Australia Is Racist Because Laura Tingle Said So

Laura Tingle is the Staff Elected Director at the ABC, chief political correspondent for 7.30, as well as the president of the National Press Club of Australia. Ms Tingle holds a privileged, taxpayer-funded position as a senior journalist at the national broadcaster, whose charter mandates impartiality and balance. But Ms Tingle’s most recent rant, funded by you, was at the Sydney Writers’ Festival over the weekend. When discussing the Coalition’s immigration policy where basically Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has promised to slow down immigration temporarily in order to free up housing during a housing crisis – a fairly moderate proposal I would suggest – well, Ms Tingle unleashed, saying, “For a major political leader to be saying everything that’s going wrong in this country is because of migrants, and I had this sudden flash of people turning up to try to rent a property or at an auction and if they look different, whatever you define different as, basically he has given them licence to be abused. We are a racist country, let’s face it. We always have been, and it’s very depressing.”

Is Ms Tingle right? Is Australia a racist country? For those of you who are impatient, my short answer is No. We’re one of the least racist countries on this planet. Let me explain.

This is the National People’s Congress in China. What percentage do you think, how many foreign faces are there in leadership positions in China? What about the Indian Parliament? Or how about Africa’s most populous nation, Nigeria? How many non-African people do you think hold leadership positions? Noting that these three countries represent more than a third of the world’s population. How many foreign university lecturers do you think you can see in these countries? How many foreign doctors, dentists, lead actors on television, people manning petrol stations? How many Aussie sandwich shops do you think there are? The answer to all these questions is not 0%, but it’s close to 0%.

Actually, I think Ms Tingle is completely wrong. Australia is not racist. Australia is actually very accommodating, we’re very accepting, we’re tolerant, we’re egalitarian – we demand that all people are given the same opportunities and are treated fairly. Look, I’m not saying it’s perfect, but tell me any other country that is.

The Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum failed not because of racism, but because it was inherently unfair. Aussies don’t like the idea of giving one group of people more privilege than the rest of us. Yes, the voice was only a so-called “advisory” body, but it would have given one group of Australians a political advantage, even if it was only slight, over other Australians, which is just not fair.

To be fair to Aussies, we would be equally dismissive if say Americans living in Australia demanded exemption from land tax. Of course Aussies would reply, “Piss off, mate!”. This isn’t about race. This is about fairness. This is about Australia maintaining our egalitarian values.

Probably around 80% of my social circle are foreign-born. All of them prefer living in Australia to their home countries. Why? Because they are given every opportunity in Australia. That’s very liberating for most people. My wife, who is Chinese, was basically given a free TAFE course to train up in a job that is facing shortages. She now works for the Government and has endless work if she wants it. In Australia, anyone who’s willing to put in a little bit of effort can get a job. The only thing holding people back in Australia is an unwillingness to work, or an unwillingness to better oneself. As I said, this is not me saying Australia is perfect, but racism is not the issue. Calling Australia racist, is like calling the pope a Buddhist.

Remember those countries I mentioned earlier, well according to CNN, “Nigeria’s paramilitary raids birthday party, arrests 76 gay people”. The Guardian, “Elderly Uyghur women imprisoned in China for decades-old religious ‘crimes’”, and one from India, “As ethnic violence rages on in Manipur, Indian government accused of looking the other way”. Don’t get me wrong, I like Japan – I lived there for many years – but even in modern-day, democratic Japan, you can still find signs forbidding foreigners from entering. To be fair, I wasn’t even upset by this. I just moved on to the next bar.

Oh yes, but according to the ABC’s Laura Tingle, Australia is the racist country, the one that welcomes people from all over the world to live and work here in relative peace and prosperity. The ABC used to be a means to report to regional Australia, but with today’s technology, that is no longer a requirement. In my opinion, we should give the ABC twelve months to set itself up as a paid subscription service, selling off any unused assets. No taxpayer funding will be required. Then they can say whatever the hell they want to the fifteen viewers who choose to pay for it.

MUSIC
Allégro by Emmit Fenn