Will the Changes in Australia’s Racial Discrimination Act 1975 make Austrarian citizens vulnerable to being unfairly discriminated against or humiliated due to their race? Introduction Rutton (2013: 12) points out that Australian Prime minister and Attorney General, Tonny Abbott and George Brandis respectively, are seeking to repeal the section 18c in the racial discrimination act 1975. The changes include scrapping off Section 18c of the Act. Section 18c of racial discrimination Act 1975 protects persons and groups of people of different race or national or ethnic origin from being insulted, humiliated, offended or intimidated. Inherently, Australia is a multicultural society and each person should have a right of feeling welcome.
World War II (1939-1945) led Australians to fight for their rights and freedom, and whilst the wars overseas were coming to an end, Aboriginal Australians were still denied basic rights and freedom, yet living in their own country. Although there were government policies that expressed that all Australians must be viewed alike in their attitudes and customs, aboriginal people were still discriminated in all levels. They were expected to assimilate and blend in with the new 'White' Australia. It was very difficult for the aboriginal people to blend into the British community, the reason being that both aboriginals and the British had not much in common, including: Cultures, values, way of living etc. In the other hand, there were also discrimination
Was the Melbourne Desalination plant a waste of the Australian Governments money considering all other resources available? So some of you may be wondering, what even is a desalination plant? To put it simply, desalination essentially turns sea water into fresh drinking water. Many countries are using desalination as a way of creating a more reliable water supply that doesn’t depend on rain. The construction of the desalination plant is flawed firstly as it is on the beautiful coastline in Wonthaggi in south eastern Victoria and it is frightening to think of what is currently in place, but above all it is not needed.
Accessing the law a) With reference to an Australian case, explain the difficulties faced in accessing the law If an event where law is concerned and a migrant is involved, it would be a difficult and confusing time and would make their settlement into the country a hard one. The Australian legal system is accessible in various ways, however it also comes with various difficulties that Migrants face during their time in using the law to support them. These difficulties include Language, Procedures and Cost. English is the national language of Australia which would mean a disadvantage towards migrants who are not familiar with the English language or consider it as their second language. Not understanding the English language would result in a difficulty to understand legal terms and procedures in court and discussions with their lawyer or legal assistant.
It may have been that many Australians were and still are chauvinistic, fearing those who are different. In Uyen Loewald’s sarcastic poem ‘Be Good Little Migrants’ she portrays her attitude at the discrimination of Australia’s harsh treatment to those ‘below’ them. In “growing up Asian in Australia” by Alice Pung we are met by a various collection of short migrant stories in Australia talking about their Australian Migrant experience. Scathing in its criticism of Australian attitudes to migrants “Be Good Little Migrants” is spoken from the patronising point of view of the Australian Superiority to refugees. The use of collective pronouns puts the poem in first
In the past few years there’s been a lot of controversy over whether or not modern day Australians should apologize for the past events of the stolen generation. This essay will support the statement made by John Howard which was “Modern Australians shouldn't be required to accept guilt and blame for past action.” The reasons we shouldn't have to accept guilt and blame for past actions are , we are not responsible for past actions, we directly had nothing to do with it, we are new Australians, and we have made up for our wrong by granting them their rights. The first reason as to why we should not have to apologize to the aboriginals is because we are not responsible for past action. The actions of past Australians towards the aboriginals
What are the key issues in achieving social justice for Aboriginal people in Australia? “There is a strong and inescapable link between social justice for Indigenous peoples and the goal of reconciliation between indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians” [1] Indigenous people struggle to achieve access and equity in Australian society and they lack both ideological and economic bases of power. This essay outlines the concept of social justice and explores the key issues and problems in achieving social justice for Aboriginal people in Australia. Through statistics it becomes clear the lack of social justice for the Indigenous people and the plight that they are suffering in contemporary society. These problems are then addressed through
One difference that Australia has against the US is that it is under “The Commonwealth” whereas the US is not; this usually means quite differential laws and rights. The Australian Constitution is similar in a way to the US Constitution as it also has a form of amendments, classed as ‘Articles’ and written as chapters. The purpose of the articles is also uniquely different to the US ten amendments. One item, mentioned in the Australian Constitution that states equality and fairness of finance and trade in all Australian States is no.99 of Chapter IV (Finance and Trade); “The Commonwealth shall not, by any law or regulation of trade, commerce, or revenue, give preference to one State or any part thereof over another State or any part thereof” (Parliament of Australia, 2012). Equality of a country’s states should be a legitimate law in all countries, however not all countries have this.
He also wonders “how she’d fit in” which describes widespread belief that black people could not mingle with white society. The text has demonstrated clearly that race can be an obstacle on the road to acceptance. Although set in the 1950s, I feel that this story of the alienation of the Aborigines is still relevant today. It infuriates me that despite the freedom rides of 1965 where Aborigines protested for equal rights and
The Australian electorate is exceedingly careful about constitutional change, and it is unlikely that even a very limited Bill of Rights could be added to the Constitution. Once added, it would be largely up to the Cabinet to draft more bills to enforce these rights, the Parliament to pass more Acts, and the judiciary to whimsically interpret the Constitutional changes and the new laws. People like Ben could still be denied access to the processes put in place to defend their rights. If Australia had a constitutional Bill of Rights, and Ben's supporters had the money to mount a High Court case, the process could well have taken a much longer period than Ben could sustain his hunger strike, and he would find unacceptable such a long and difficult road to securing basic human