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HREOC Website: Isma - Listen: National consultations on eliminating prejudice against Arab and Muslim Australias

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|| Meeting Notes: 27 August 2003

Consultation with Migrant
Resource Centre staff hosted by Canterbury-Bankstown MRC, 27 August 2003

The meeting was chaired by Mr Jon Soemarjono,
Chair of Canterbury-Bankstown MRC, and attended by 10 staff from various
Sydney MRCs. Omeima Sukkarieh and Meredith Wilkie (notes) attended from
HREOC.

1. What are your clients’
experiences of discrimination and vilification?

“Is
there a need to make communities aware of discrimination? They must
have come across discrimination of some sort at one time – whether
it is at the workplace, the playground, the street or whatever. But
they don’t usually talk about it because they don’t understand
it or because they don’t see it as something they should do something
about. Or they just sweep it aside as something that is not important.
Should community workers be talking about these issues in the community
and training people to recognise discrimination? Is it our responsibility?
I believe there is a lot of discrimination but we don’t have time
to do it. Can we prevent it? Is it something we can educate our people?”

“A
lot of discrimination is hidden, it’s not overt, it’s very
subtle. It’s hard to prove it. But the signs are there and you
know it’s discrimination. Some Muslim women have asked me if anything
could be done about discrimination at work – because they’re
wearing the scarf. I didn’t really know what the answer was. So
it’s really very difficult when you can’t prove it –
how can you advocate?”

“There’s
always going to be racism – throughout the whole world. It’s
a matter of managing it rather than aiming to have a country where no-one
ever has a racist thought pop into their heads.”

“Sometimes
things are perceived as discrimination and vilification but they may
not be. It can be a fine
line.
Sometimes things are obviously discrimination, but you can’t prove
it.”

 

At school

“Islander
kids do pick on the Lebanese kids and vice versa. But what they’ve
got in common is that they’re minority kids who all experience
discrimination. What we’re trying to do is get them to make those
connections; to understand that by doing that to another kid, it’s
the same as what they’re experiencing. I think that’s why
they do it – pick on others because of the pain of discrimination.”

“Kids
are facing discrimination from their teachers as well.”

“With
the kids, they get verbal abuse, they spit on them, and sometimes they
get physical abuse as well. The kids find it difficult to voice it out
just because they think nothing is going to happen anyway so why should
I say it. They are reported to the teachers but nothing happens.”

“Schools
won’t deal with racist incidents properly or make them public
because it affects the profile of the school. They lose enrolments.
A lot of violence that’s happening in the school playground isn’t
made public. They keep it under cover to cover their backs.”

Participants referred to their experiences in schools
up to a decade earlier. “Eight years ago we had 97% Arabic students
in a Bankstown school but I was amazed at the level of ignorance and intolerance
by the staff. They had so little information, or so little that they sought
out.” “We were never encouraged to think we were going to
go to Uni. We were directed into vocational education. So it was never
envisaged that we would want to try and improve ourselves.”

Policing

One participant told of a community member in Blacktown.
He is a French speaking medical doctor trained in Africa who is finding
it very difficult to obtain work in Australia. His son was recently bashed
in the playground causing bleeding from the ear. The father first went
to the perpetrator’s family home but no-one there wanted to say
anything. The incident was then reported to the police. The police asked
whether there were any witnesses. They refused to make an arrest because
they had not themselves witnessed the assault. “Eventually he
let everything go because they were not prepared to help.”

“If
you look at the police – for years we’ve known that we need
people who are sensitive to Aboriginal issues or ethnic issues. Still
it’s really difficult. The people that get in, an intake of maybe
bicultural people, bilingual people, they’re isolated in that
organisation.”

At home

One participant told the story of a Lebanese client who
is a Department of Housing tenant.

