On Tuesday, posters with racist tones were found posted in front of buildings in two Melbourne universities, directed towards Chinese students and warning them that they would be deported if they entered the building. While the posters have since been taken down and decried by both the universities and student groups, this incident is but one of the numerous recent racist attacks in Australia recently.
Was shocked when seeing this post that said Chinese students are not allowed to the building otherwise they'll be deported! pic.twitter.com/LV2ZXkw3PM
— Lisa Lu (@lisatinglu) July 24, 2017
While the Chinese are not the only group that have been racially targeted, there has been a wave of racist attacks towards them quite recently. In March, an Australian Chinese woman was physically assaulted by a Caucasian man, telling her to “get out of my country”. In May, an Asian lady was subjected to a racist tirade by another lady on the subway.
Chinese in Australia are not necessarily a new sight, having been in the country since the 1800s as labourers or immigrants during the Gold Rushes. However, times have changed dramatically since the 90s. Never have there been more people of Chinese origin in Australia, with one of the largest groups of Overseas Chinese being the Chinese Australians. In 2011, Chinese surpassed Italian as the second most spoken language in Australia. With more and more Chinese coming to Australia as students, investors or immigrants, the Australian community must face the issue of racism and their relationship to the Chinese, lest it reaches the tipping point and becomes too big to ignore.
On the surface, most Australians get along fine with their Chinese counterparts, with both communities interacting daily especially in the more urban cities like Melbourne, which boasts a high number of Chinese students thanks to the numerous universities clustered around the city. Mixed couples are a common sight, and thanks to Chinese investors, properties have been springing up in the cities, boosting the country’s economy.
However, while the situation has been improving, as much as a quarter of Chinese immigrants say they have experience some form of racism. Some conservative Australians fear a ‘takeover’ by the Chinese, with Asians taking over their job, culture and land. Infamous One Nation party founder Pauline Hanson used this rhetoric to build her political career, saying “I should have the right to have a say in who comes into my country”.
While the situation is nowhere as dire as it seems, this is an issue which much be addressed by not only the government, but by both the Australian and Chinese community, before the problem rears its ugly head.
