Comments on: Australian made racism

By: Diddy FitzGerald

Diddy FitzGerald — Sat, 16 Jan 2016 02:05:24 +0000

You are in favour of a treaty with indigenous Australia then? Why hasnt it happened yet? Only country with none, and its chaos. I grew up in England and never experienced such terrible racism as Australians demonstrate. I know it happens in the UK but here its practically universal. I’ve met so many ppl who seemed nice, friendly, chatting awasy, then thay say something so frightful…like the registered nurse who looked after my neighbour Lorna – chatting away, then she says “Oh, but i think Aborigines should drink in a separate bar, they should look up to us! ” Thats the sort of thing which is “normal” for Aussies to say.

By: Dian Tangey

Dian Tangey — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 15:18:08 +0000

just a few points, Jo Bjelke -Petersen was born in New Zealand evidently of Scandinavian ethnicity by his surname and first name. This fact would preclude him from being an Anglosphere, whatever that is. Secondly, not all white Australians are of Anglo-Saxon origin, a common misperception. Thirdly, when this country was opened up to migration from any ethnicity in the nineteen fifties and onwards there were pluses and minuses in the experience both for the migrants and for long term residents of Australia. Too often the idea of Australians is only published from the migrants point of view. If Australians have the temerity to say what they may think about some aspects of the migration experience, they are immediately branded as racists. Whilst I agree that there are racists in Australia, I have heard just as much racism stemming from migrants as Anglos to use the terminology. Although many Australians are not technically Anglos but Celts or other European ethnicities. Moreover, I feel that to say that only migrants experience racism is to exclude the experiences of Australians who are snubbed or spoken about in their presence by migrants who think we don’t know what is being said about us when they speak in their own language. Or the migrants who only speak their own language when in a group when they all speak English and you don’t speak that language.Personally I believe the migration experience has been very successful considering the number of differing nationalities, cultures, languages and ethnicities involved. People can live where they want, go where they want even if it means certain suburbs end up predominantly settled by a given nationality. If people choose to live where they feel comfortable living amongst people of their own culture this is not stopped or regarded as strange. In fact, when my son was living in the south of England in a small town, he rang home because he felt homesick because all he ever heard was English and he missed hearing all the different languages spoken at home. As Australians we are all in transition and some cope with this experience better than others, some are xenophobic, others embrace multiculturalism wholeheartedly, others not so much, some from overseas are homesick, others travel extensively overseas to learn more of the world. We all have a common ground which is food, glorious food. We meet through our cuisines, we talk about food, we exchange recipes, we try things and we are developing our own cuisine consisting of an incredibly diverse range of foodstuffs. This is where we have a common ground, where we are all equal. If we concentrate on racism that is what you will find because that is all you are looking for. Perhaps it is better to concentrate on the fact that considering all the different people who live here it has been rather peaceful up until the Howard government started using ethnicity as a political weapon. Now we need to regain our peaceful country and stop regarding each other as potential enemies. Instead we need to concentrate of what is good here and who is happy to live together here. After all it is a great place.

By: Kate

Kate — Sat, 20 Jun 2015 05:14:04 +0000

@EarleyDaysYet,

Please reread what Shahnaz wrote. Shahnaz’s point was that Aboriginal people were experiencing racism, not Shahnaz!
Upset that Indigenous people were not hired by local businesses or able to work on their traditional land Shahnaz tried to make a complaint against the racism that Indigenous people were facing, but was informed that only the victims of the racism -I.e. Indigenous people – could make a complaint.
Please reread the comment as I truly cannot understand how you misunderstood what Shahnaz was saying.
Thank you.

By: EarleyDaysYet

EarleyDaysYet — Fri, 29 May 2015 15:43:16 +0000

In reply to Shahnaz martin.

Really? As a “non-white South African” who lived through apartheid, you’re actually calling “racism” against traditional land owners? So let me understand this: you requested to meet the leader of the land owners mob, to lodge a complaint about “racism” because of not letting you apply for work there – despite the crippling poverty and jobless rates in their own communities – and THEN call it “racism” when he or she declines that scintillating opportunity?

You, sir, are delirious. Traditional land owners (who have been granted Land Rights by the Federal government) are, as the name suggests, the owners of the land. That means that it runs on local laws where those do not impinge on State/Federal jurisdiction. I’d say that if you ever got a peek at the Constitution of that community, there will be a line that says that all available jobs will be offered first to local (and “local” in this case might be quite extensive) residents. Not “no white people”, not “no black/brown people from other places”, but “locals first”.

That is NOT racism.

By: Shahnaz martin

Shahnaz martin — Wed, 13 May 2015 01:20:26 +0000

Great words. Racism doesn’t have to be directed at you for you to know n understand it. The NSW Social justice Commissioner informed me that I did not have the right to make a complaint about racism when it was not directed at me. I argued that when immersed in an environment of racism my experience of it allows me to make an official complaint. In effect they argued that I did not experience racism when visiting Mutajula where none of the local First People were allowed to work at the numerous resorts on their sacred lands. As a non white South African who grew u on the apartheid area I continue to be offended by the idea that when I am immersed in a landscape of racism I my lived experience of the racism at Mutajula is not valid because I was not an aboriginal person from the community experiencing the exclusion from an opportunity to undertake localised pAid work. Also that as a consumer of local services I am prevented from meeting a local traditional owner. In a similar fashion I think your arguments about not understand racism unless you have endured is limiting.
Thank u for your vigil on justice

By: Samantha Cooke

Samantha Cooke — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 05:23:51 +0000

Very informative.

By: Walter Russell

Walter Russell — Sat, 04 Apr 2015 09:37:44 +0000

Hi Gerry,
I realise that Mr Hassanloo believes sincerely, to the point of self destruction, that he is in danger of torture and death on return to Iran. I presume over the last 4 years he has been making that case as an asylum seeker under the Convention.
Can you direct me to information as to his grounds for claim, and why (official reasons) it has been rejected?
Thanks
Walter