liberal appeasement towards asylum seekers and other immigrants who really make for this island for the generous benefits in £££ cars accommodation, etc. our stupid socialist leaders shower upon them, when a citizen wouldn’t stand a chance of receiving the same!
For the slightest reason…thousands of these newcomers protest and fight with the police, they have zero respect for law and order and no fear of consequences for violating laws. They regard our prisons as resorts compared to those in their homelands. These morons, who only came for economic advantage and freebies, are just freeloading bums! They should be rounded up and repatriated to the garbage heaps they crawled out of. Similar things are happening all across Europe. Knifings, shootings, murders, rapes and robberies, all soaring and attributed to these so called asylum monsters.
Lucky are countries that keep em out!
See my commentaries on YOUTUBE.
fantazamaraz.
Sound like my kind of people. I wonder if fantazamaraz is any relation to Haysi Fantayzee?
dear aussies you will all be sorry one day wait till the riff raff takeover.sometimes im the only english man on the bus,we have all the dregs
I am a skilled migrant from Sri Lanka and when i came here i brought about 35k with me.In about 2 months since i arrived here i got a job in my profession and has been working ever since for the last 3 years.So far i have not sent a single cent back to Sri Lanka and every thing i earn, i either consume here or save here in Aussi banks or paytax.I do not have a fleet of babies.Just one and my wife is studying here and i do not a get a welfare payment or anything like that.So how can i be a burden to this society.Infact i am earning more than an average australian and pay more tax than an average australian and fill a vacancy that employers cannot find an educated aussi and contributing to the economy and tax system in this country.My whole point is not every migrant coming to this country is a scum bag as some fool suggested here and there are lot of migrants who add value to this country…much more than some aussi born crap who does not work hard or learn hard.
The immigration system is turning aussie cities into traffic congested, unpleasant, overpriced shit holes.
Join Australia First and do your bit to stop the immigration system. See my web site at http://www.australiafirst.info for a lot of information.
Australian whites are still very racist and uncivilized. They are inferior humans who could not become civilized even in the 21st century in spite of all the land and resources they now have in their control. Probably got something to do with the fact that average white Oz have an IQ less than 80, whereas Indians have average IQ of 120.
You doubt that? Consider this – an average Indian speaks on [sic] at least three languages, most educated ones speak five or six languages, 70% of the scientists in USA are Indians, Indians have won the US national spelling bee more than any other ‘race’. The radio, the atom, the Pentium chip, the decimal number system, neural networks, the number zero, non violence, free speech and ‘independence of thought’, DNA molecule, thorium tech etc etc were all developed by people of Indian ‘race’.
If survival is of the fittest, I wonder where we will be relatively as humanity crosses to the 22nd century?
I call troll.
[Blah blah blah.]
hi i am doing a assignment on racism in australia and if anyone has any facts i should put in it it would be appreciated
God, look at all the racists!
While Einstein warned that we should never underestimate human stupidity, I am still often saddened by manifest displays of it, being a more optimistic man than he.
Seriously, though, you can tell by these posts that it’s always the poorly educated, genetically disadvantaged and/or willfully ignorant mouth-breathers that spout the racist line; it’s motivated by fear and self-interest. They struggle to compete as it is so they want to thin out the playing field by excluding others on some arbitrary premise. A man who needs to take pride in his skin colour hardly deserves to be called such (reminds me a bit of Zoolander to tell the truth … oooh look at my pearly white skin)
The funny thing is that all this prejudice only makes us migrants stronger, through adversity (we need to be twice as good to overcome the prejudice) and direct screening by the federal government so that only very skilled people make it through. The net effect of this is that the racists get stuck cleaning toilets and living out in Zone 3 while we enjoy the leafy inner East, dominate the professions, and live prosperously and in harmony with our educated, liberal white friends. Oh well… if racial hatred helps them swallow these realities then I suppose they are welcome to it.
Submission to the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people – Australian mission
Indigenous People’s Organisations Network of Australia
17 – 28 August 2009
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/social_justice/publications/srip_2009/index.html
All of the people that have commented on this website applauding racism shud be ashamed and if u call ur self an aussie u dont deserve to
i am a white aussie and have loads of mates from all around the world
the idiots that think australia would be better off with out immigrants are complete tools
the way ive been raised is to respect everyone and to help anyone i can no matter who they are
i think ive heard of ppl like u b4 oh yes the kkk another bunch of fuck wits
all u racists arent true aussies in my books
I merely think it is the over sensationalisation of the media… indian students are attacked in australia only this point is highlighted… racism is everywhere but suddenly the issue has grown… media is not highlighting the point that australian govt and indian govt are blaming the fraudulent agents… this is the core reason… agents who are not registered are actually ruining student’s lives… how many actually know that the Association of Australian Education Representatives in India (AAERI) is the only regulatory body in india which works closely in association with australian and indian govt… to safeguard student’s interest and future…
Rolly, there are many issues, and that of “fraudulent agents” is very far indeed from being the core of the problems with international education economies, and the existences of students within such economies. And despite what you say, it is not really the case the AAERI is a regulatory body as usually understood. And despite what the AAERI says in that quote, the Association is only “independent” in the loosest sense of the word ie. the sense of formal independence of the sort which means that corporations can claim legal separation and non-responsibility despite being thoroughly entwined with, even controlled by other, also nominally independent bodies. The association is a product of efforts of AEI, after all, which is hardly a neutral player in world markets.
All these anti Asians and anti everybody else are pea brains, what about the Asians in Papua, Burma, Singapore, Malaysia etc who helped the Aussie soldiers in the war fighting the enemy? Does that not count? What about all the the Asian migrants who pay tax and GST? If you lot hate Asians so much who is going to buy our beef, coal, uranium etc? How come our dollar is so strong? We all benefit…
Remove your blinkers we are all one world, breathe the same air and have the same colour under our skin…