IPA spokesperson Daniel Wild claims Australia is the least racist country in the world, despite ‘elites’ claiming it is entrenched
Conservative commentator Daniel Wild has argued that Australia is the ‘least racist country in the world’, despite ‘elites’ claiming racism is a deep-seated problem.
His comments follow recent comments from Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman, who said that “anti-white” or “reverse” racism – such as the allegation against Matildas star Sam Kerr that she called a British police officer a “stupid white bastard” had mentioned – ‘missed the point’.
Instead, Sivaraman said, the idea of anti-white racism has prevented Australia from tackling the “real problems of structural and other forms of racism in this country”.
But Mr Wild, the deputy executive director of the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), said the country has done “more than any other country to make progress on democracy and equality” by promoting individual progress rather than of group division.
“Based on this divisive ideology of identity politics, we are told by a small group of elites and the political class that Australia is a racist nation,” Wild told Daily Mail Australia.
“These activists claim the country’s institutions are racist because they were created by the British… and fail to understand that modern Australia offers unparalleled opportunities for all Australians, regardless of race or origin.”
The IPA is a Melbourne-based think tank that advocates free market and conservative ideals and has strong ties to the Liberal Party, the mining industry and the Murdoch press.
Mr Wild pointed to two examples of pioneering methods in Australia that have subsequently become cornerstones of democracy and equality in modern society.
The first, he said, is the secret ballot, which was first passed into law in South Australia in 1856 and resulted in everyone’s vote being given equal weight, regardless of race or creed.
The ‘Australian ballot paper’, as it is also known, is printed at public expense, contains the names of all candidates, is distributed unfilled at the polling station and is marked anonymously by the voter.
The second, he said, is the Church Act introduced in NSW in 1836, which allowed equal funding for different Christian denominations and laid the framework for a religiously tolerant modern Australia.
Mr Wild claimed school and university students are “steeped in ideology” about Australia’s historical shortcomings and are not learning a balanced view of our history that celebrates the country’s achievements in establishing a world-leading democracy.
The Treaty Before Voice Invasion Day protest on January 26, 2023 in Melbourne, Australia
However, Mr Sivaraman has argued that racism is embedded in Australian society.
“We had a White Australia policy. Our positions of power – in politics, the media and the judiciary – are (still) occupied by white people. That is the context in which racism occurs and needs to be understood,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
‘Sometimes we cover existing racial inequality with a veneer of so-called harmony. That is, we don’t want to admit that there are issues and problems, and that we don’t necessarily all have a fair choice, which is the Australian ethos,” he said.
“If calling out racism is ‘woke,’ and ‘woke’ becomes a pejorative term used to suppress or undermine the credibility of someone’s comments, there is no room at all to even talk about racism.”
The treatment of Indigenous Australians is a particularly sore point in Australian history.
Documented massacres of Aboriginal tribes were committed by early English colonial settlers, and between 1905 and 1967 thousands of people were resettled into white society in what came to be called the Stolen Generations.
Aboriginal people still make up 28 percent of prisoners, despite making up 2 to 3 percent of the population, according to the Bureau of Statistics, and are far more likely to die in custody than other prisoners.
Mr Wild agreed that Australia is “not without its faults” but argued that our modern society is the benchmark for tolerance and inclusivity.
“The white Australian policy was wrong, and it was rightly repealed in favor of a non-discriminatory migration policy, which has been a foundation of our country’s success since the 1970s,” Wild said.
“Those who disagree should educate themselves on the facts of Australian history, for example the Kable Case, the secret ballot, the Church Act, the 1967 and 2023 referendums.
“The vast majority of Australians voted in the 1967 referendum to remove divisive references to race in the constitution, while 60 percent voted no in the 2023 referendum to enshrine racial differences in our constitution through Voice to Parliament.
“Time and time again, Australians have taken this opportunity to demonstrate their support for the fundamental ideal that we should all be treated as equals, regardless of our race, ethnicity, background or gender.”
