Introduction
Australia is a nation that has different ethnic people due to immigrations. Recently in Australia due to immigration and the rise of international student the population of different ethnicity of people has increased. This therefore, caused the nation to have many cases of racial discrimination. The relationship between racism, racialised punishment and the construction of asylum and refugees as alien in Australia is that it has caused a lot of conflict and debates among the state officials. These problems are very rampant in Australia and in other countries in the world. According to the laws of Australia it forbids any form of racial discrimination and it ensures all people have their freedom of religion.
Racism
The topic of racism in Australia can be traced in history where it became a major problem for the nation. Before the British settlers entered Australia the original occupants were the Torres Strait Islander and the aborigines. The indigenous people in Australia have reduced tremendously in the recent years compared to when the British settlers had not arrived. The reason for the decline of indigenous people in Australia is due to the increase of intermarriages and immigrations to other countries. There have been many reports of racial discrimination in Australia in the recent years. Good examples of these reports include the cornulla riots, assault against Indian students, Pauline Hanson and one direction and the report by the UN in 2005.
The cornulla riots
The cornulla riots occurred in 2005 around the cornulla suburb area of Sydney. This riot occurred because many people were angered by the intimidation and assaults by the people from the middle eastern of Sydney. The riots were a peaceful mission in the beginning but changed and became violent when a group of white people harassed and assaulted Middle Eastern looking people in trains and hotels (Attwood, 2005). These violent riots caused the police department to lock down the Sydney beaches as well as the surrounding areas.
Assault against Indian students
International students are well-known to be going to Australia to further their studies. The Indian and Chinese students are recorded to have the highest in attending the Australian universities. The Indian students were fed up with the incidents of attacks reported thus rioted in 30th may 2009. They blocked the Melbourne roads and proceeded to the royal hospital where one of the victims of assault was been admitted for treatment. This riot was however stopped the following day without any good results. The Chinese officials were also bothered by this assault thus prompted the Australian government to come up with a plan to curb this situation (Cunneen, 2010). This has led to the decrease of assault of international students in Australia.
Pauline Hanson and one nation
Pauline Hanson is well-known to be a racist who was elected in 1996 to 1998. In a speech in the parliament for the funding of the minorities she showed her disapproval of it. She claimed that the country was being swamped by the Asians. She also called for the protectionist economic policies which protected the rural and regional areas. She also formed the One Nation Party which had fewer members in the parliament and recently has had no members in parliament. In the year 2006 she was quoted saying that Africans bring about diseases to the Australians (Attwood, 2005).
Racialised punishment
Punishment of offenders in all countries is determined by the norms or cultural boundaries such as age, gender, class, ethnicity and race set by the people. In Australia punishment of offenders or criminals is either by jail term which consists of life imprisonment and home arrest or probation. There is the formal and informal difference in the ways people are punished that originally began in the 19th century and continue until in the present (Cunneen, 2010). When the British settlers entered Australia the capital punishment was introduced. Many indigenous people who were caught for any mistake they were killed in the name of law. In 1973 capital punishment was abolished by the death penalty abolition act of 1973. This brought about the life imprisonment as being the maximum punishment for criminals.
It was discovered that a number of indigenous prisoners in custody were being killed. This led to the formation of Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody or the (RCADIC). This commission was aimed at reducing the number of indigenous prisoners in the country. The formation of this commission did not produce the required results this is because the number of indigenous prisoners increased rather that it reducing. The deaths of the prisoners in custody also did not reduce and the representation of the prisoners was not that good thus ended with the prisoners being given longer sentencing. The increment of indigenous people in prison was mostly experienced in the 1990s. It was reported that the number of indigenous women who were being imprisoned increased dramatically after the formation of the commission. This increment is believed to be higher than that of the men (Finnane, 1997). When the British settlers entered Australia and took over the forms of punishment of individual was changed in that it favored the white settlers and racially discriminated the indigenous people.
In the 19th century the aborigine’s offenders were being executed compared to the non indigenous offender. The other form of punishment that was racially based in the 19th and 20th century was the physical punishment which included the flogging and the lashing of people. In the modern Australia sentencing and punishment of offenders is still based on the concept of culture and race (Walker, 1987). This has led to the increment of indigenous prisons for example the Belund-a and also the increase of indigenous courts such as the Nunga and Murri. Despite the fact that the indigenous courts have been formulated the number of prisoners who are indigenous has not dropped but rather has increased.
According to the data collected in 2008 the number of inmates has doubled that of the previous years. According to the reports conducted by researchers is that the number of crimes being committed has not increased rather is that the indigenous offenders are being sentenced for longer periods. This study was conducted by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (Crock, 2010). The research also shows that the numbers of indigenous people taken to custody are kept for longer periods. Over the years the laws in Australia has changed in that it has abolished the capital punishment and also has made amendments so that it can make sure the indigenous offenders get fair trials and punishments. Although the law has changed the number of racialised punishment still continues thus favoring the white people more than the other citizens.
The construction of asylum seekers and refugees as alien invaders
The Australian country is made of immigrants from all over the world, but the mention of asylum seekers and refugees brings about harsh reactions among the citizens and the government. The indigenous people are the ones who are affected the most because they consider the refugees as alien invaders who will take their lands just the way the white settlers did. The increment of the immigrants brought about wariness of distortion of the culture in Australia thus became a legislation issue for curbing immigration in the country (Pickering, 2001, P.177). The increase of illegal immigrants has increased in that more refugees enter Australia unnoticed thus has brought about insecurity issues.
When taking the refugees and asylum seekers it means the government will spend a lot of money for food, shelter and medical supplies. This will cause people to think that the government is spending a lot of money on people whom they do not have any relations with and also due to the financial crisis. The increase of refugees and asylum seekers has brought about increase in insecurities and criminals in the country. This caused the government to find ways in which it will curb the situation thus has brought about restrictions of the people entering Australia by forming the push back process. There have been many deaths of people in the boats that bring the refugees and asylum seekers to Australia (Hudson-Rodd, 2009, P.186). Some of these deaths are caused by the push back operations and the smugglers. The politicians are also using this issue as strategy to make the citizens of Australia to vote for them. This is because most people fear multiculturalism and want to maintain their norms and customs.
In conclusion, the relationship between racism, racialised punishment and the construction of asylum seekers and refugees as alien invaders is that the indigenous and outsiders are being mistreated by the Australian government. This mistreatment by the government is brought about by many problems such as criminals and culture. Australia being a multi cultural country will definitely have its share of racial discrimination in fields such employment, political and social. There are many countries apart from Australia that has experienced a lot racial problems such as the United States, Kenya, South Africa and Brazil.
Reference
Attwood, B. (2005). Telling the Truth about Aboriginal History. Online press .
Crock, M. (2010). Scapegoating boat people a true-blue Australian tradition. The Sydney Morning Herald .
Cunneen, C. (2010). Punishment: two decades of penal expansionism and its effect on indigenous imprisonment. AILR .
Finnane, M. (1997). Punishment in Australian Society. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
Hudson-Rodd, N. (2009). Australia Limits Refuge for the Refugee. Tamara Journal , 186-201
Pickering, S. (2001). Common sense and original deviancy: news discources and asylum seekers in australia. Journal of Refugee Studies , 170-184.
Walker, I. P. (1987). Capital punishment. Australian Institute of Criminology .
