It is the height of ignorance and stupidity to call people who want borders protected from illegal entry ‘racist’. Our borders should be protected from illegal entry by people of any race or culture.

It is only the ignorant and stupid who use ‘racist’ as a term of abuse because they think that people will shut up because they don’t like being called racist.

Wrong. The word has been misused long enough now to be of little effect; nobody takes any notice.

Of course, there are always genuine racists around. But if anyone thinks that name-calling will stop them from continuing in their racist ways, then those simple souls are wasting their time.

Personally, I’m interested in the truth, not whether somebody is a racist or not. And there’s no truth coming from the people who think that calling someone else a racist is a valid argument against what they say. It merely shows that the name-callers don’t have an argument that upholds their beliefs.

Stephanie, a very good point, sadly as you see these threads go, you will quickly realize why I accuse the discussion of being 'binary'.

Also, you will see a lot of silly presumptions thrown around.
Aside from the ones you mentioned by the conservative side (along with the "Oh no its really because we're worried about rickety boats or smugglers")
-The lack of the security criteria you mentioned, merely "Refugees" as one homogenous group and how we're "not letting them in" (when we partly are, or basing on the processing time (without ever elabaroting the processing time if it is real, excessively long or deliberately infinite)
-And dumb arguments like the issue only floats on the other side 'not knowing how bad it is or otherwise they wouldn't be so mean'.

I know it sounds silly, but most of it has actually been said in seriousness in this thread.

Bruce
Much is done by governments in consultation with the Muslim community especially in relation to counter-terrorism. One cannot ignore the increased threat of terrorism and the government has been very careful in avoiding alienating the Muslim community, opting instead to consult and include Muslim contributions in events such as the SIG Conference.

http://www.ag.gov.au/www/agd/agd.nsf/Page/RWP53655C27AFC3F1E8CA2572250013DAE6

Many ethnic communities raise concerns about unidentified asylum seekers, where there is warranted suspicions about lack of identity papers, in particular when the point of departure has been from safe havens like Indonesia, where the applicant has been living as a resident for some years.

Much of the discontent is media influenced and like all news the good news stories are not reported.

Haneef was a monumental error. The problem was a knee-jerk reaction to information coming out of the UK and once recognised, the failure was in admitting the error. This was unacceptable but was more about lack of accountability and whitewashing than racism.

Racism is based on fear of the different or unknown and this is no different in Australia. However to compare Australia to South Africa is overstating the situation in volumes.

Why are there so many who are easily led to play the racist card when Australia has to be one of the most accepting and safe countries to reside. Acknowledging this is not the same as saying there are 'no' racists in Australia.

I have to agree with Leigh that the racism card is pulled out so often it has become meaningless and does little to add to finding solutions to ethnic tensions and education if concerns about some issues like FGM, veiling, rape etc, are treated with contempt or dismissed too easily as racist.

The catchcry for not discussing many important issues like Big Australia is to use the racist tag - which ignores every environmental and infrastructure concern that anyone might raise, ultimately to the detriment of all Australians.

Racism has to be recongised as a two-way street and intolerance is not always confined to the dominant culture.

Honest dialogue is what is needed not overblown accusations of racism.

Thanks to Bruce Haigh for not letting the sewer rats think they have the weight of public opinion on their side. Typically, as with every other article on OLO that reminds us that racism is alive and well in Australia, there is the indignant chorus of protestation from the usual suspects.

Leigh: << The word has been misused long enough now to be of little effect; nobody takes any notice. >>

Given the way that you sqwawk every time an article like this is published, I think you're protesting just a little too much. You certainly take notice, as do other haters of your ilk.

Excellent comments from Stephanie Cornwall, Seneca, Ginx and Anansi.

Good afternoon, to all you good folk, and Mr. HAIGH...

As a very proud RACIST, I do get a little annoyed with people like you Mr HAIGH, who find it necessary to continually censure and harangue those of us who happen to articulate our beliefs on issues of Race.

You've stated herein, that you'd spent some time in South Africa ? As an individual, who I'm sure is vehemently opposed to the old apartheid system - you'd be very pleased to know that one, Julius MALEMA, is touring around S.A. trying to inspire racial harmony.

Mr MALEMA (leader of the ANC's Youth League), is an influential member of the current ANC Government, led by President Jacob ZUMA.
Mr MALEMA has a rather quaint modus operandi, in order to energize and inspire people, to practice racial accord and amity.

He's been touring the country exclaiming - in rhetoric and song "...kill the Boer, kill the Boer..." and other little ditties like, "...kill the Wizards, kill kill, shoot, shoot the whites...we're going to shoot 'em with our AK47's..." and other
most beguiling and alluring lyrics, ad nauseam ?

President ZUMA did not seek to censor Mr MALEMA, (a senior member of his Government) for his HATE fueled speeches and songs !

Corruption and venality within the ruling ANC Government is everywhere. Crimes of violence in this beautiful Country are of epidemic proportions. Apparently, in the last years of apartheid, the murder rate was, circa 5,500 for 1994. And now it's about 43,000 per year. We are talking of MURDER here ! Who in their right mind, would wish to wear 'blue' in South Africa ?

As I said, I'm definately a RACIST Mr Bruce HAIGH, and proud of it.

Cheers to you all, and Mr HAIGH.

Ginx, I'm assuming that you didn't bother reading anybody's posts before you declared that "attacks" of the article "are based on the believe that there is NO racism in Australia". After all, stevenlmeyer had already acknowledged that racism does exist here.

As for the article, I wonder if Bruce Haigh really lived in South Africa at all. If he did, I'm assuming he lived in a walled compound, nice and safe away from the violence and crime. Otherwise, he would have seen what every South African I have ever met - including many, many family members - sees: race IS the cause of the troubles.

I understand that putting ourselves down is the Australian way, but sometimes I think we need a mandatory dose of overseas travel to see that the rest of the world isn't much better. And that's not ivory tower, 5-star travel. It's on-the-ground, real-world travel.