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Migration and addressing racism in Australia

Migration has fuelled modern Australia’s success. It is connected to our economic prosperity and national character. Half of us have at least one parent born overseas and a quarter are born overseas. There has been bipartisan political support for a non-discriminatory migration policy since the 1970’s and there is strong and consistent public support for multiculturalism. Since the end of World War 2, Australia has also provided safety and a home for close to a million refugees who have fled persecution and violence. Longitudinal studies confirm the positive contribution they have made to our community.

There’s nothing wrong in itself with debating Australia’s migration policies. People who attended last weekend’s anti-migration rallies may have been motivated by a range of reasons. But what’s clear is that the rallies provided a platform for racism and hate speech. Rally organisers targeted the Indian community in the lead up to the protests and in Melbourne were connected with neo-Nazis. People have a right to peacefully assemble and protest, but as our new protest rights explainer says, that doesn’t extend to hate speech and violence. We need to stand with our migrant communities and condemn those who seek to divide our society and bring back racist policies that were rejected half a century ago.

Of course, when it comes to debates about migration, the starting point is remembering that Australia’s First Peoples have occupied this continent for over 60,000 years. If those aeons were expressed as the distance from Sydney to Melbourne, by comparison European occupation would run only from the Sydney Town Hall to the SCG. The disgraceful attack by neo-Nazis on Camp Sovereignty in Melbourne, an important place of resistance, culture and memory for First Peoples, underscores the urgent need to eliminate racism in this country. The Commission’s National Anti-Racism Framework outlines how to do just that with 63 recommendations for a whole of society approach to eliminating racism across Australia’s legal, justice, health, education, media and arts sectors and workplaces. The time for action is now.

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