A Recent Event that Influenced Australian Politics
White privilege has always been a topic of discussion, throughout the world. The White Australia Policy was one such issue which can neither be specified solely as a cultural event nor just a political one. This issue of the government’s effort to extricate all Non-Europeans, went on for a considerable period. This essay aims to analyse the influence on the 21st century Australian politics considering the White Australia Policy.
In 1901, right after Federation; there were certain policies that were devised to maintain Australia’s “white” and thereafter “British” population (Ozdowski 2013). During 1925, the then Prime Minister, Stanley Bruce comforted the seemingly anxious public that the racial composition of Australia has always been 98 percent British and it would stay the same in the future (Awu.net.au 2018). After 1901, this policy was stabilized for about seven long decades. Interracial dialect was applied to curtail international denunciation, but the chauvinistic approach was very prominent.
A sequence of enactments, with a mutual objective to attain and sustain a white nation was the driving force of this policy; it was not a lone government ordinance. There were other Acts that were passed around in 1901, these were:
These three actions formed the former set of legislative bases of the politics then. The Immigration Restriction Act epitomised the soul of White Australia Policy, highlighting the nation’s hypocrisy. It was used as a tool for racial discrimination, although it did not mention “white” or “race” anywhere in the title (Jupp 2006). The Act’s most infamous characteristic was a dictation test, where a migrant would be asked to write a paragraph in any European Dialect, within 50 words; where the officers could easily manoeuvre and exclude any unwanted person. Its duality was soon perceived by the common mass and only 2000 people took the test, within 1958 (McNamara 2009).
The White Australia Policy initially acquired a dichotomous support; unfortunately, it was disassembled by both the sides. The Migration Act of 1958 was introduced by the conservative governments, where the non-Europeans were approved to come to Australia based on proficiency and propriety rather than colour (Vrachnas et al. 2011). According to Tavan (2004), the Racial Discrimination Act of 1973 concealed the final remnants of the White Australia Policy; which made it criminal to affront, abuse, exploit or coerce someone because of their race. It was as much an ethnic as bureaucratic phenomenon, and it could not be annihilated with a single act of court. The approval of many Vietnamese emigrants administered by the Fraser government was a litmus test if the White Australia policy had really dissipated.
From 1980 till 1996, Australia was overflowing with Asian immigrants. During the 2001 election, 438 Norwegian asylum patients were shipped off to Australia, although the Prime Minister John Howard denied welcoming them. The support he received from the people earned him the victory in election, as well as proved that the White Australia mindset has not been eliminated. Scholars like James Jupp and Gwenda Tavan debated that this ideology till now plays a significant role in shaping Australian immigration policies of the 21st century (Willard 1967). The bifurcated undertakings of the re-appearance of Hanson’s One Nation party after the 2016 election, lend some importance to this idea.
It can be thus concluded that even-though the policy of White Australia has been eliminated; it still exists as an ideology, amongst people. Although it constitutes the minority, this section till now wants to restore an ideal Australia of the past, along with its white mono-culture.
The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) consisted of soldiers who fought during the First World War. 25th April is celebrated as ANZAC Day, in Australia, to commemorate the military force of the nation (Slade 2003). Every year, the Australian War Memorial, Canberra; presents this celebration, where chiliad of people come together to pay their respects to the martyrs.
Anzac Day dates to the centenary of the landing on Gallipoli, in 1915. It is the day when the Australians who served and died for their nation are remembered. The soul of Anzac, with its qualities of bravery, solidarity and sacrifice, remains to have meaning and significance for the value of national identity (Thomson 1996). This day, more than any other event talks about the togetherness and the brotherhood that each Australian share for one another, along with an extended feeling of patriotism for their Nation.
During the outbreak of war in 1914, a 13-year-old federated Australia, had to prove to the other nations of the world, their strength and military power (Millar 1978). When Britain opted for war, in August 1914, Australia was inevitably assigned on the side of the Commonwealth. In 1915, the soldiers from Australia and New Zealand became a part of the voyage that went to obtain the Gallipoli peninsula to open the Dardanelles to the associated armadas. The final goal was to capture Constantinople, the hub of the Ottoman Empire, a confederate of Germany (Basarin, Hall and Fewster 2010). The war strategy was to land on Gallipoli and take the Ottomans down in a fierce battle. This war did not go as planned and both sides had suffered massive casualties. The failure of the military forces was never considered; however, the sacrifice caused them to leave behind an influential legacy.
The first Anzac Day was celebrated on April 25th, 1916; there were a series of ceremonies that were celebrated across Australia, London and the Australian camp in Egypt. Anzac Day was for the first time founded by the people as a national day to memorialize the death of over 60,000 Australians. It was celebrated as a public holiday from 1927, although the candle light march, dawn watches, commemorative services, get-togethers, games; where added to the celebration much later, around the mid-1930s (Inglis and Brazier 2008). Later the men who died, fighting in the second world war were also honoured in this celebration. In 1942, the Anzac Day was celebrated at the Memorial; for the first time. Around this time the Japanese air attacks were prevalent, so large gatherings or march was not approved; it was just a small celebration (McAulay 1943).
