Is Australia a racist country?
Former Prime Minister John Howard discusses racism in Australia and the Cronulla riots on the ABC's Australia Talks 2021. Former Prime Minister John Howard discusses racism in Australia and the Cronulla riots on the ABC's Australia Talks 2021.... I was there at St Kilda Beach in January two years ago when Australias far-right, deeply-racist, anti-immigration community scuffled with members of the public over what they saw as a threat to white Australia. It was a disgusting display of bigotry and racism that proved how little has changed since the 2005 Cronulla riots. Ten years earlier on the streets of Melbourne, a series of savage attacks were carried out against Indian students. The stories made headlines around the world and led to a significant drop in international student arrivals. An anti-Asian sentiment flourished in Australia last year after the pandemic spread from China to the rest of the world. Fast forward to January this year and we saw more racist behaviour as white supremacists burned crosses and chanted white power slogans in Victorias Grampians region. It is a question back up for debate this week after former Prime Minister John Howard was asked for his thoughts during the ABCs Australia Talks 2021 program on Monday night. Hosts Annabel Crabb and Nazeem Hussain presented the results of the national broadcasters survey of 60,000 Australians before asking Mr Howard if he had changed his mind about the nature of the Cronulla riots  riots he previously claimed were not a sign of underlying racism. After the Cronulla riots, you refused to call it out as racist, Hussain said. Instead you said, There is no underlying racism in Australia. Yet today, 76 per cent of Australians say there is a lot of racism in Australia. Are they wrong?  Mr Howard replied, Well, that has not been my experience. I have to respectfully say to that 76 per cent, I dont think there is underlying racism in Australia. I think there are racists in Australia.  The Party Games newsletter Get your political briefing from news.com.au's political editor Samantha Maiden. Sign up The Party Games newsletter Success! Check your inbox for details. See all newsletters  Hussain asked, You dont think there is underlying racism?  No I dont, Mr Howard insisted. The 2005 Cronulla riots began with a fight between Middle Eastern men and a group of surf lifesavers. Thousands of people attended a protest the following week, which quickly got out of control as the crowd set upon people of Middle Eastern appearance. This led to revenge attacks, with convoys of cars from Punchbowl, in south west Sydney, travelling to Cronulla that night. The next day, NSW Premier Morris Iemma said the incident was racist. Speaking to Mr Howard on Monday night, Hussain asked, On reflection, would you characterise the Cronulla riots as racist?  No, I dont alter my view, Mr Howard said. The broader question about Australias inherent racism has been the subject of plenty of research. The Australia Talks survey this year found three-in-four Australians with non-European ancestry have been discriminated against and the majority of Australians believe there is a lot of racism in Australia. A notable exception was among One Nation voters. In 2018, a study commissioned by SBS and the Western Sydney University found that one-in-five Australians had experienced racism in the previous 12 months. The survey of 6000 people also found more than 31 per cent of respondents had negative feelings towards Muslim Australians, more than 20 per cent of respondents thought African refugees increased crime rates, and more than 32 per cent of respondents had experienced racism in the workplace. A 2020 study created by the University of Sydney in cooperation with Harvard and Yale universities found that three out of every four people surveyed held a negative or implicit bias towards Indigenous Australians. The Implicit Association Test measured how quickly a person can match positive words or negative words with pictures of white and Indigenous Australians. It found that 75 per cent of people displayed an implicit bias towards caucasian faces  they found it easier to link them to positive words than they did with Indigenous Australians. A recent study of 3000 people by the Australian National University found almost 85 per cent of Asian Australians reported experiences of racism during the pandemic. And another report from 2018 conducted by the Australian Human Rights Commission found that 95 per cent of the most senior leaders in Australian organisations are from Anglo-Celtic or European backgrounds. Australias Race Discrimination Commissioner Professor Tim Soutphommasane said it best. People must be prepared to have a conversation about race and power that may prove uncomfortable.   With Frank Chung