Racism: the record of the Coalition and ALP
By James Vassilopoulos
Peter Beattie, the Queensland Labor premier, was quoted in the August 8 Courier-Mail responding to charges by Resistance that both major parties had carried out racist policies on immigration and native title. The paper reported that Beattie said that "he was the only state leader to sit down with all three parties, including indigenous leaders, to devise a solution".
In the same article, a spokesperson for the federal immigration minister, Philip Ruddock, also denied the racist tag by claiming that Australia's immigration program was "'proudly non-discriminatory' because it did not discriminate on the basis of race, religion or colour".
But whatever they claim, the Liberal-National Coalition and the Australian Labor Party have put into place racist policies that have discriminated against Aboriginal people and migrants of non-English speaking backgrounds. They both agreed on most of the amendments to the Native Title Act, which deprived Aboriginal people of their rights for the benefit of the pastoral and mining industries.
They have both supported cuts to the immigration intake and changes to the program which would make it harder for Asians to immigrate.
Racism is the view that people with white skins are in some way more deserving than those with non-white skins. It is used to systematically discriminate against non-white people in employment, housing, education, work and health.
Historically it has been used by the capitalist class to justify the brutal dispossession of Aboriginal people, to justify the exploitation of Chinese and South Pacific immigrant workers and to divide working people: instead of blaming the boss, they could blame non-white workers.
The Coalition
The Coalition has always had openly racist parliamentarians and members.
Federal MP Bob Katter described critics of racism as "slanty-eyed ideologues". WA Liberal Senator Ross Lightfoot created an uproar when he told parliament that Aborigines were "the bottom colour of the civilisation spectrum". Both of these MPs are still in parliament and still in the Liberal Party.
Prime Minister John Howard has a long history of racist comments. On August 1, 1988, Howard, the then opposition leader, gave a radio interview in which he said that "the pace" of Asian immigration "has probably been a little too great". He continued: "It would be in our immediate-term interests, and supportive of social cohesion, if it [Asian immigration] were slowed down a little".
Pauline Hanson's views were no secret to the Liberal Party when she won preselection. Her endorsement was withdrawn only because she expressed her racism too publicly. Once Hanson was elected, Howard chose not just to ignore her racist diatribes, but to encourage them and eventually put many of her policies into practice.
A week after Hanson gave her maiden speech in parliament — the most nakedly racist speech in parliament for decades — Howard gave the green light to racists by saying that under his government, people "can talk about certain things without living in fear of being branded as a bigot or as a racist". Hanson responded by saying Howard was a "true leader".
In the Queensland election in June, the Coalition gave One Nation preferences ahead of the ALP in all but one seat.
Native title
The Coalition's proposed amendments to the Native Title Act and the final bill passed by the Senate, were both racist measures.
The Coalition's proposed amendments sought to undermine what limited land rights Aboriginal people had by:
- extinguishment of native title over many leases;
- validation of mining leases granted unlawfully by states following the High Court's Mabo ruling;
- establishment of a six-year sunset clause on claims; and
- abolition of Aborigines' right to negotiate with mining companies on pastoral leases.
Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer promised to agribusiness that the Coalition bill would provide "bucket loads of extinguishment".
That the bill was racist was clear in advice from the Australian Law Reform Commission and former Liberal Aboriginal affairs minister Ian Viner QC, whose March 26 Sydney Morning Herald article pointed out that the bill "has the single purpose of reducing the legal rights of a specific race of people".
Immigration
The Coalition states that its immigration policy does not discriminate. This is a lie. In May 1997, the federal cabinet approved a 6000 cut in the migrant intake for 1997-98, reducing non-humanitarian places to 68,000 per year. The biggest reduction (from 6000 to 1000 places) is for parents under the family reunion program.
This cut came on top of an 8500 cut in 1996, and hit Asian migrants hardest. Asian communities are the main users of the family reunion program. The biggest proportion of family reunion entrants were Chinese, who made up 24.5% of the group.
The current immigration program emphasises ability to pay and English language skills — this clearly discriminates against people of the Third World.
