Racial issue not new in Australia<\/p>\n
By Kristanyo Hardojo<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): It has been more than a quarter of a century
\nsince Australia formally buried its "White Australia" policy, the
\ninfamous attempt to attract European-only immigrants. But lately
\nafter the installation of John Howard's government, the old issue
\nof race has reared its ugly head again. This time, it was
\ntriggered off by federal independent member of Oxley, Pauline
\nHanson. She charged that the Labor government of former prime
\nminister Paul Keating was "looking after Aborigines too much" and
\ndedicated her parliamentary victory to "the white community".<\/p>\n
It is fair to argue that racism has been an essential element
\nof Australian history. The "White Australia" policy or, more
\nspecifically, the Immigration Restriction Act, which was passed
\nby the Australian government in 1901, is testimony to this claim.<\/p>\n
Referring to the act, two Australian historian scholars,
\nAndrew Markus and M.C. Ricklefs in their book Surrender
\nAustralia? Essays in the Study and Uses of History (1985), state:
\n"...'White Australia' policy had become distasteful to most
\nhistorians and embarrassing to all the major political parties,
\nwhom were to blame for its existence in the first place?"<\/p>\n
This article attempts to place the current Australian debate
\non issues of race in the context of the so called "White
\nAustralia" policy.<\/p>\n
The transportation of English immigrants began almost
\nimmediately after the discovery of Australia in 1788. Although
\nthe need for a larger settled population for the production of
\nfood and provision of other basic requirements was obvious, it
\nwas equally obvious that convicts from the British Isles were
\ngiven priority of entry, while restrictions where imposed on free
\nsettlers seeking entry. The question for the Crown then became
\nhow much money the British government was prepared to spend to
\nestablish its new colony of convicts.<\/p>\n
The British government could supply labor -- mostly convicts
\n-- only until about the 1830s. One reason for this was that funds
\nfor the transportation of convicts began to dry up in 1830s.
\nHowever, the new colony's pressing need for labor led the
\nauthorities to look to new sources closer to the "new continent",
\ni.e. from Asia and Pacific islands. It is not surprising
\ntherefore that in early 1830s the importation of Chinese
\nindentured labor became "a regular and systematic trade"; in
\nwhich a legal bond was made between the laborer and the employer.<\/p>\n
The indenture system in Australia, however, ended in the late
\n1840s when a petition against cheap Chinese labor was delivered
\nby the "working class" to the governor of New South Wales. While
\nthe petition expressed opposition to the importation of coolies
\nfrom China, it supported and approved the importation of British
\nconvicts. This was a clear and early expression of anticolored
\nsentiment.<\/p>\n
As a result of the Chinese threat to the conditions of the
\nwhite working class in Australia, a change in immigration policy
\ntook place. The indenture system was replaced with the credit-
\nticket system; an immigration policy that bonded an emigrant to
\nan employer. One could say that whatever the purpose of changing
\nthe system, there can be no doubt that it was aimed at curbing,
\nif not stopping, the inflow of Chinese people to Australia. The
\ndepression in Australia in the 1840s, due to plunging wool prices
\nand increasing unemployment during that time, was a contributing
\nfactor to the change in immigration policy.<\/p>\n
Immigrants became the scapegoat for Australia's economic
\nproblem in Australia at this time and were blamed for the
\ncontinent's economic problems. The home government responded by
\nclosing its borders to non-white immigrants and channeled its
\nresources into increasing the number of English immigrants. The
\ndiscovery of gold in the early 1850s attracted a lot of free
\nsettlers. Chinese coolies were once again allowed into Australia
\nto fill positions vacated by laborers who had gone off to make
\ntheir fortune in the gold fields. This, the entry of non-white
\nimmigrants into Australia was a matter of economic expedience.
\nThey were admitted entry when there was a need for cheap labor
\nand then blamed for the economic woes of the colony when there
\nwas an economic downturn.<\/p>\n
Given that the prevailing argument against immigration claimed
\nthat the capital income per worker had dropped and that, hence,
\nthe average worker was worse off, racial hostility and hatred was
\nat an all time high by the 1870s. From the turn of the 18th
\ncentury until the end of the 19th century in Australia, Chinese,
\nIndian and Kanakas immigrants faced similar deprivations.<\/p>\n
Feeling threatened that non-European people might destroy the
\nBritish character of their community, the white community brought
\na motion against Asian and Pacific immigrants in the 1880s. The
\nanti-Asian and Pacific sentiment, which began with the trade
\nunions, was so strongly felt that at the First International
\nTrade Union Congress held in Sydney in 1879, a motion against
\n"Asiatic immigration" was carried unanimously. In 1896, a
\nPremiers' Conference decided that each colony should enact a
\nRestriction Bill that would be applied to all non-British people
\nand spawned the term "White Australia".<\/p>\n
The policy that encouraged white people to stick together
\nbased on their language, principles and goals, showed the
\nexistence of a racist hegemony in the late 19th century in
\nAustralia. The attempt to curb the invasion of immigrants from
\nother countries was merely a pretext to preserve the British
\ncharacter of Australia. The ready acceptance of a "White
\nAustralia" was dubbed "an expression and, at the same time, a
\ncondition of national self-determination and survival", was in
\nreality an expression of fear, a concern for the preservation of
\nAustralia's British character, and racial superiority. This
\nphenomenon, then, led to the passing of the 1901 act.<\/p>\n
The Immigration Restriction Act was passed by parliament when
\nthe Commonwealth of Australia was inaugurated in January 1901.
\nThe implementation of the 1901 act, which endeavored to exclude
\nall non-white people, then led to the so called "White Australia"
\npolicy. From the 1901 act, it shows that racism was inherent in
\nAustralia's general attitudes despite her geographical location
\nand helped form her policies. As indicated by Humprey McQueen,
\nracism found expression in Australia in various ways, among them
\nthe destruction of the Australian Aborigines and the fear of an
\nAsiatic invasion.<\/p>\n
Pauline Hanson's racist statements are one manifestation of a
\npotential source of tension in Australian politics. History
\nappears to be repeating itself. Hanson's support came from that
\nsegment of "the white community" residing in regions hit by
\ngreater poverty and unemployment, who perceived non-whites as
\nthreats and indeed the cause of their hardship.<\/p>\n
This is an eerie echo of the sentiments that found expression
\nin the colony of the 1870s, as illustrated above. Once again, the
\nnon-white community have become scapegoats for Pauline Hanson and
\nothers of her ilk, in Australia. A scrutiny of Australian history
\nreveals that racism is indeed a repeating motif, in some sectors
\nof Australian society, especially among the conservatives, among
\nwhom the idea of a "White Australia" prevails.<\/p>\n
Hanson's shocking statements caused far-reaching ripples of
\nconcern especially since it comes in the wake of Keating's
\npolitically correct regime which courted Southeast Asia, and
\nemphasized Australia's multiculturalism and her position in the
\nAsia-Pacific region. To secure its relations with its neighbors,
\nAustralian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer stated: " ... the
\nAustralian government utterly opposes racist sentiment and will
\nfight it in all its manifestations".<\/p>\n
However, it will take much more than Downer's assertions to
\nput people's minds at ease -- it will take concrete proof. At
\nthis juncture, it would be fair and fitting to quote Craig
\nMcGregor, who, in his book Profile of Australia (1971) states
\nthat: "... the quality of a nation can well be judged on how it
\ntreats the minorities in its midst ... "<\/p>\n
The author works in the Department of Foreign Affairs. The
\nopinion expressed in this article are solely those of the author.<\/p>",
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