Australia Is Not Racist: Senior Minister Refutes ABC Journalist

‘I think it’s a fantastic multicultural country, but we have to protect against incidents of racism which occur in our community,’ said Tanya Plibersek.

Australian Minister for Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek speaks during question time at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on July 28, 2022. Martin Ollman/Getty Images

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has refuted a recent comment from an ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) senior journalist that Australia was a racist country.

On May 26, chief political correspondent for ABC’s 7.30 program, Laura Tingle, who is also the president of the National Press Club of Australia, made a surprise comment to the audience when she was on a panel at the Sydney Writers’ Festival.

“We are a racist country. Let’s face it. We always have been, and it’s very depressing,” she said.

On May 27, Ms. Plibersek rejected the idea that Australia was racist.

“I think it’s a fantastic multicultural country, but we have to protect against incidents of racism which occur in our community as they do in every community,” she told the Sunrise program.

The minister also told the story of her family, which arrived in Australia from Europe after World War II.

“I am so grateful every day that Australia took them in and that we were born here and able to grow up in this fantastic country, and it is a magnificent multicultural country as well,” she said.

However, Ms. Plibersek noted that there were instances of Australians who had experienced racism.

Meanwhile, Ms. Tingle also allegedly accused Opposition Leader Peter Dutton of inciting racial abuse against migrants seeking to buy or rent a property with his migration cut proposal.

During his budget reply in mid-May, Mr. Dutton put forward a plan to cut permanent immigration by 25 percent from 185,000 to 140,000 in the next two years if the Coalition won the upcoming federal election.

The opposition leader said the plan was a “rebalancing” of the migration program to alleviate the pressure on the housing system by freeing up 100,000 homes in five years.

The Labor government has criticised the proposal, saying it would damage the country’s skill base.

Ms. Plibersek also said it was proper for Ms. Tingle to scrutinise Mr. Dutton’s migration cut proposal.

“I think the point she’s [Ms. Tingle] is making about Peter Dutton pretending that if he somehow bans migrants from buying houses, it’s going to fix the housing problem. It’s worth making that point,” she said.

Ms. Tingle is a senior journalist with over 40 years of experience reporting on Australian politics.

Prior to joining the ABC in 2018, she worked at the Australian Financial Review and won a number of journalism awards.

Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison with National Press Club President Laura Tingle in Canberra, Australia, on Feb. 1, 2022. Rohan Thomson/Getty Images

Opposition’s Response

Shadow Indigenous Affairs Minister Jacinta Price expressed her disappointment with Ms. Tingle’s remarks about racism.

“I’m really disappointed in this continued narrative that is being pushed within our country that does not provide any sense of pride for our children and creates division,” she told 2GB Radio.

“We had enough of it during the referendum and … supposedly leading journalists like Laura Tingle should know better than to use that sort of rhetoric.”

The shadow minister stated that Ms. Tingle’s opinion was not a reflection of reality and questioned her ethic as a journalist.

“I was reading the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance journalistic code of ethics in Australia,” she said.

“They [journalists] should be reporting fairly honestly and accurately, disclose all essential facts, and not allow personal interest or belief to undermine accuracy and fairness.”

“Laura Tingle has demonstrated over and again her bias, and I think [ABC chairman] Kim Williams needs to explain why having someone so blatantly partisan sitting in the top political commentator position is acceptable.”

The ABC has refused to comment on Ms. Tingle’s remarks.