During dawn, the soldiers laying in their defensive position in the battlefield were woken and were ready to attack, by the time the first ray of light would befall. This could be repeated during dusk as well. This is known as the Dawn Service (Sumartojo 2015). Since the Australians refer to this day as a day of national remembrance, two different times of the day is very important; the time of the actual landing at dawn is celebrated by memorial services that are held across the Nation, during the rest of the day marches take place with ex-servicemen and ex-servicewomen as participants (Kitley 1979).
The National Ceremony commences with the customary succession of service, at the Australian War Memorial. This includes: the experienced troop’s march, the Celebratory Speech, laying garlands, singing hymns, the sounding of the Last Post, following a minute’s silence to pay respects and finally reciting the national anthems of Australia and New Zealand (Hall, Basarin and Lockstone-Binney 2010). Thus, Anzac Day is argued to be the true National Day of the Country; allowing it to replace Australia Day, January 26 (Inglis 1967). There was no sacrifice involved with this day. People need a reason to celebrate their country’s greatness which they find attached to the sacrifice made by the Anzac troops; giving this day a greater importance than Australia Day.
“Contemporary celebrations of Anzac Day are exclusionary and divisive” – this statement does not stand true. Australians can be seen fighting and arguing with one another throughout the year, due to trade union or racial issues, but this Day witnesses no such distractions. On this day, every person of this Country is observed to come together and pray and celebrate with one another. It is in no way a disruptive event; thus concluding, the above-mentioned statement does not have any validation attached to it.
Gender and Feminism
From the inception of time, women have been assigned a lower position than men within the gender hierarchy; throughout the world. It is the same with Australia, ranging from healthcare to unequal payment of wages. The ideology of “women not equal to men” is the driving force of any atrocity that comes in the path of women. This essay discusses the significant development of women’s rights in Australia and the impact of it on the 20th century society.
What laymen fail to understand is the difference between “gender” and “sex”. Sex is biological- what a person is born with, that is, male, female or the third gender (Greary 1998). Gender on the other hand is the sexual orientation a person adheres to- masculine or feminine; that which the person identifies to while growing up, gender is generally imposed by the society according to one’s sex (Holmes 2007). This often creates problem for people whose biological sex differs from their idea of their gender. Such people are often open to social ridicule and harassment of different kinds, leading to the rise of the feminists and the LGBTQ+ activists.
Women and other individuals who do not follow the conventional gender barometer, often have to face misogyny from the “superior” section of the society. Other factors like race, ethnicity and class also add up as reasons of suppression. Misogyny is not a result of hatred towards a kind, it is more of an idea that the “other section” is not as “superior” as their own kind (Bloch 1987).
When the women all over the world were being suppressed and denied of their rights, the Europeans took the initial set of responsibility to fight the cause. Thus, started the Suffragette Movement throughout Europe during the 1906s; where they demanded their basic rights (Kent 2005). This movement soon inspired women all over the world to stand up to men and fight against the oppression. 1975 was the year that marked the first ever, International Women’s Year; on June 19th the UN conducted its first World Conference on Women which took place in Mexico during this period (Paxton, Hughes and Green 2006). The period from 1976- 1985 was assigned the United Nations Decade for Women. The Whitlam government in Australia was seen spending over 3.3 million dollars on arrangements for a two-year long celebration of the International Women’s Year (Stephenson 1982).
June 21st witnessed the Whitlam government’s introduction of a “no-fault divorce”. On September of the same year, the first Women and Politics conference was held in Canberra (Mohanty, Russo and Torres 1991). The Sex Discrimination Act was passed in December for the first time by South Australia. In September 1982, Quentin Bryce was appointed as the convenor of the National Women’s Advisory Council. She became the first woman governor-general, in 2008 (City 2014). In 1983, Australia signed the convention to end discrimination against women. Joan Child was nominated, Australia’s first female Speaker, in 1986. Subsequently, Janine Haines became the first woman to control a political party (Eveline and Booth 1997). Australia elected its first female chief minister in 1989. In 2009, Julia Gillard became the first woman Prime Minister of Australia.
In the year 2015, the #HeForShe campaign was joined by Australia, which wanted to involve the men in the fight for gender equality throughout the world (Watson 2014). Although the idea is for the greater good of the women and for the understanding of the men; there were several controversies regarding the fact that this movement would allow the men to feel that women need their help no matter what. As time progressed, the atrocities against women in general started to change to atrocities against anyone who proves to be “weaker”- emotionally or physically, than others.
Thus, it is observed that people calling women with names, have changed to abusing a woman or transgender of colour; only now a white woman is offered more respect than an “aboriginal”. A society without discrimination is an ideological society, which is hard to achieve. The oppressors do not just stop oppressing, they just change the subject and degree of suppressing. Given the general view, gender inequality was combatted the day men acknowledged women as their equal; but in all society lies hypocrisy. An ideal egalitarian state is not possible to attain.
Reference
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