Teh One Who Knocks
03-08-2017, 04:23 PM
By Patrick Wood - ABC News Breakfast (Australia)
http://i.imgur.com/JdsIFqU.jpg
An increasing number of people think Australia is a racist country, according to a new survey.
The biannual Australian Reconciliation Barometer measures attitudes towards race and perceptions of reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
It found both Indigenous people and the general community thought Australia had become a more racist place to live than just two years ago.
"Some serious issues … underpin some of the areas of why we can't move forward fast enough as we battle through as a nation," Reconciliation Australia chief executive officer Justin Mohamed told ABC News Breakfast.
The survey, compiled last August, found 57 per cent of Indigenous people and 39 per cent of the general community thought Australia was a racist country.
This is up from 48 per cent and 35 per cent, respectively, in 2014.
"What we're seeing since the first survey in 2008 just after the National Apology to Stolen Generations is that whilst we've maintained a lot of goodwill since then, we aren't moving fast enough on issues of racism and trust," Mr Mohamed said.
The survey also found that in the six months leading up the survey, almost half (46 per cent) of Indigenous Australians experiences at least one form of racial prejudice — up from 39 per cent in 2014.
Mr Mohamed said this was worrying on one level, but could also represent an increased awareness of what racism was.
"There's been a fair bit of education about what is racism and we've seen the ads on television [and] within public transport," he said.
"So I think people can call out racism or, when it happens, they say, 'Well, that's exactly what it is, that's racism'.
"But the other side of it too, I think if you look at especially the last two years, there's been a number of incidents happen on sporting fields [and] on social media, which really highlights that there is a problem within the nation that needs to be addressed."
Most Australians think reconciliation is important
Despite the increased perception of racism, most Australians believe the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people is important and reconciliation can be achieved.
It found 93 per cent of Indigenous people and 77 per cent of the general community thought Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures were important to Australia's national identity.
And a majority of people viewed the relationship between the two as important; however, the figures were slightly lower than the first 2008 survey.
However, he said the were still institutional barriers to reconciliation that needed to be addressed.
"Attempts to weaken legal protections under the Racial Discrimination Act are ongoing; Australia is yet to implement its international obligations under the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and the Australian constitution still allows for racial discrimination in our nation's founding document," he said.
"The reality is that unless goodwill is followed through with significant reform at an institutional level, Australia will continue to fall short of its full potential as a reconciled nation."
http://i.imgur.com/JdsIFqU.jpg
An increasing number of people think Australia is a racist country, according to a new survey.
The biannual Australian Reconciliation Barometer measures attitudes towards race and perceptions of reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
It found both Indigenous people and the general community thought Australia had become a more racist place to live than just two years ago.
"Some serious issues … underpin some of the areas of why we can't move forward fast enough as we battle through as a nation," Reconciliation Australia chief executive officer Justin Mohamed told ABC News Breakfast.
The survey, compiled last August, found 57 per cent of Indigenous people and 39 per cent of the general community thought Australia was a racist country.
This is up from 48 per cent and 35 per cent, respectively, in 2014.
"What we're seeing since the first survey in 2008 just after the National Apology to Stolen Generations is that whilst we've maintained a lot of goodwill since then, we aren't moving fast enough on issues of racism and trust," Mr Mohamed said.
The survey also found that in the six months leading up the survey, almost half (46 per cent) of Indigenous Australians experiences at least one form of racial prejudice — up from 39 per cent in 2014.
Mr Mohamed said this was worrying on one level, but could also represent an increased awareness of what racism was.
"There's been a fair bit of education about what is racism and we've seen the ads on television [and] within public transport," he said.
"So I think people can call out racism or, when it happens, they say, 'Well, that's exactly what it is, that's racism'.
"But the other side of it too, I think if you look at especially the last two years, there's been a number of incidents happen on sporting fields [and] on social media, which really highlights that there is a problem within the nation that needs to be addressed."
Most Australians think reconciliation is important
Despite the increased perception of racism, most Australians believe the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people is important and reconciliation can be achieved.
It found 93 per cent of Indigenous people and 77 per cent of the general community thought Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures were important to Australia's national identity.
And a majority of people viewed the relationship between the two as important; however, the figures were slightly lower than the first 2008 survey.
However, he said the were still institutional barriers to reconciliation that needed to be addressed.
"Attempts to weaken legal protections under the Racial Discrimination Act are ongoing; Australia is yet to implement its international obligations under the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and the Australian constitution still allows for racial discrimination in our nation's founding document," he said.
"The reality is that unless goodwill is followed through with significant reform at an institutional level, Australia will continue to fall short of its full potential as a reconciled nation."