The Hanson

Cover Stories

The Hanson debate

By Lili Tuwai

The Federal Independent member of the Queensland electorate of Oxley, Pauline Hanson, has been accused by many Australians of nurturing racist attitudes throughout Australia. As the new government reviews previous

policies regarding multiculturalism and

immigration, the ensuing debates are showing signs of potentially doing a lot more harm to the country than good. The “Hanson debate” or “Hansonism” are popular abbreviating terms used by the media as catch phrases to describe the race and immigration debate.

The Oxley electorate was once a safe Labour seat but was won by Hanson in the last election despite her having earlier lost Labour Party endorsement for comments critical of welfare spending on Aboriginals. Although Hanson was virtu allyt unknown in the electorate prior to

the elections, her public profile height

ened when media attention highlighted outrageous statements she was making.

Her claim that too much attention had been given to Aboriginal deaths in cus tody and that Aboriginals could “walk into a job too easily”, won her support.

Hanson scored a 23 per cent swing to win the seat.

Few Australian politicians have exer cised their racist attitudes so publicly and defiantly as Hanson when she delivered her controversial maiden speech in parlia ment last September. Her presence on the scene instantly challenged the belief that Australia is a shining example to the world of a successful multicultural nation; after all it was on the very basis of “mul ticulturalism” that Sydney secured the opportunity of hosting the 2000 Olympic games.

During her maiden speech she made claims to be speaking for “the majority”

and maintained that “most Australians

want our immigration policy radically

reviewed and that of multiculturalism abolished”. She then stated, “I believe we are in danger of being swamped by Asians.” After paying tribute to the late Australian Labour leader Arthur Calwell she then quoted him saying, “Japan, India Burma, Ceylon and every new African nation are fiercely anti-white and anti one-another. Do we want or need these people here? I am one red-blooded Australian who says ‘no’ and who speaks for 90 per cent of Australians.”

Contrary to Hanson’s warning of an “Asian invasion”, Australian Bureau of Statistics figures for 1991 show that 0.2 per cent of people in Australia were bom in Japan, 0.5 per cent |n China, 0.3 per cent in Hong Kong, 0.4 per cent in Malaysia, 0.4 per cent in the Philippines and 0.7 per cent in Vietnam.

Kiri Hata is a Maori woman who migrated to Australia 18 years ago.

Although an experienced journalist, she

currently works as a community develop ment officer for Pacific Island Communities. Hata says that she can’t believe that the majority of Australians

feel as Hanson describes. She reasons she “had hoped that people are now at a level where they are more educated about race and cultural differences than they have been in the past”.

The Fijian Australian Community

Council (FACC) is an agency that was established in Sydney three years ago to liaise between government departments and Fijian community groups. Toady, the FACC provides a vital service to approxi mately 10,000 indigenous Fijians living within the state of New South Wales. The race and immigration debate emphasises the importance for such services to exist for Pacific Islanders and other

marginalised groups. Fijian community

worker William Pawa says, “I am con vinced now more than ever of the necessi ty for an organisation like the FACC to exist for the Fijian community.”

FACC’s main objectives are working toward advocating access and equity issues in the area of immigration and set tlement services. The council also pro motes multiculturalism in the context of human rights and is active in devising strategies addressing racism and harass ment. Pawa is quick to point out when asked if the current climate of racism affects Fijians that “racism issues have already been an on-going concern even before Hanson’s public participation in the debate.”

Acknowledging the everyday reality of racism that many Pacific Islanders deal with, Hata says; “Racism is inherent in Australian society - we all know that. But, now it is much more open, it’s more

aggresive. I am coming across people

(Pacific Islanders) in my work who are really having a difficult time, people who have always experienced some level of racism but now feel like they have become targets purely because of their colour or race.”

Referring to Australia’s indigenous

population, Hanson has been very vocal about radical changes the federal govern ment should make. She advocated that “present governments are encouraging

separatism in Australia by providing

opportunities, land, money and facilities

only to Aboriginals”.

During one of many verbal assaults

“Japan, India, Burma,

Ceylon and every new African nation are

fiercely anti-White...

Do we want or need these people here?”

