Abstract
Manfred Jurgensen (1986) claims that ‘with the arrival of the white man’, Australia ‘became multicultural on a permanent basis’ (p. 80). As discussed in the Introduction to this book, as a settler society, with the exception of 2.7% of the Indigenous population, everyone in Australia is ‘either a migrant or a self-conscious descendant of a migrant’ (van der Veer 1995: p. 2).
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Notes
- 1.
As an aftermath of ‘race attacks’ in 2010, Dr. Helen Forbes-Mewett, a Monash University-based sociologist, was awarded a 4-year Australian Research Council (ARC) grant to investigate the nature of these attacks, which have caused great distress in the South Asian student community and damaged Australian relations with India (see Healy 2010).
- 2.
The Scanlon Foundation, Australian Multicultural Foundation and Monash University, in a survey for the 2013 Mapping Social Cohesion report asked participants: ‘Have you experienced discrimination because of your skin colour, ethnic origin or religion?’ The survey concluded that the there is a large variation in the experience of discrimination within sub-groups and South Asian respondents recorded 42% experience of discrimination (Marcus 2013: p. 2).
- 3.
In July 2007, Dr. Haneef, an Indian doctor working at the Gold Coast Hospital in Australia, was held for 25 days, including 11 days in immigration detention. He was being ‘framed’ by the Australian police for the London and Glasgow bomb attacks and involvement in other terrorist activities. Widespread public concern in India about Dr. Haneef’s treatment by the Australian government and police forced Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to intervene, making a statement expressing the hope that Australia would extend ‘all the facilities’ to Dr. Haneef ‘fairly and justly under Australian law’. Mike Head notes that letters to newspapers and blogs indicate that broad layers of people (both white Australians and migrants) were disgusted with the Howard government’s approach and Kevin Rudd’s support for the government’s conduct and actions taken against Dr. Haneef (see Head 2007).
- 4.
For a detailed discussion on racism towards immigrants in Australia, see Griffiths (2005) and Rasool (2002).
- 5.
For a detailed discussion on various facets of Islam and Islamic terrorism, see Kundani (2008).
- 6.
Australian Universities, with an impressive performance in the overall world university rankings, are once again attracting Indian students. There has been a 50% increase in the number of Indian students joining Australian universities, for management and commerce, information technology, food, hospitality and personal services, engineering, and related technologies, in the first half of 2013 as compared with the corresponding period in 2012 (see V. Srivastava 2013).
- 7.
Recently, Australia has also agreed to a proposal for sending a group of Australian Youth Ambassadors to India in the near future to promote bilateral links between the two countries (see Bhandari 2008).
- 8.
According to the Australian government’s immigration department, ‘the planned 2002–2003 Migration Programme, if continued over the next 10 years, is estimated according to preliminary modelling by Access Economics to provide net benefits to the Commonwealth Budget of around $30 billion (in constant 2002–2003 prices and without savings in Public Debt Interest (PDI)’ (DIMIA 2004).
- 9.
The Racial Discrimination Act of 1975 protects individuals from discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin. In 1995, the act was extended to make racial vilification against the law in Australia.
- 10.
One such programme is the DIMIA’s ‘Living in Harmony’ programme. It is designed to bring into Australian sporting activity the excluded groups by ‘aiding and encouraging a host of sporting bodies to promote racial and ethnic tolerance in Australia’ (Vamplew: p. 371).
- 11.
Australia has commended the growing Indian diaspora in the country for its contribution in enhancing bilateral links. In a statement, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said that the ‘Indian diaspora in Australia is making a tangible contribution to enhancing bilateral links’ (quoted in Bhandari 2008).
- 12.
A good number of Australian scholars are working on Australia–India relations and cultural diplomacy at the moment: Professor David Walker , Professor David Lowe, Professor Bruce Bennett, Professor Paul Sharrad, Dr. Kama Maclean, Professor Auriol Weigold and Dr. Rick Hosking. Dr. Maclean, a University of New South Wales based historian and India expert, is looking into the Indian impact on internationalism in Australia in the early twentieth century. Also, a TV series, titled My Australia, produced by ABC, was broadcasted by Australia Network to 44 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. It looked at Australia through the eyes of people from South Asia and the Asia-Pacific region who are studying or living there.
- 13.
In December 2010, Dr. Haneef returned to Australia with his wife and child and noted: ‘Coming back to Australia represents a very important step for me and for my family. I’m grateful to the Australian government and the Australian people for their ongoing support and I’m hopeful that the upcoming mediation will be an opportunity to resolve this matter and give my family and me a chance to move forward’. He further observed: Australia is ‘a very fair place to live’ (Trenwith 2010).
- 14.
Yasmine Gooneratne, “In the East My Pleasure: a Postcolonial Love Story,” Span 34–35 (November–May 1992–1993): pp. 269–279.
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Sarwal, A. (2017). An Australian Learning Experience: Prejudice , Racism and Indifference. In: South Asian Diaspora Narratives. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3629-3_7
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