To grieve for the Chinese community
in Australia
Dear Hon. Rowland.mp
Congratulations for making the
excellent speech and sincerely hope that the next Governent will definitely do
something about those injustice by making a public apology and abjure the impossible
literacy tests.
Yours respectfully,
Eddie Hwang
President
Unity Party WA
Phone/Fax: 61893681884
Environmental friendly - save the
trees - use email.
UPWA is the only political
party that calls a spade a spade.
GRIEVANCE DEBATE
Monday, 24 June 2013 HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES 197
CHAMBER
SPEECH
Date Monday, 24 June 2013 Source House
Page 197 Proof Yes
Questioner Responder
Speaker Rowland, Michelle, MP Question No.
Ms ROWLAND (Greenway)
(21:09): I rise this evening to grieve for the Chinese community in Greenway
and the wider Chinese community in
Australia, who have been harshly and unfairly treated
at various stages
throughout our history,
something that I believe we have failed to acknowledge properly as a national
parliament
over a very long time. We have seen
this treatment take a variety of forms over a long period, from racist language
to specific discriminatory legislation
and of course the shameful Immigration Restriction Act 1901.
The Chinese have been in Australia for
over 150 years, with the earliest known significant presence during the
gold rush period in the 1800s. Since
then, we have seen the Chinese population treated unjustly through racist
actions to racist policies. We had the
Lambing Flat riots in 1861, when European gold-diggers drove the Chinese
from the goldfields. In 1855, Victoria
was the first colonial government to enact specific anti-Chinese legislation;
South Australia followed in 1857; and
then New South Wales in 1861. We saw similar laws in the United States
with the passing of Chinese exclusion
laws in 1870 which explicitly discriminated against persons of Chinese
descent.
Anti-Chinese sentiment back home in the
goldfields was rife. As reported in 1857 in the Ovens and Murray
Advertiser, a northern
Victorian newspaper, it was proposed by a Mr S Fraser and seconded by Mr H
Purley:
That the Buckland miners form themselves
into an association, to be called the Buckland Miners' Anti-Chinese
League, for freeing this colony from the
daily increasing evils under which it is now labouring, in consequence
of the increased numbers of Chinese
congregating upon the goldfields of Victoria.
As we moved into the 20th century and
celebrated Federation, one of the first acts of the new federal government
was the infamous Immigration Restriction
Act 1901, commonly known as the White Australia policy between
1901 and 1973, which targeted all people
of 'colour'. These laws were unjust and the complete antithesis of today's
multicultural Australia. They affected
the lives of Australians 'of colour' for several generations and represented
a shameful chapter in our nation's
history. As remarked by the Taipei Times in 2011:
Ships docking in British colonies were
only allowed to carry a certain quota of Chinese, and Australia was the
first country to use a head tax to try
and limit their numbers, a move soon adopted by Canada and New Zealand.
Punishing immigration laws known as the
White Australia policy followed, with impossible
literacy tests used
to ban foreigners, and requirements that
saw Chinese men welcomed as cheap labour but their families excluded.
Some children were split from their
fathers for decades, and those Chinese who made it to Australia, lured by
the promise of the 1850s gold rush,
endured vilification, abuse and violent race riots.
Despite these early difficulties,
Chinese Australians and others affected by the White Australia policy have made
an enormous contribution to all facets
of Australian life. But these were the invisible Australians. They celebrated
Federation, they fought at Gallipoli,
they struggled through the depression and they battled for freedom in the
Pacific. Australia
defined itself as the white man's country, yet the reality was
something extremely different. The
invisible Australians were men, women
and children who, because of the colour of their skin and the homelands
of their forbears, found themselves at
odds with the nation's claim to be white and as a result faced discriminatory
laws and policies designed to deny them
a place as an Australian.
Over the 20th century we have seen great
change in the situation for Chinese people in Australia but also flickers
of past discrimination and injustice,
from the post-1950s Australian education of Asian students to the 1970s
recognition of the People's Republic of
China and the abolition of the White Australia policy in law and in
practice. We saw Bob Hawke's granting of
permanent residency status to 42,000 Chinese students in the 1990s,
and the
disgraceful chapter that was Hansonism. It
is true that great change has occurred, but one thing remains
for people of Chinese
descent, as eloquently summed up by Mr Arthur Chang in The Sydney Morning
Herald
in 2011:
Monday, 24 June 2013 HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES 198
CHAMBER
'An apology would bring a lot
of relief
to people my age who for so long had to tell our children, grandchildren
and great grandchildren [that] it was
not the good old days, it was the bad old days.'
In my electorate of Greenway I am
privileged to represent an extremely diverse part of Australia, and the Chinese
community comprises a significant
portion of this. A big part of this falls in Blacktown City, a city that shares
sister city status with Liaocheng in
China and boasts the beautiful Chang Lai Yuan Chinese Gardens, located
in Nurragingy Reserve.
According to the 2011 census, there are
6,811 people in Greenway with Chinese ancestry. It is a community
that is both very young and very old. It
is a community with a distinct sense of history and a community that
would desperately like to see the wrongs
of the past made right. As occurred in Australia, New Zealand, Canada
and the United States enacted and used
anti-Chinese legislation throughout their respective histories. Those of
Chinese descent in New Zealand, Canada
and the US whose families had been affected by such legislation sought
recognition and redress from their
governments. The New Zealand, Canadian and USA governments have all
apologised or issued statements of
regret. The Australian government, to date, has not.
A statement by the Australian government
of acknowledgement, recognition and regret for past discrimination
and injustice would, I believe, not only
be appreciated and bring some closure to the affected families but would
also announce to the world that such
policies are no longer part of today's multicultural Australia. As remarked
by the president of the Chinese Heritage
Association of Australia, Daphne Lowe Kelley, in 2011:
The time has come for a number of
Chinese-Australians to get rid of the last vestiges of white superiority. We
want to be recognised for all our
contributions.
It is my belief that the 44th Parliament
must recognise the injustices of the past and acknowledge the
discriminatory treatment of Chinese
people in Australia throughout our history. This is something I am
determined to pursue.
This government has made China a major
focus, both socially and economically.
This is evident in the new
strategic partnership with Beijing and
the Asian century white paper. The strategic partnership, which involves
annual face-to-face meetings between
Australia's and China's leaders, regular economic talks and deeper defence
ties, highlights this government's
commitment to the Asian region and will make sure we are in the best position
possible to capitalise on the ongoing
huge growth in China. Rory Medcalf, director of the Lowy Institute's
International Security Program, has
commented:
We're not shifting our loyalties somehow
to China but we are overcoming some of the coolness in the relationship.
As we now look to the future and attempt
to grasp the opportunities of the Asian century, I believe—and I know
many
people share my belief—that we must first acknowledge the mistakes of the past.
