“Are Australians racist?”

This is a question I have been asked frequently since I came to India from Australia in August, 2009, a result of the much reported recent spate of attacks on Indians studying and working in Australia.  I have lived in Australia for approximately two decades and I find this question extremely simplistic. A country is made up of millions of people, with vast differences in personality and outook, and Australia is no exception.  I cannot deny that there are racists in Australia, however I do not think there is even a remote possibility that such a wide generalisation could possibly be true.

Firstly, Australia is a country of migrants and its society consists of people from many different countries including Italy, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Romania, Spain, Finland, Lebanon, Vietnam, Sudan, Nigeria, Afghanistan and India. With such a diversity of individuals living together, the average Australian simply cannot afford to be a racist. Also, if Australians were racist, the whole country would be in a non-stop war with itself, and there would be never-ending accounts of attacks not just on Indians but on other groups as well. This is not the case.