Introduction
The Racial Discrimination Act was implemented in 1975 and was drafted in response to a global push to codify protections for Indigenous Australians and other racial minorities. Section 18C of this act makes it unlawful to offend, insult, humiliate or intimate an individual or a group of people on the basis of race, colour or national origin (Austlii.edu.au.) This clause was brought to the fore front of national debate as popular conservative columnist, Andrew Bolt, was found in violation of this law when he accused mix-raced Indigenous Australians of using their heritage to claim government benefits. The Abbott government pledged to repeal section 18C but has subsequently withdrawn the motion following severe backlash from the wider community (Aston.) South Australian Family First Senator, Bob Day, has since introduced a private member bill to repeal 18C, insisting that
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We have it to say very controversial things." (Dailypaul.com.) The issue isn’t about whether racism is good or bad, but whether the government has a legitimate role in intruding into and censoring free speech. It is perfectly appropriate to support the repeal of 18C without directly endorsing racism. Not everything that is considered morally abhorrent by society is criminalised by the government. For example adultery, which is stigmatised by the community, is completely lawful. Possible consequences of committing such an act include breaking up with a spouse, sanctions from private institutions and a damaged reputation. All this can accomplished without government interference. Similar to adultery, racist hate speech should be a matter dealt with by the community and private institutions, not the state. The government does not have a genuine role in regulating dialogue and freedoms ought not to be constrained on the basis of subjective
In the Herald Sun, Andrew Bolt’s article ‘Seven Sins of the Change Australia Day Movement’, posted in the 27th of January 2017, asserts the negative and “sin” like properties of changing the date of Australia Day. The “change the Australia Day movement” has ignited a vehement debate that has divided Australians for years, and will most likely continue to. The procedural format clearly and concisely retorts that changing the date will not “heal wounds” and we, as a county, should be instead focused on fixing the issues within the indigenous culture. Bolt ignites the debate very early in his article by affirming that changing the date inevitably “solves nothing”. A strong authoritative tone is taken in the first argument when Bolt uses an
In 1972 the Prime Minister at the time Gough Whitlam began to make laws such as the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 for Indigenous Australians. It introduced the policy of self-determination which significantly increased funding for Aboriginal affairs and created a commission to investigate land
After the Holt government announced on February 23 1967, a referendum to amend sections 51 and 127 of the constitution, the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders used pamphlets and posters to campaign for a Yes vote. The ‘Right Wrongs, Write Yes’ poster in particular was a key factor in its appeal to a sense of justice in white Australians to vote yes, specifically in its use of appealing indigenous children (NMA,
Australia had signed up to the International Covenant on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in 1966, but the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 was the first time that anti-discrimination legislation was laid down in the Federal parliament. The legislation meant that any previous discriminatory laws were automatically overturned and that that no restrictions, exclusions or distinctions could be made in Australian society on the basis of race, colour, nationality or descent. Whitlam saw it as a victory over bigotry and prejudice, and not just solely aimed at improving the lives of the Indigenous peoples. Many people also saw the events of 1975 as another milestone on the road towards equality for the Aboriginal
The 1st amendment is a God-given right and the fact remains that there will be idiots in a world that hands a microphone to the very first controversial person because a world that distorts the view of political, religious, and social matters to persuade a country to feel a certain way toward an issue deemed pivotal towards keeping the status quo of keeping a racial superiority while keeping a suspicious hint of racial tension. Just because a church exercises the right to free speech people try to add in emotions to an emotionless issue. If you added emotions into everything people would start getting arrested for calling someone ugly or annoying. The world and people as a whole need to learn to grow a set and learn how to not get offended
We practiced discrimination and exclusion. " These words were some they never thought would come out of an Australian prime ministers mouth. It was a general development on the track to resolution by recognizing the Australians past and changing the Australia civil rights movement for the
Today Australia prides itself on being a place of fairness and equity for all its citizens. But the Australian Constitution still does not recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians as the first people of this land. Importantly, we now know that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their cultures form part of the longest culture on Earth and evidence of their presence in Australia is now dated back over 60,000 years. It is only right that modern Australia should recognise and acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and culture - past and present - in our Constitution to record their valued place as part of this country and our national identity. Most of the states - Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia have already amended their Constitutions to formally recognise Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Australians as the first people and nations of their jurisdictions.