The Coalition parties have introduced or are planning a number of other racist measures, many of which have been suggested by One Nation. These include:
- the "overhaul" of the Abstudy scheme, tightening of the definition of Aboriginality and tougher accountability only on indigenous organisations, as reported in the August 8 Sydney Morning Herald;
- the Nationals' call for a referendum to repeal anti-racial discrimination legislation;
- Howard's refusal to apologise and compensate Aboriginal children stolen from their families; John Herron, the Aboriginal affairs minister, even stated that many Aboriginal children benefited from forcible separation from their families;
- Howard denying that Australia has a racist past.
The Coalition's long awaited anti-racist campaign, "Living in Harmony" released on August 14, the day after the GST was announced, was a farce. It did not mention immigration or the Native Title Act.
Labor's record
For 80 of its 110 years, the ALP supported the racist white Australia policy. It abandoned that policy only when it no longer served the "national interest" of Australian big business.
The federal "opposition" supported nearly all of the Coalition's racist bill to amend the Native Title Act. (That act, passed by the Keating government, itself reduced Aboriginal native title rights.)
The ALP supported eight out of Howard's "10 points". Writing in the last issue of the NSW ALP's Labor Times for 1997, Labor leader Kim Beazley boasted that Howard could have had 90% of his bill passed if he had accepted Labor's amendments.
It was the ALP that first introduced a six-month wait for new migrants to get social security benefits. The Coalition extended the waiting time to two years. Having a waiting time for new migrants to get benefits is racist because migrants who can not speak English, who have non-white skin or are from poor Third World countries are more likely to need assistance.
When the Coalition announced its 1997 cutting and restructuring of the immigration intake, the ALP supported the cuts. Duncan Kerr, Labor's immigration spokesperson, wanted the intake cut because some migrants "are taking jobs that really should be filled by Australians".
On August 3, Beazley gave a speech in Melbourne which was reported in the press as supporting a rise in immigration, but closer scrutiny of the speech shows nothing of the kind. He did not call for an increase in immigration, except in the undefined long term and in the context of an unknown "population policy". Alan Ramsey wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald on August 5 that the headlines should have said: "Labor agrees with Government's immigration program, but wants to pretend if doesn't".
Gough Whitlam, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, the last three ALP prime ministers, all oversaw cuts to migrant intakes and services, and continuing discrimination against Aborigines. Multiculturalism — which costs the government little — often served as cover for such attacks.
When Whitlam first got into government, at the same as he introduced multiculturalism, he cut the migrant intake from 140,000 per year to 110,000. By 1974, the intake had been slashed to 80,000.
Hawke continued the attacks. In 1984 he abolished the Australian Institute of Multicultural Affairs, cut funding for language programs and reduced multicultural education in schools.
Under Keating, there were continued deaths of Aborigines in custody, major cuts in net immigration, the shameful saga of Indochinese refugees imprisoned indefinitely in remote detention centres (these asylum laws are amongst the worse in the world) and the denial of overseas qualifications. All these attacks occurred under the gloss of multiculturalism.
There are also the policies of the state ALP governments. NSW Premier Bob Carr supported Howard's 10 points in full. The Queensland Labor government's land rights legislation made it the only state not to include land councils in the legislation. Professor Marcia Langton described the Goss government as more racist than the conservative Northern Territory government.
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is an ideology which allows for different cultures and ethnicity — different customs, dress, foods and languages. Whilst it did challenge the crudest forms of racism and allow for a more cosmopolitan lifestyle, its main aim was to assist Australian big business going into Asia.
Multiculturalism did not stop institutionalised racism, nor did it stop the super-exploitation of migrants who can not speak English, or discrimination against Aboriginal people.
Multiculturalism did not stop the Native Title Amendment Act, the racist impact of immigrants having to wait for social security nor the cuts to Asian immigration. Since the Coalition's election in 1996, multiculturalism is has remained official policy, yet there has been a clear escalation of attacks against immigrants and Aborigines.
As long as racism of the major parties is not challenged head-on, they will continue to pursue discrimination against and scapegoating of Aborigines and migrants. They will continue painting Hanson as "extreme", yet implementing much of her program.
The major parties and Hanson feed off each other. The racism of Hanson gains legitimacy from policies implemented by the Coalition and Labor, while One Nation's program allows the major parties to pass off their racism as "moderation" or "compromise". This is why the fight against racism can't stop at Pauline Hanson, but must confront the programs of the Coalition and Labor.