Australia has a racist past and present. But we can fix it

Geez. That's a tough one to answer. The country which brought you terra nullius, the White Australia policy, the Stolen Generation, Tampa and stop the boats clearly loves to welcome the cold, the tired, the lonely, the poor.

Here's the definitive response to that question of a racist Australia from Kevin Dunn, the foremost racism researcher in Australia and a professor at Western Sydney University.

"Empirically and legally, Australia has a racist history and a racist present," he says.

"Australia also has an anti-racism history and present. The challenge for Australia is to advance anti-racism and to challenge racism wherever it occurs."

His research, published last year, revealed the "pressing need to address our uncoordinated approach around anti-racism".

So we have good news.

Our newest Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman is on board.

His aim is to develop and promote a national anti-racism framework, to improve our understanding of what he calls racial literacy, the languge and skills to talk about racism; and to push for bipartisan support.

Oh my god. He was so enthusiastic and optimistic about a better future, I got carried away by his energy.

Then I remembered the lack of bipartisanship of Peter Dutton and it was as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped on my head.

So why are we asking that depressing question right now? I swear to god I would never have thought to put the words "poor, old" and "Laura Tingle" side by side but there it is.

Last weekend, poor old Laura Tingle was targeted for answering a question honestly. Better to name the problem and fix it, surely? That's how we build a better future.

She was at the Sydney Writers' Festival where she said: "We are a racist country, let's face it. We always have been and it's very depressing."

Then Tingle said that after she'd listened to Dutton's budget reply speech when he'd discussed migration and housing issues, she "had this sudden flash of people turning up to try and rent a property or at an auction and they look a bit different - whatever you define different as - [and Dutton] has given them licence to be abused and in any circumstance where people feel like they're missing out".

This is all 100 per cent true. What could possibly be controversial about Tingle's comments?

Turns out that her employer, the ABC, where she is also a board member, was displeased.

The ABC's number one star (and believe me I would never have predicted that for her during her early appearances on 730 where her television presence was more startled deer than dear and trusted expert) was rebuked by Justin Stevens, the ABC's less than impressive news director because it would not have met the ABC's editorial standards.

If the ABC's idea of modern news values means a fear of speaking truth to power then management needs a boot. I mean a reboot.

Tingle wasn't reporting. She was commentating for the benefit of the festival. But she told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The research says it.

Our newest Race Discrimination Commissioner says so in not so many words because he's brand new and doesn't want to frighten the Coalition.

And Essential Media pollster Peter Lewis asked voters if they thought halving the migration intake would address housing affordability - and 57 per cent answered yes. "There's a risk and reward - it plays well as a response to housing pressure but big risk it comes across as anti-immigrant in ethnic communities."

As legendary demographer Peter McDonald says: "These measures could be counterproductive, leaving us with fewer people to fill important skill shortages and ultimately doing little to manage population growth."

David Smith, an associate professor in politics at the University of Sydney, is conducting anti-racism research right now.

Do racist policies attract voters? "It is very dependent on what kind of problems voters perceive at the time, what they think the solutions to those problems are. It can vary a lot."

Let's face it. The Coalition is particularly good at welcomes, so long as those being welcomed are Anglo-Irish with excellent English and even better economic prospects.

It's not so good at making migrants and refugees welcome, as we have seen over the last few days and over the last few years.

Who can forget John Howard's race-baiting in the nineties then the war on terror, the disgusting bullshit around children overboard?

Dutton's just trying to emulate his hero and Labor has never ever been any good at standing up to this. Now is Labor's time to shine.

Peter Dutton blames everything on migrants, from traffic jams to queues at GPs yet in my very expensive suburb, in order to get an appointment with the GP, I have to promise to name any future grandchildren after the receptionist.

I have yet to reveal this to the makers of any future grandchildren who may not wish to call their kids Sharon.

Not only is Australia currently racist. It's been racist since the minute we dispossessed the people who lived here first.\

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It's been racist since we murdered in job lots the people who lived here first. It's been racist since we had dictation tests for migration purposes. It's been racist forever. But we can fix it.

On Thursday, a new parliamentary report, tabled in federal parliament, recommended a National Human Rights Act.

I feel like that's a beautiful coincidence for Commissioner Sivaraman and all the others, past and present, at the Australian Human Rights Commission who've worked hard for this to happen, to embed a way of preventing discrimination rather than just reacting to it, to make us all free and equal.

I can only hope the Labor Party has the guts and determination to make it happen. I want to be as optimistic as Giridharan Sivaraman. I hope my usual raging cynicism is misplaced. Australians deserves a fairer future.