Aborigines bear brunt of racism: report

Aborigines in Australia suffer covert and systematic discrimination

By CNN's Grant Holloway

CANBERRA, Australia (CNN) -- Aborigines are the main victims of racism is Australia, much of which derives from the nation's colonial history, a new reports finds.

Australia's Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission spent six months compiling the report as part of its contribution to the U.N. World conference on Racism held in South Africa in August this year.

The report, released Monday, says racism is still part of an everyday experience for some people, but also finds that the majority of Australians are opposed to racism.

"Everywhere we went … I was struck by the sense of marginalization felt by indigenous people and people from non-English speaking backgrounds who do not fit the stereotype of the typical Australian," Federal Race Discrimination Commissioner William Jonas said.

The White Australia Policy, which restricted immigration to predominantly European cultures, had had a lasting impact on the national social development of Australia.

That policy -- which operated from around 1900 to 1973 -- allowed "the construction of a populist national identity which excludes and marginalizes groups on the basis of ethnicity and race," the report says.

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"This has led to popular ideas of the need for people to conform to a set of perceived cultural and social norms if they are to be truly 'Australian'."

Australia's colonizers had historically maintained a privileged position at the expense of indigenous people and those from non-English speaking backgrounds, Jonas said.

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Exacerbating the problem are Australia's public institutions and structures that are based on cultural models derived from the British colonizers.

In particular, Australia's school system is seen as a product of a specific cultural model and as being unresponsive to cultural differences in learning and teaching.

"The maintenance of power and privilege, and the fear of having to concede these in part or whole, were seen as a major factor behind racism in Australia," the report finds.

Lack of leadership

Jonas said the commission was told of "covert and systematic racism" experienced by non-white Australians in employment, education and the delivery of government services.

Racism was also becoming more evident in politics with more support for parties openly expressing racist, discriminatory and xenophobic views.

"This is seen as being coupled with the lack of political leadership from the major political parties in taking a strong anti-racist stance.

"On the one hand governments espouse principles of inclusiveness, but at the same time they enact policies and start public debates which reinforce xenophobia, if not racism," the report says.

Australia's recent election campaign was notable for its underlying themes of race and xenophobia surrounding the conservative Howard government's decision to adopt a zero-tolerance policy on allowing asylum-seeking boat people to land on Australian shores.

Report recommendations

Calls for a government apology to indigenous people have gone unheeded

That policy, and a subsequent tightening of Australia's border protection laws, was also supported by the main opposition, the Australian Labor Party.

The commission outlines a number of recommendations for addressing the situation.

These include:

Government and private sector-developed anti-racism programs;

Development of a media code of conduct on race hatred, particularly in the field of talkback radio;

Compulsory school subjects recognizing Aboriginal history, the impact of colonization and the contribution of migrants to Australia's development;

A formal federal government apology to Australia's indigenous people for past discriminatory and socially destructive policies.

The Howard government has consistently ruled out the need for such an apology saying it was not supported by the majority of Australians and would, in itself, create further social divisions.