Coronavirus: Harmony takes a hit as COVID-19 reality bites

Former Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane and Qantas CEO Alan Joyce have differing takes on harmony.

Thanks to coronavirus, we no longer enjoy many of life’s pleasures, whether it be watching the footy, dining at one’s favourite restaurant, walking on the beach, visiting the local bordello, or whatever else does it for you. And sadly last month we were denied the pleasure of celebrating “Harmony Day” on March 21, which coincides with the United Nations Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

This federal government initiative of commemorating multiculturalism is 21 years old. If you are still unfamiliar with it, here are the fundamentals. If you work in an office, you have a morning tea and celebrate Harmony Day by chatting to each other, just like you do every other working day of the year. You get to sample exotic dishes, just like you normally do every weekend. You make gestures such as wearing something orange to show much you value harmony. You nod approvingly when the boss makes a boring and predictable speech containing platitudes such as “diversity is strength”.

Although the message is about love for all, there is a competitive streak among white people who observe Harmony Day. It is all about the number of likes you get under that hashtag for photos of you showing off how relaxed you are in the company of non-white people. For those at home, you can still take part in this event. For example, you can tell your non-white neighbours that, being a believer in harmony, you have no problem with them living in your street.

For non-white people there is a part to play too. To begin with, you should loudly object to commentators using nomenclatures that classify you as “other”, such as “non-white people”. When speaking at Harmony Day functions, you, while stressing you are not trying to be a wet blanket, should say plaintively you only wish it was commemorated every day of the year. Because, and this cannot be overemphasised, there is still a long way to go before we realise harmony.

It is a day to stress diversity, although not diverse opinions regarding whether multiculturalism is a good thing. Before you screech raaaaay-cist, please remember there is a significant difference between multiculturalism and multiracialism, the latter implying assimilation. The official line is multiculturalism is not only desirable and wonderful, it is essential.

Anyone who disagrees with this is exercising hate speech, and they must be sued, sacked or otherwise silenced in the name of harmony. Conservative commentators decry this as a threat to free speech, but that is a distraction. To paraphrase Joseph Stalin’s maxim on socialism: the closer you get to achieving harmony, the more intense the struggle becomes. Nonetheless there is still a long way to go, which is why so many human rights and race discrimination commissioners remain on the public payroll.

Take for example the vital work of Dr Helen Watchirs OAM, the president of the ACT Human Rights Commission. Last month she warned harmony was under threat because of coronavirus, saying ACT residents had witnessed “some aggressive behaviour in supermarkets and walk in clinics”.

Commission calls for harmony, warning against virus profiling

The ACT Human Rights Commission is calling for harmony and tolerance, in the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic, and fears that some Canberrans are being racially profiled. Statement cont. below: pic.twitter.com/DU4VZZyz8N

— ACTHRC (@ACTHumanRights) March 19, 2020

A commission cultural liaison officer warned “Canberrans from migrant backgrounds” were “worried about the racist and ignorant remarks that are spreading faster than the virus itself.” Every Canberran from a migrant background is worried? The commission’s report for 2018-19 recorded a total of three complaints relating to racial vilification for that year, which seems to indicate the real current issue in our national capital is hyperbole, not harmony.

Watchirs has occupied her current position since 2004. If asked she too would definitely say there is still a long way to go before we can dispense with human rights commissioners. Her base salary is $231,538.

That is pittance compared to that of the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner, Kristen Hilton, who earns approximately $330,000. Topping the list is Professor Rosalind Croucher, president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, who is paid $463,710. The quest to find harmony is a long one, but it is not without its rewards.

But still it is a difficult thing finding harmony, and that challenge is not confined to the public sector. Only a few years ago Qantas CEO Alan Joyce was the personification of corporate harmony. “I think it is very important for our employees, customers and our shareholders, and that is why Qantas is a supporter of marriage equality and a supporter of gender equality and a supporter of indigenous rights,” he said in 2017.

