Dear Anti-Racism Secretariat,
Thank you for the opportunity to make a submission on this important issue. As the
great granddaughter of Sir Edmund Barton, Australia¹s first Prime Minister, I want to
contribute to the consultation through the perspective I have gained from reflection
on this heritage of privilege.
I had the good fortune to attend the annual White Privilege Conference in the US in
2010 and 2011. It was heartening to participate in this commitment to addressing
white privilege in the US. It creates a resource from which anti-racism initiatives can
build resilience and capacity.
In Australia there is an enormous amount of anti-racism work undertaken by groups
and individuals. There is also a strong academic discourse on whiteness studies.
What we lack is a public discussion of white privilege. I appreciate that in Australia
this subject is likely to be viewed as offensive and unacceptable to the wider
community (which indicates the extent of our (mostly unaware) investment in
continuing white privilege).
I have come to understand that ending white privilege is the key to undoing
Australia¹s particular brand of racism like other white settler societies, we live on
land taken from Indigenous people. My forbears and other white settlers (mainly from
the UK) came here to benefit from the resources connected to the land.
Our Œownership¹ of these resources confers privilege on us and in doing so
continues the dispossession of Indigenous Australians. My people and I continue to
benefit from theft and genocide, while at the same time we are damaged and
demeaned by living without integrity as individuals and as a nation. Our investment
in white privilege maintains the status quo at our psychic expense. The damage
includes our inability to engage with our history as a white nation, growing inequality
and social distopia, and our lack of empathy for and difficulty in collaborating with the
original owners and others who don¹t share our white Anglo heritage.
Australia¹s anti racism strategy needs to reflect this core issue of privilege. If it does
not, it will not effect the changes needed to stop the damage to all Australians
caused by racism.
Kind regards,
Anne Barton