“She
has three children: a daughter of 21 and two boys who are 19 and 17.
They’re a handful. They’re quite boisterous. They’re
young men no different to any other young men. The house this family
is in is leased from a private owner by the Department of Housing. So
they’ve placed this family in a street where they’re surrounded
by private owners. Over the past year and a half two of her neighbours
have basically undertaken a campaign to get rid of this family. They
knew what they had to do. They record almost every movement that they
make. So now the Department is trying to evict them. They sent a stack
of evidence – pages and pages. These boys – their friends
come over, they hang out by the car, they might be up a bit late but
nothing really out of the ordinary. But the neighbours ring the police
every time and the police obviously have to attend. So there’s
a record of 40 police visits over the last few months but no arrests.
It’s harassment. The police have written saying they’ve
got concerns about that address but that’s because they get called
out all the time. The mother’s trying to keep the house together
and she’s getting sicker from the stress of it. It’s a really
dreadful situation.

“About
nine months ago the Department was considering a transfer for this family.
The Department’s own client service officer concluded ‘these
people aren’t doing anything wrong; their neighbours are basically
harassing them’. But he knocked back the transfer because he thought
the situation would not be different in any other place.”

2. What is being done to fight
anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice and discrimination?

St George MRC held a workshop on anti-discrimination
for Arabic women jointly with Al-Zahra women’s association.

In September 2003 St George MRC jointly with Rockdale
City Council and St George Police offered a half day seminar for service
providers called ‘Understanding Arabic Speaking and Muslim Communities
in the St George Area’..

Another project was for young people more generally –
not only Arabic-speaking background youth but also South Pacific Islander
youth and others. Following a couple of consultations they developed a
theatrical piece about discrimination with the young people doing the
writing and acting.

Government strategies and
projects

The NSW Department of Housing is very involved in ‘Better
Futures’. This NSW Government strategy is for 9-13 year olds and
is all about young people participating and raising their self-esteem.
It is a preventive strategy which addresses the image of young people
in the community. [Information about Better Futures and other NSW Government
strategies for young people can be accessed via this website: http://www.youth.nsw.gov.au/what_the_government_is_doing_for_youth]

3. What are the underlying
causes of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice and discrimination and what
strategies are needed?

Concerning government services
generally

“The
strategy of mainstreaming has short-changed us. People disappear in
the bureaucracy. There are no longer any identified positions. Mainstream
services are still not catering for people’s needs. There’s
still a lot of work to be done in sensitising services to deal with
us and make sure we’re getting what’s due to us.”

“The
only place that’s available for NESB people to get a holistic
approach to advice or referral is the MRCs. The bureaucracies divide
people– a person is told ‘you belong to Health; you belong
to Housing’; there’s no holistic coverage. But a lot of
people’s problems are multiple.”

“The
community has been calling on Centrelink for years to improve its service
and sensitisation of staff. When I was doing case work – quite
a few years back - 30% of my cases were Centrelink/Social Security problems
– including people not getting their entitlements. We had so many
problems just getting them to listen and take things seriously.”

Another participant was more positive about the more
recent progress made by Centrelink.

“We’ve
actually come a long way with Centrelink – our local one. They
used to be so difficult. There was no communication, no understanding.
Everything we threw at them, they threw it back. There was no resolution.
But now we’ve got a regional Multicultural Advisory Committee
which meets every second month. That’s community workers and Centrelink
workers. There has been a lot of progress. Any difficulties we have
are quickly sorted out. The Multicultural Service Officers are really
excellent. We can access them at any time and they are very quick to
respond.”

“It
would be really good to have models of things where things work; models
of success. If something works [like the Centrelink committee] then
we could use that.”

“My
only concern is that there are good things happening, but it’s
usually an individual who’s pushing it. Why doesn’t it happen
systemically?”

“I
think systems – bureaucracies – let many people hide. They
hide and are anonymous behind their positions. Then they don’t
do anything if they can avoid it.”

Concerning education

“Multicultural
education has been cut back. All the resources and workers we had 10
years ago are practically non-existent now. Unless someone is really
familiar with the topic, they’re not going to teach it effectively.
Muslim and Arab education workers aren’t in senior positions.”

“It’s
extremely important that students be educated in anti-discrimination
laws.”

“Even
just bringing out the issue of racism.”

“Multicultural
Day is not enough.”

“It’s
just for food.”

“Racism
at school is at least as serious as bullying.”

