Commissioner’s report

What do Queenslanders really think about racism and discrimination?

Over the years there have been many who have said that Queensland is a racist place.

Until recently there was no way of knowing whether Queensland was really different from other places.

Now, two research reports have directly considered people’s attitudes and experience of racism, offering the prospect that good research will help build strong, effective anti-racism strategies.

The first research report is a comprehensive survey of attitudes to racism by Associate Professor in Geography at the University of New South Wales, Kevin Dunn. This survey looked at attitudes to various groups within the community, and analysed the data by regions. Dr Dunn found that in Queensland a significant proportion of the population either self-identify as racist or have expressed quite high levels of anti-Indigenous sentiment. This is similar to some other parts of Australia.

But it is not all bad news.

While Dr Dunn found that there was above-average antipathy towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in south east Queensland, it was much less so in the far north and north west Queensland.

It is hard to know exactly why people hold racist attitudes. Dr Dunn makes a couple of suggestions.

• In places where people know and live with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, they expressed less racist attitudes than those who did not have firsthand experience with A&TSI people.
• In places like south-east Queensland, where people are less likely to work and live with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, attitudes are more likely to be based on media reports, rather than lived experience, and there is likely to be greater antipathy.

What of those media reports? Over recent times I have had lots of calls from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Many have expressed genuine hurt at media commentary. They felt stereotyped: they weren’t drunks, they contribute to their community and they are not violent. Positive stories of success in the community and stories about Indigenous families living an ordinary life are less likely to be reported. Callers wondered if stereotyping like this would ever change in Queensland.

The second report comes from the Confronting Racism in Communities Project , a joint undertaking of the University of the Sunshine Coast and Centre for Multicultural Pastoral Care, financially supported by the Queensland Government’s Multicultural Affairs Queensland.

The report documents 145 racist incidents throughout Queensland. The research found that people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are experiencing various forms of racism including racially and religiously motivated violence, destruction of personal property, threats of physical violence, verbal harassment and other forms of offensive speech and behaviour. The report also details racial and religious discrimination in various areas of public life.

The researchers found that people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are reluctant to report racist incidents to authorities.

This is consistent with our experience at the ADCQ. I am often told about racist incidents but complaints are only rarely made to the ADCQ.

Susan Booth at a recent interview with radio 4EB, with Bep Torkington.

back to contents page for issue 24 May 2007