The U.S. later legalized it in 2009. This act augmented penalties for crimes perpetrated against one’s ethnicity, nationality, language, religion, age, disability, sexual identity, or sexual preference. Today, the Hate Crimes Prevention Act is “effectively recognizing the importance of prosecuting violence motivated by racism or other bias-related crimes” (2). The act serves as evidence of progress towards equality. The government is saying that all men are created equal and should be treated in the same manner, and if one chooses to oppose this proposition, they will encounter strict
The introduction of ‘affirmative action’. Affirmative Action is a way to directly redress the disadvantage that groups of people have experienced in the past. W.C. Wentworth, the Aboriginal Affairs Minister, started programs designed to specifically address the unique needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, such as improvements in healthcare. 2. The enactment of a number of important pieces of legislation, including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (QLD) Act 1975; the Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act 1976; the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976; the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Act 1991; and, in response to the land rights cases of the 1990s, the Native Title Act 1993.
On 27 June 1937, William Ferguson and Jack Patten established the Aborigines Progressive Board to oppose the Aboriginal Welfare Board who “arbitrarily used their authority to harass Aboriginal people”. The Aborigines Progressive Board coordinated the Day of Mourning protest that took place at the Australian Hall on January 26th, 1938 in Sydney. The attendees were "persons of Aboriginal blood" and wore formal black clothing, symbolic of their grief. The Day of Mourning was “a silent protest from Town Hall to the Australian Hall”, opposing assimilation policies. Protesters protested against inequality, injustice, discrimination and for new laws for education, care of Aborigines, ownership of Australian Territory and full Australian Citizenship rights and freedom.
This article discusses the speech given by an Indigenous journalist, Stan Grant who participated in a debate where he spoke for the motion “Racism is destroying the Australian Dream’’. Hence, the main points of this article are mostly evidence given by Grant in his debate to support his idea that the Australian Dream is indeed rooted in racism. One of the main points is that the indigenous Australians are often excluded and disregarded as non-Australians simply due to their race and skin colour. Grant pointed out the incident where AFL player Adam Goodes was publicly jeered and told that he did not belong to his country as he was not an Australian despite the fact that Australia indeed is the land of his ancestors.
Proponents for race identification would argue that, ending race identification on college applications would cause “profound implications for the higher education leaving universities and graduate schools with a mass number of Caucasian students”(Cite). Removing affirmative action will only decrease diversity in the work force and universities leaving the majority of college campuses with the upper echelon. Proponents strongly believe in diversity and enhancing student’s exposer. That’s is why some university’s especially the University of California at Berkeley school of law are big supporters for affirmative action. When this university noticed a decrease in African Americans and Latinos admitted they thought affirmative action was the
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) health is a legally obligated human right, which the government is expected to uphold and protect for the enjoyment of “all people without discrimination” (1). Australian legislation is the antithesis of the WHO’s definition, evidenced by the 1905 Aboriginies Act. The Act 'enshrined in policy the practice of child removal and entrenched paternalistic, racist, controlling and ultimately destructive attitudes towards Aboriginal people', research argues (2). It wasn't until 1962 that Aboriginal iAsuatralia gained the right to vote in Commonwealth elections, and only after the 1967 National Referendum that the Australian Constitution's race clause was eliminated, signifying the start of Indigenous Australians' citizenship rights. These developments were brought about by a social movements led by Indigenous people that arose during the 1950s and 1960s, which vigorously advocated for Aboriginal self-determination, sovereignty, and community control.
Exclusion from workplaces and social events also plays a major part in the racial discrimination. Do we really want Australia to be seen as such a racist and prejudiced nation? What can we as individuals do to stop this racial hate from going on? All of this is happening because we stole the Aboriginal people’s land. If we had
Britain was the biggest colony power in the world. Even the fall of the First Empire did not discourage the British from further colonization of ‘’unknown lands’’. In 1770, Captain James Cook claimed a portion of the Australian continent in the name of King George III. On his journey from Botany Bay to Cape York, Cook recorded several interactions with the indigenous population of Australia. Despite knowing about the continent being inhabited by one of the Earth’s oldest civilizations, Great Britain considered Australia terra nullius - land belonging to no one.