Australia

"Australia's new race discrimination commissioner recently started in the job and he's got his sights firmly set on tackling the modern face of racial prejudice."

Australia's new race discrimination commissioner recently started in the job and he's got his sights firmly set on tackling the modern face of racial prejudice.

Dr Tim Soutphommasane is a 30-year-old first generation Australian, whose parents fled Laos in the mid-1970s, he grew up in south west Sydney.

He'll now spearhead the nation's response to racism and discrimination and he's keen to craft strategies to help eliminate casual bigotry and cyber racism.

Emily Bourke from Radio Australia talked to him.

Australia's new race discrimination chief says racism is still far too common.

“About 20 per cent of Australians report that they have experienced race hate talk, so racial slurs or verbal abuse. Eleven per cent report that they have been excluded from the workplace or social activities on the basis of their skin colour or ethnicity.”

As a migrant himself, Tim Soutphommasane, has experienced racism in Australia first-hand.

“Well I'm a first generation Australian of Chinese and Lao heritage. It's a mouthful when I say that to people. But I think it sums up my cultural identity. I have experienced racial slurs. It can be very confronting. It's very unpleasant, but most of all it's about a denial of respect and equality.”

Dr Soutphommasane says the modern face of racism is increasingly casual.

“For instance, you might have someone making light of an issue or cracking a joke and when someone complains there, the response is perhaps along the lines of well, come on, just have a bit of a laugh, don't take yourself too seriously. And I think that attitude belittles the experience of racial prejudice and discrimination.”

“It's not just about hurt feelings, or about mere offence. Part of the cultural shift that needs to take place on casual racism is to recognise that racism is as much about impact as it is about intention.”

But he adds racism among young Australians has followed the same trend as schoolyard bullying - it's moved online.

“Cyber racism among younger Australians is a serious emerging problem. There's no question that if we do not tackle this issue, we may be creating further challenges of social cohesion and we may be cultivating a sense of indifference to racial abuse when it happens online.”

In his new role, Dr Soutphommasane says he wants to start a new conversation about racism and how to stop it.

“What it's going to require is change at the everyday level in civil society, in your workplaces, in your schools and indeed in your backyards, at those barbecues, when someone says something that's off-colour.”

“Perhaps in the past we've been happy to let that slide and not create a bit of a fuss. But if we're prepared to take a stand and prepared to persuade someone to see racism from the perspective of another person, then perhaps we have an opportunity here to achieve a generational shift in our thinking.”

• Australia
• cyber racism
• Dr Tim Soutphommasane
• cyber crime
• Radio Australia