Hanson has directed toward the

Aboriginal community, she expressed

that, unlike the Blacks, she did not sit on her backside and accept handouts. Hanson qualified her controversial perspective by stressing that her view on issues are based on common sense and experience as a mother of four, as a sole parent and as a businesswoman running a fish and chip shop. Many opposed to Hanson’s view conclude her experience and common sense haven’t helped her to gain insight or build awareness regarding the historical and social afflictions that Aboriginal Australians face in 1997 or make her aware of the economic position that neigh bouring Pacific Island nations are in as a legacy of colonialism.

Prior to the British ‘discovery’ of Australia in 1788, there were over 500 Aboriginal tribes spread throughout Australia, who had lived semi-nomadic lifestyles for well over 40,000 years, each with their own distinct dialect, history, ter ritory and culture. When the Crown took possession of the land, they declared it “terra nullis ” (not inhabited), deliberately

ignoring the Aboriginal people as having

any land rights or prior ownership.

Two hundred years later. Aboriginal Australians are still reeling from the impact of colonialism and the racist oppressive system that was imposed on their people. It wasn’t until 1967 that Aboriginal people gained citizen rights in their own country.

Though today there have been signifi cant shifts toward rectifying the atrocities of the past, unemployment, illiteracy, high infant mortality and deaths in custody and numerous debilitating realities continue to

plague indigenous Australians, placing

their living conditions on par with the experiences of third world nations.

It was only in recent years that the White Australia Immigration Policy was reiaxed to allow access to non-White peo ple. With a colonial track record such as Australia’s it is not too difficult to imagine why Hanson and like-minded people remain ignorant and misinformed about the complex historical realities that have shaped the Australian nation.

The majority of migrants that have set tled in Australia have their historical roots tied to England and many don’t recognise or need to contemplate the impact that their cultures have had and continue to have on contemporary Australia and other nations in the Asia-Pacific region.

Satish Rai is a writer and community worker for the Indo-Fijian community in Sydney. He was bom in Fiji but prior to migrating to Australia a year ago had spent 15 years living in the United Kingdom where he worked as an anti racist worker. Referring to Hanson’s com ments that Australia “is being divided into black and white” and remarks that "Anglo-Saxons are being discriminated against”, Rai says: “How she can say that other cultures are discriminating against Anglo Saxons, I can’t understand. Racism is a power possibility to discriminate and in Australia it is the Anglo Saxons

who have got the power.” He adds that “in Australia other communities, economical ly, are far inferior or below the level of Anglo Saxons and ethnic communities don’t have economic or numerical power”.

Hanson’s statement that she does not believe the colour of one’s skin deter mines whether people are disadvantaged has Rai shaking his head in disbelief. “She must be living in cloud cuckoo land.”

He adds, “As in the UK, racism has everything to do with skin colour, and also the treatment given out to Aborigines had everything to do with skin colour.”

Rai wonders “if they (Aboriginals) would have been annihilated if there were White people living here prior to the arrival of the British.”

“I think she (Hanson) has very little knowledge of how racism works or what it is,” he says.

There are 60,000-70,000 Indians living in Sydney with approximately 50 per cent of the Indian population from Fiji and the rest from India. Rai says that within the Indo-Fijian community there are two trains of thoughts in response to Hanson.

The first is to ignore her. Rai explains that many “see her (Hanson) as a slightly mad person”. The second is that others believe she has been “put up to it” in order to stir up racial problems. According to Tongan Minister Pastor Siaosi Finau, the Tongan

Many

believe she has been

“put up to it 99 in order to stir up racial problems

population nationally in Australia is esti mated between 3000-4000. Pastor Finau oversees the Tongan Church of God, located in Mount Druitt and demonstrates a generous spirit when addressing his con gregation. When Pacific Islands Monthly asked him how he would advise his fol lowers to deal with racism, he responded: “I would tell them to love your enemies and befriend them. I would ask them to have a forgiving heart and to forget about retaliating.” He stressed the need to “love, forgive and forget”.

Papua New Guinean Robert Lapatu is employed as a community worker for the Pacific Island Resource Centre (PIC) in Sydney’s outer west suburb of Plumton.

