77% of Aussies are Racist

Australia’s treatment of refugees and its attitude to immigration generally have been shameful for some time now. During the 2001 election campaign, immigration and border protection became hot-button issues, following the Tampa affair, Children overboard affair, and the sinking of a dilapidated Indonesian fishing boat that was en-route to Christmas Island carrying over 400 asylum seekers (353 of these, mostly women and children, died). Our Governments response was the controversial Pacific Solution.

One of my first posts as faux President was the criticism of the Pacific Solution. The policy, which calls for mandatory detention and off-shore processing of asylum seekers was aimed primarily to be a deterrent and had no long term viability. My suggestion at the time remains relevant: have defined short detention periods necessary for health and background checks and use the time to teach English and other skills relevant to integration to Australia. Having ignored this fairly commonsense approach, Howard has finally fielded criticism he may find difficult to ignore – from his own regulatory body, The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC).

The HREO commissioner stated that "[It is] unacceptable in terms of human rights instruments to detain people and send them to be processed off-shore". It’s that simple. A no-brainer if you will. Typically though, the Howard Government change their policies only after the political tide has turned – and to save their own skins. Given that President Bush is on the verge of closing his preferred detention centre, Guantanamo Bay, Howard may need to return to the Pacific Solution drawing board. Hopefully it’ll be a little less Auschwitz this time.

Still, Howard can’t take all the blame, given that he is a leopard that will happily change his spots – to suit those of his electorate. To their credit, Sydney Hip-Hop outfit, The Herd have been trying to spread the word and educate an oblivious public. Their 2003 track ‘77%’ featured the line "77% of Aussies are racist", referring to the number of Australians announced in a survey that agreed with the Government's response to the Tampa incident. Their message is clear: we’re increasingly and generally a racist nation – despite most of us being recent (within 200yrs) immigrants ourselves. That’s right; each of us has some responsibility in the way this has all gone down. The song is now 4 years old, but much of it holds true (I like particularly “channel 9 fostering prejudiced mentalities” and “captain cook was the very first queue jumper”), and its well worth listening to. Maybe all of us could do with a bit of a wake up.

(Warning, the song includes not only the f-bomb, but the c-bomb. JJJ were happy to play it, in fact it was #46 in the hottest 100 in 2003 – but if you’re sensitive to that sort of thing, watch the clip without the sound).