Australia is a racist country

 The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has called Australia a racist country over the inhumane treatment of people judged by their race, colour or from their region. The government should be shamed over this seeing as Australia is one of the most multicultural and racially diverse countries in the world.

Yet people still suffer harsh discrimination – especially newcomers such as asylum seekers, and aboriginal people. The government rejects the commissioner’s comments that Australia is a racist country saying that “Australian laws do not discriminate on the grounds of race, religion or ethnic identity” (Briskman, 2011). An Indigenous leader in 2003 said that “How is it that the nation’s First Peoples and its last peoples should suffer similar indignity?” and it backs up the belief that Aboriginals and asylum seekers are the people that suffer due to racism the most.

Australian racism was shown during the events of the Cronulla Riots. White Australians and "Lebs" and "Wogs" who were not considered Australian got into a turf war and people were bashed and property was broken due to the fact that people had a different background or different beliefs. If people did not believe that racism was a real problem in Australian, these events really made it quite obvious how bad the problem had become.

Briskman, L. (2011, May 31). Australia's wake up call from the UN. Retrieved from The Conversation: http://theconversation.edu.au/australias-wake-up-call-from-the-un-yes-were-a-racist-country-1506