Now the Australians are protesting

Australia is well known for having a deep-seated culture of racism going back years. Far, far longer and more widespread than the recent issues of the far right upsurge we have seen in Europe and the US. This is not new news although it doesn't make the story any the less saddening.

Australia is well known for having a deep-seated culture of racism going back years. Far, far longer and more widespread than the recent issues of the far right upsurge we have seen in Europe and the US. This is not new news although it doesn't make the story any the less saddening.

Are you having a laugh???!!! Australia is the most racist country in the world!! Not just racism but discrimination of any disability or difference that makes you stand out in public!

I live in Sydney and have done all my life. There is literally nowhere that people can be refused properly because theyre black or white, or service, or attendance at a school. The poster above inhabits fictional realms at best. We do have a lot to answer for in our history with regard to the indigenous peoples- that is a shame we'll never recover from but the story above is complete fantasy. If it's not I hope the poster will name this suburb.

Do you even live in Australia? You seem to be placing an interpretation gained from another country or system entirely on this Labor Party, simply because it is called the Labor Party and is somewhat liberal (although really, it is more centrist). Just a bit strange.

Not even 9 am and we've got a day ahead of British bashing. Lovely.

Australia has some racists, like every other country. It is no more racist than the UK or Ireland, I have lived in all three countries. So please stop with the lazy generalisations, most Aussies I know are horrified by these protests as they are used to and enjoy living in a very multi-cultural community.

True, Australia was founded on European - specifically British - racism.

But while Australia has moved far beyond that, with the majority of the population embracing a much more ethnically diverse population and culture for some generations now, Britain and much of "Old Europe" are still struggling to break out of the old white supremacist mould.

And with the rise and rise of Farage and Reform, it looks like that struggle is set to continue for a long time yet.

Oh I do beg your pardon. Wolves in sheeps' clothing have the same effect, no matter how they spell their negative tribe.

Correct, it is sadly no surprise. The whole country was created on racist beliefs - the idea that the indigenous people were wasteful, barbarians, uncivilised and only white Europeans could truly make use of the land.

I do. What do you know about mass slaughter of the indigenous population by the British?

Disgusting post, and not relevant. In Australia, the spelling is ‘Labor Party’.

Not even 9 am and we've got a day ahead of British bashing. Lovely.

Yes, the poster's experience would seem to reflect Labour's denigration of the white man and woman. A bit like a few other posters on this thread.

That's not true. The truly appalling treatment of Aboriginal people is very well known. Why are you trying to.minimize that? Everybody knows about that.

Not even 9 am and we've got a day ahead of British bashing. Lovely.

I do. What do you know about mass slaughter of the indigenous population by the British?

Do you ?

Australia has some racists, like every other country. It is no more racist than the UK or Ireland, I have lived in all three countries. So please stop with the lazy generalisations, most Aussies I know are horrified by these protests as they are used to and enjoy living in a very multi-cultural community.

So you are confirming that the poster is correct and areas exist how she describes - the fact you can identify areas that meet her description (whether or not these are the areas she means) seems to confirm her comments.

So you are basically saying there’s areas of Sydney where white Australians should live and areas they shouldn’t?

Who colonised Australia? Which country imported their criminals and more wealthy settlers? Let’s see … England. It was the British that inflicted these traumas on the indigenous people of Australia.

Australian here, who has close friends who are many different nationalities by birth (including Indian, Chinese) but are Australian, and I fully expect likely all my kids will partner and marry ‘non-white’ Australians, which is absolutely fine.

I’m not protesting but I think you are confused about what is being protested about. It’s not about not wanting non-white people in Australia at all, it’s not about not wanting Indian doctors and nurses in Australia, it’s about not wanting white Australians to be made second class citizens under non-white Australians which is where white Australians now see Australia going.

Here are some personal examples:

Some of my kids were looking to purchase a place, and DH and/or I would go with them to viewings (so experienced this first hand), around a third of places viewed the real estate agent straight up said they refused to sell to them as they were not Indian. They said we didn’t understand but the suburbs we were looking in were only for Indians so they would only sell to Indians. Refused to take offers. One literally threatened us when I joked and said I should get an Indian friend to come to viewings and make offers, indicated lives would be in danger if a white Australian purchased.

In other suburbs kids were looking at, many new build unit blocks. All brochures and sales were in Chinese only for that suburb and the minute you tried to talk to a sales rep ‘No English, Chinese only’ (said in English). All of this nonsense about white Australians not being able to live in certain suburbs means being pushed back from the CBD’s with longer commutes in.

With the place some of my kids ended up in, the Strata committee for the building are trying to hold meetings in a non-English language only. Kids are happy for it to be held in both languages given the majority of residents are native speakers of another language, but that’s not good enough, the committee don’t want English used at all, which means my kids can’t attend meetings or vote.

I was recently refused service at another nationalities restaurant. Went there with friends of that nationality. We sat down, restaurant made it clear to my friends that they didn’t serve white-Australians and didn’t want them in the restaurant. It’s a large restaurant in a CBD suburb. Friends were mortified, had a huge fight with restaurant and we left as they were not going to budge.

None of this is new per se, when my adult kids were at school, there was usually less than 5% white Australian kids there. That was the demographic of the areas we lived in as our preference was to live close to my work (major city hospitals) rather than out in the ‘white’ beach suburbs. The kids at school were fine but many of the parents would tell their kids not to associate with white Australians as they were ‘stupidly and lazy, and will make you get bad grades’ because I guess somehow you catch that??? Not all, I’ve got some great non-white Australian parents who became great friends, but it was the majority. My great hope was those parents would see first hand this was not true and that would stamp this nonsense out but it’s just gone further and further over the years.

That’s the basis of the current protests. Yes, it is about racism I guess, but it’s that white Australians are now sick and tired of the racism being directed at them and that they are being pushed out, and just want the current environment rolled back to an even footing.

Correct, it is sadly no surprise. The whole country was created on racist beliefs - the idea that the indigenous people were wasteful, barbarians, uncivilised and only white Europeans could truly make use of the land.

I can’t attest to your experience but didn’t Labor just get back in? Are they seen as responsible for what’s happening or are they still well liked?