Kevin Andrews, Australia’s controversial Immigration Minister, has been at it again this week. Blowing the ‘dog whistle’ and playing the ‘race card’ (see earlier post “Out of Africa” for background) on federal election-eve.
And, again, it was the country’s most marginalised and obviously racially distinct residents who were his targets. Following the funeral of a young Sudanese man who’d been bashed in a racially motivated assault which Andrews’ initially tried to cite as an example of the failure of Africans to adequately integrate into Australian society, a Victorian police officer was assaulted by an alcohol affected Sudanese youth. So, Kev did what any right-wing politician campaigning on race, chasing the votes of bigots and xenophobes would do – he cited this isolated incident as yet another example of the failure of Sudanese refugees to embrace ‘Australian Values’.
"Violence is not a part of the peacefulness and the tolerance which has been very much a value of the Australian way of life," he told journalists. Yes, we hear you loud and clear, Kev – those black folk are just plain ‘un-Australian’.Of course anyone with half a brain and a sceric of integrity would counter with the logical argument that police are assaulted in the course of their work on a daily basis – by people of all colours, cultures and creeds. The Victoria police themselves acknowledge this fact and that’s why, when they released details of the alleged assault they made no mention of the alleged assailant’s race nor did they seek to suggest it was racially motivated.
Victoria’s Labor Premier, John Brumby went further, telling the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) “…I don't think it's at all helpful to put a racial characteristic to this. The principle problem that we're dealing with here is alcohol." But a small group of protesters stalking the minister made the point more cogently. Among them was a Sudanese refugee who whited out his face with zinc cream and waved a Vegemite sandwich at Kev.
Meantime, there are increasing reports of the racial vilification of African refugees around Australia in the aftermath of the Minister’s assault. But he’s refusing to apologise, saying he’s just voicing the concerns of many Australians. Yes, interesting approach – manage race relations on the basis of ill-informed popular opinion. It’s a strategy that’s been used with great effect in the past, of course...notably in South Africa and Germany. The Minister’s paternalistic excuse for his patently racist stance is that he is trying to do the Sudanese refugees a favour "I am not seeking to demonise them. I am seeking to help them," he said.
Having marketed himself as a staunch Catholic concerned with ethics and the ‘rights of the unborn’ Kevin Andrews’ stance on African immigration has shocked and appalled many friends and colleagues who believed he had a conscience. One of them, the ethicist, Dr Nick Tonti-Filippini, told the SMH "I must admit I am just flummoxed by it and very disappointed… Not only does it not fit in a Christian tradition but it does not fit in a human rights tradition."
Perhaps not, but it definitely fits the Howard Government tradition of playing the race card to win votes. As the director of the Catholic social justice group, the Edmund Rice Centre told the SMH, “The bottom line is that the Government sees itself in political difficulty approaching the election and is deliberately targeting one of the world's most vulnerable communities for some sort of political gain…This is lowest common denominator politics at its worst…”
Postscript: "In matters of conscience, the law of majority has no place." Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948)
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