Asked about his observations as to whether the Hanson debate and the upsurge in racism is affecting any of the 19 Pacific Island communities that the PIC provides services to, he stated that the topic was a very complex issue that could n’t be discussed in isolation from numer ous other social and cultural factors or experiences that Pacific Island communi ties experience daily as migrants in Australia.

“I think the younger ones (Pacific Islanders) tend to take the racist remarks personally because of the social pressure that is out there, but for many older Pacific Islanders the concept (racism) has always been there and, one way or another, they kind of look down upon themselves at times; this has deeply affected a few.

“However, most Pacific Islanders tend to suppress their feelings and try to forget about the racism that is out there,” he added. Australian politicians and interna tional political leaders have accused Prime Minister John Howard of encouraging

Hanson’s racist campaign by not taking a stand publicly to rebuff Hanson’s contro versial comments. Others have suggested that they don’t believe that Howard has a firm grip on the political reality and that by not saying anything is causing massive damage to race relations within the coun try. “I think that John Howard has been appallingly remiss in not saying any thing... I cannot believe that he is thick enough to believe that it will all just dis appear - it won’t,” says Kiri Hata.

In late 1996, the Howard government passed a motion restating, its commitment to a non-discriminatory immigration poli cy, emphasising the importance of immi gration in developing Australia’s links with its regional neighbours. However, whilst the government talks about the importance of such connections, the prime minister refused to publicly endorse mul ticulturalism. What this has suggested to many Australians is that, in the economic context, the government fears an econom ic backlash because of the levels of racism in Australia and that human rights don’t

figure in the equation.

For Aboriginal Australia, the drastic SA43O-million funding (SUS334-million) cuts to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) by the Howard government will present a further challenge to the very survival of many Aboriginal organisations and impede the possibility of self-determination for many of these groups. But amid the continuing struggle for justice, a strong sense of humour and survival prevails.

The artistic director of the internation ally renowned Aboriginal dance company Bangarra, Stephen Page, was also the cre ative director for the hand-over of the flag ceremony at the Atlanta Games.

Commenting on the racist views of Hanson and others that share them, Page says: “I think Pauline Hanson is a big joke - you never see John Howard around when you see Pauline Hanson or see Pauline Hanson around when you see John Howard.” Page jovially adds, “I always thought it was John Howard in drag.” Shifting back to serious thoughts and looking at constructive changes that may manifest as a result of the debates, he said, “I think it’s healthy to react and it’s

healthy to debate - it gets people out of their comfortability.” A major point of frustration and concern for many ethnic communities is that the leadership of the country has not to date made any serious moves to ensure that all Australians from all backgrounds are protected from racist abuse and violence.

According to Aboriginal activist

Charlie Perkins, “The prime minister of Australia didn’t have the guts to get up to say something to set the record straight and, as a result, we now have the racist debate which has taken hold of this coun try and a lot of the rednecks are coming out of the woodwork.”

“While that is probably a good thing, it’s taken the courtesy out of relations between Blacks and Whites in this coun try,” he continued. “What amazes me is that White people in this country have the audacity to think they own Australia... The Blacks, migrants and Asians are right at the bottom and members of parliament continue to act in racist-fascist manner.”

“I heard this hysterical statement on the level of the debate,” says Kiri Hata.

She explains she heard it from Father Brian Gore, the Colombian priest who was placed in gaol in the Philippines for being sympathetic to the poorer people of the community. “He was talking about the immigration debate here and described it as ‘Hanson’s Disease’. We all looked at him with surprise and he said, ‘No, that is an actual medical term for leprosy.’ He explained to us that it is just like leprosy; you look OK, you feel OK, then all of a sudden there are these outbreaks of really dreadful rashes and things start falling off.’ He said, ‘The immigration debate is exactly like that - we all think it is going well, then somebody makes a racist state ment and all the rednceks come out with ‘bongs’ and ‘coons’ and other derogatory remarks and then you think, ‘Wait just a second, where did all of that just come from?”’

Hata lets out a mindful sigh and says, “The current debate is a debate about the past policies - and many of the discus sions going on out there around the Hanson debate have no real bearing on the future of immigration.” ■