Needless to say these issues are no longer paramount for Qantas employees, customers and shareholders, assuming of course they ever were. Joyce too has gone quiet on those causes and is now preoccupied with mundane issues such as the company’s survival. His hostility to the prospect of government assistance for domestic competitor Virgin Australia would indicate he is not as big a supporter of diversity as we thought. And the public slanging match between him and Virgin CEO Paul Scurrah is such we could conclude neither man has Harmony Day on his mind.

Celebrities who encourage harmony have been frustrated with cruel jibes. Gal Gadot and fellow actors Jimmy Fallon, Mark Ruffalo, Will Ferrell, and Natalie Portman, to name a few, were ridiculed when they recently released a compilation of John Lennon’s “Imagine” as they self-isolated. Okay, it was a tad rich of these fabulously wealthy people to be singing “Imagine no possessions”, but their intentions were good. Who knows, maybe through their not-so dulcet tones they were reminding us that there are worse things than dying of the virus.

But what harm is there in government officials who incessantly proclaim harmony? Quite a bit, actually. On February 1, the mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella launched a “hug a Chinese” campaign in response to the coronavirus, prompting many well-meaning Italians to do the same. Your first concern was a saccharine stunt to promote yourself, Mr Mayor? Sei stupido.

The mayor of Florence, Italy, @DarioNardella initiated "hug a Chinese" on Twitter on Feb 1, opposing anger toward China amid the #nCoV2019 outbreak, and calling for "Unity in this common battle!" Many Italian netizens responded by posting photos of themselves with Chinese. pic.twitter.com/LutXfPyXc7

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) February 4, 2020

Ironically, some of those responsible for ensuring harmony tends to assume the very worst of us. Take University of Sydney professor and former Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane, for example. Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald on February 16 about the Morrison government’s decision to quarantine Australian citizens evacuated from Wuhan, China, on Christmas Island, he said this “smacked of malicious dog-whistling”.

“A Fortress Australia mentality remains strong within our psyche,” he declared. He must have been most inharmonious when the next day many of those evacuees, the very picture of harmony, arrived in Sydney after leaving quarantine and told journalists of their gratitude for what the government had done.

Nonetheless Soutphommasane was at it again last week, tweeting sarcastically about Australians being quarantined in “five star” hotels instead of Christmas Island. Last Saturday NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned the state would have to quarantine up to 5000 people in hotels every day for the “foreseeable future”. The normal capacity of Christmas Island’s detention centre is only 1094 people and a maximum of 2724. which means – well, let’s do the maths, professor. Or did you have in mind a human version of Christmas Island’s annual red crab migration, perhaps?

Earlier this year Australians evacuated from Wuhan were quarantined on Christmas Island. Now returning cruise passengers are quarantined in five-star hotels ...

— Tim Soutphommasane (@timsout) March 27, 2020

Then there was Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi. Tweeting on February 8, she lambasted as “xenophobic” the government’s decision to ban entry to foreigners who had travelled from mainland China, protesting that it was contrary to the advice of the World Health Organization. Fear not being labelled a fool, senator: every senior member of that utterly discredited body, not to mention every Chinese propagandist in the land, would have been applauding you.

In a stunning display of xenophobia and against WHO advice, our Gov has barred entry to people coming from China and quarantined Australian citizens and permanent residents on Christmas Island without any of the outcry that would have been guaranteed were they white.

— Mehreen Faruqi (@MehreenFaruqi) February 8, 2020

Undoubtedly human rights commissioners are not contemplating harmony but instead next year’s budget. True to form they are probably rolling out the butcher paper in the syndicate rooms to think of ways they can use this crisis to boost their profile and solicit complaints. Surely there will be cases of hospitals not having enough halal food, or field hospitals not having a wheelchair ramp. Yes, I can see the horrific case studies now. “Imagine Amanda’s horror when a doctor grasped her testicles and said ‘Cough now please sir’.” Whatever they are, the underlying message will be that there is still a long way to go.

Good luck with that. The Federal Reserve has predicted unemployment levels in America could reach 32 per cent. As announced yesterday, the combined federal and state government debt in Australia is likely to reach $1.5 trillion in 2021, the highest level since the post-World War II years. It will not be so much razor as machete gangs that slash spending in the public sector. And meanwhile those on the grievance gravy train insist there is still a long way to go. No there is not. You have reached the end of the line.