It’s easy to yell ‘racism’: Alan Tudge hits back at Tim Soutphommasane

Alan Tudge has hit back at Tim Soutphommasane, after the race commissioner accused MPs of promoting racial division for personal gain.

Race Discrimination Commissioner Dr Tim Soutphommasane. Picture: Kym Smith

Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Minister Alan Tudge has hit back at Tim Soutphommasane, after the Race Discrimination Commissioner accused politicians and the media of promoting racial division for personal gain.

In an address to the University of Western Sydney’s Whitlam Institute tonight, Dr Soutphommasane will declare “there’s never been a more exciting time to be a dog-whistling politician or a race-baiting commentator in Australia.”

It will be his last major speech before his five-year term as commissioner ends this month.

Ahead of his speech this evening, Dr Soutphommasane took to ABC radio to denounce federal ministers including the Prime Minister for their comments about African gang violence in Victoria.

He also slammed Mr Tudge for arguing last month that Australia is veering towards “a European separatist multicultural model”.

Mr Tudge has hit back, suggesting Dr Soutphommasane was avoiding discussing genuine concerns about integration.

“It is the easiest thing in the book to yell “racism” but much harder to respectfully and honestly discuss the emerging challenges in our nation,” Mr Tudge told The Australian.

“If we cannot discuss the issues sensibly, how will ever address them?

“Australia has been tremendously successful as a multicultural nation, but there are emerging integration issues as key reports have outlined, and which I have carefully pointed out in major speeches.

“The lessons from Europe is that we should discuss and address the issues as they emerge, and not leave it until the challenges are almost intractable.”

MPs ‘promote race division for own gain’

Asked what he meant by saying “race politics is back”, Dr Soutphommasane said: “It means politicians seeking to make partisan gain over race and multicultural issues, and in your introduction you’ve outlined some of the examples of that, the panic and hysteria about African gangs, led by senior federal government ministers and joined in by the Prime Minister.

“We’ve seen debates about multiculturalism with the Minister for Citizenship and Multiculturalism suggesting that we’re veering towards ethnic separatism and segregation, and then you’ve had open questioning of a non-discriminatory immigration policy, which has been the regime we’ve had since the end of the White Australia policy, and that’s been led by among others, former prime minister Tony Abbott,” Dr Soutphommasane said.

“So if we look at our public debates, there are very clearly examples of race politics being conducted at the moment.”

Asked whether politicians and the media were simply giving voice to genuine concerns in the community, Dr Southphommasane said his issue was not with the subject of the debates, but the way they were being conducted.

“If you look at the African gangs crisis there isn’t a sense of proportion about those debates,” he said.

“Yes, it is the case that Sudanese Australians are over-represented in criminal offending in Victoria, but they’re not the only group that’s over-represented.

“We have Australian-born and New Zealand-born offenders over-represented in crime statistics in Victoria too. The singling out of communities is a source of concern.”

Dr Soutphommasane said politicians needed to offer evidence to back up claims that multiculturalism is failing.

“The evidence shows us very clearly that our multiculturalism is still strong, that the children of migrants outperform the children of Australian-born parents on average, when it concerns education and employment, and on the issue of immigration, it’s one thing to have a debate about numbers, it’s another thing to question whether we should have a value of non-discrimination in place when we conduct our immigration program,” he said.

“We just don’t seem to have the political resolve and leadership to have a mature conversation about this.

“If we’re talking about Sudanese Australians and crime, for example, leaders of Sudanese-Australian communities are very open about acknowledging that there’s a problem with a small number of offenders in their community.

“The problem is you focus only on ethnicity and race, and when you do that, you create division in our community, and we don’t, for example, concentrate on the ethnicity or backgrounds of murderers such as Adrian Bayley or Roger Rogerson or others, but yet we seem to focus very squarely on race or ethnicity if it involves anything involving Sudanese-Australian youth.”

Dr Soutphommasane conceded concern over multiculturalism was not a uniquely Australia phenomenon.

“We know that there’s a resurgence of far-right politics around the world,” he said.

“You look at what’s happening in the United States and the Trump presidency and the implicit endorsement he’s given to neo-Nazis and white nationalists there, you look at what’s happening in Europe, where there are a number of far-right parties now in coalition governments, you look at what’s happened in the UK with the Brexit vote, and Australia is not immune to these global forces.

“Racism and discrimination will most likely exist for as long as we have human imperfection.

“They’re products of fear, of ignorance, of arrogance, and they’re all markers of our humanity, but you’re right as well to highlight the complicated global environment we have, but we should be responding to that global environment from a position of strength, because we are a successful example of a multicultural society, and in the past we’ve had nonpartisan, bipartisan leadership on race issues.

“There’s been an acknowledgment that there’s been too much at stake for race issues to be placed on the political agenda and subject to contest.”

Dr Soutphommasane said Mr Tudge was wrong to say that Australia was veering towards “a European separatist multicultural model”.

“There’s no compelling evidence to demonstrate that that is the case,” he said.

“If you look at the record we have on integration you find that 80 per cent of migrants within ten years of settling in Australia become Australian citizens.

“If you look at some of the suburbs or areas that have been highlighted as pockets of ethnic segregation, you in fact find that there’s no one ethnic or racial group which predominates and you find moreover these are areas that are characterised by rising property prices.

“So you have suggestions not only of segregation but also of ghettoisation in our suburbs. This is compelling evidence that dispels that.”

The Race Discrimination Commissioner said there was strong support for racial equality and multiculturalism in Australia, accusing politicians and the media of being out of touch.

“(If) you think of the intense contest we’ve had over the racial discrimination act, 80 per cent of Australians support the retention of 18C,” Dr Soutphommasane said.

“You have a similar proportion of people who support non-discrimination in how we conduct our immigration policy.

“Close to 85 per cent of people believe that multiculturalism is good for the country, so mainstream Australia is in a good place on these issues.

“Unfortunately it’s just not translating through some of the political leadership and political debates we’re having right now.”

Dr Soutphommasane accused the media of a “monetising of racism”, claiming that sections of the media deliberately run inflammatory headlines because it’s good for sales.

“Just look at what happened last night with Sky News giving a platform to a self-avowed neo-Nazi with a rap sheet that covers arson, aggravated burglary and racial vilification,” Dr Soutphommasane said.

“This is a guy who believes that we should be putting up portraits of Hitler in all of our schools, but yet he enjoys a platform on Sky News.”

Sky News commentators rapidly denounced the decision to give Cottrell a platform last night, and the network issued an apology, saying the interview had been removed from repeat timeslots and online platforms and an investigation was being conducted into the circumstances of Cottrell’s appearance.

Asked to reflect on his time as Race Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Soutphommasane said he hoped people would look at his record and judge whether he had held people to account for racism in public debates.

He denounced calls from Attorney-General Christian Porter and others for the role of race discrimination commissioner to be refocused.

“I simply see no reason to change things,” he said.

“We have a racial discrimination act. It’s not called the ‘living in harmony act’ or the ‘tread softly on racism act’.

“The suggestions that have been thrown about include a shift to something like the racial harmony commissioner.

“We know that racism exists, and racial discrimination exists. If we can’t name racial discrimination, we’ve got very little hope in fighting it. You can’t eliminate racism through the repetition of the word ‘harmony’.”