Australia

Race and Racism

In Commonwealth law, neither racism nor race is defined. Rather, laws such as the Racial Discrimination Act of 1975 and the Racial Hatred amendments to that act in 1995 reflect Australia's acceptance of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. They prohibit discrimination (distinction, exclusion, restriction, and preference) on the basis of race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin in relation to any human right or fundamental freedom. Other laws at the state level also prohibit discrimination on race, ethnic background, national origin, and (in some cases) religion.

Australian governments have passed legislation at the state and federal levels seeking to define and outlaw racism. Although Australia has not been at the forefront in international forums confronting racism, it has for the most part aligned itself with the more progressive nations. It is important to recognize that there are two competing and conflicting social discourses about race current in the society: (a) one that is based on humanitarian, universal, and cosmopolitan values and that welcomes cultural differences and decries racism and prejudice and (b) one that is defensive of the myths of the core culture, denies that racism is a problem, and stresses values associated with assimilation into British/Australian culture. Australian law claims to desire the former of these social discourses while needing to take into account and accept elements of the latter. The balance of the compromise has been a central concern of the politics of race since 1973, when White Australia was put to rest, multiculturalism was first enunciated as a policy to replace assimilationism, and indigenous land rights were firmly placed on the political agenda.

Most colonial settler societies, of which Australia is included, have been predicated on a primary racist assumption—the right of European powers to appropriate the wealth and resources of other societies. Australia, as a concept and as a reality, was created by two centuries of imperial struggle. The core myths and social practices of Australia reflect this history. Moreover, the issue of how to “read” Australian history has become highly politicized. In 1996, Prime Minister John Howard (head of government at the national level) argued that a “black armband” view had taken control of what should be seen as a far more heroic struggle to establish civilization in the land. He was reflecting on an argument first developed by historian Geoffrey Blainey, who in 1993 had castigated [Page 112]revisionist historians for focusing on the negative elements of Australian history and thereby supporting the development of what he described as a guilt industry. The issue of the history of racism has been politicized, and there is no longer an unambiguous narrative to which all historians could subscribe. However, it is important to ensure that voices of those about whom the history is written are also heard.

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