“It’s
so inconsistent. You see one school doing some really fantastic work.
In the next suburb, with the same amount of NESB kids, another school
will be doing nothing and they get away with it. Opportunities for those
kids are lessened; those families suffer; everyone’s behind the
eight ball.”

“Even
the government is a bully. The government bullies community organisations.
Saying to them – if you don’t shut up then we’ll take
your funding away. It’s endemic. I don’t see how kids are
supposed to take the lead against it. This is the tactic they see the
government using.”

“Education
is really important, especially for kids. I overheard some kids talking
about an Indonesian girl and saying she’s a cannibal. Not understanding
the culture – and that kind of criticism – is a kind of
racism. If the children understood a bit more, they would get on much
better together. And not just for the children. Even some mainstream
[government] staff can’t understand other cultures.”

“It
also should be made very difficult to discriminate in housing or employment
or whatever. It needs to be instilled in people that this doesn’t
happen.”

“Giving
education to the adults is fine. But looking at the long term, within
the next 20 -25 years, the children will grow up to copy the adults.
Let’s also target the children to educate them properly about
how to see the similarities in other kids.”

“These
messages should be incorporated and integrated in education rather than
a special lesson being created.”

“But
if it’s only taught at school this can be undermined by hostile
parents.”

“The
education system is failing but the community is still a possibility.
I think the only way is to bring people together quite locally and then
spin out from that. The funded community organisations won’t be
around much longer. While we’re still around why don’t we
try to generate in the community a sense of appreciating each other.
People will so long as they get to talk to each other. How do we get
people to be interested rather than afraid of difference? We need to
get people to recognise each other as human beings.”

“Among
the Arabic-speaking community there is religious division. It’s
true of all communities but in this case it’s very strong. That
makes it more difficult for outsiders to help if the community itself
is divided.”

Concerning public housing

In discussion of the above-mentioned case of alleged
neighbourhood harassment of a Lebanese family it was suggested that the
local town or city council should play a role in mediating such situations.

“Community
harmony is a Council thing too. They need to work together with the
Department of Housing.”

It was suggested that the Department of Housing should
have ensured that the neighbourhood would accept a Lebanese family before
renting the house from its private owner and placing that family there.
There was a shared sense that the department does not make these kinds
of checks much less prepare neighbours to accept a DoH tenant in their
street.

“You
could lobby the Council to put pressure on the Department. To the Department
of Housing each case is a number. They don’t take the care. When
something happens it’s easier to get rid of that tenant. But they’re
people who genuinely need the Department of Housing.”

It was also suggested that the State Ombudsman might
play a role as a watchdog holding State government departments accountable,
or the police or a Lebanese youth worker might have intervened.

Concerning recognition of
overseas qualifications

“One
client from Pakistan – he was quite senior – about 50. He’d
worked in computers for about 15 years. He couldn’t get any interviews.
His complaint was that it seems like the Australian government brings
skilled people here based on the points system then leaves them to their
own devices.”

“There
used to be a lot more services. Skillshares used to try to help migrants
but they’ve been killed off.”

“Overseas
qualifications have always been wasted, though, regardless of the services.
The assessment of skills for the purpose of migration to Australia is
easier to pass than assessment for work once the person is in Australia.
Employers look for local experience. They won’t employ them without
it.”

Concerning local government’s
role

“Canterbury
City Council has a Multicultural Advisory Committee. The MRC is a part
of it. We applied for [Living in Harmony] funding for an inter-faith
project involving all the religious leaders of the area to promote harmony
and clear all these mysteries of racism.”

“The
structures are already there with all these Multicultural Advisory Committees.
Community safety is a big buzz word in local government. And that involves
everybody. It doesn’t just involve one group. I think that’s
something you can work this into – ie we’d be much safer
if we felt better about each other. If we’re not all scared of
everything we’ll be a lot better off.”

In conclusion

“We have
to look at the communities themselves and also the other communities
and work together. It needs a common effort. It’s impossible just
to rely on the work of one particular agency or organisation. The government
must play an important role because they have the resources and the
power.”