Over the coming months, there will be preparatory conferences in Geneva, Africa, Asia and Australia to discuss ways of combating racism. Dr Jonas said he was concerned that, less than a month into the new year, he had heard reports of Indigenous families struggling to find rental properties and of people condemning special education programs for Indigenous people. In the Queensland town of Mackay, South Sea Islanders have told stories about skinheads threatening them with firearms and pasting swastikas on car doors and of finding racist leaflets in their letterboxes. People of middle-eastern and African origin and Jewish Australians have also been targets of racial abuse.
Racism is like a grub that feeds on the core of good nature.
We also read and hear about racism daily through the media. Acts of racism and racial violence are totally against the Australian ethos of a fair go and equality for all. A working group for the World Conference Preparatory Committee will meet in Geneva in March and Asia's regional meeting will be in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran next month. Australia used to be a world leader in human rights and has been instrumental in drafting international treaties to protect those rights. It is important for all Australians to remember the promises they have given in being party to those treaties.