Chinese-Australian Youth Experience Highest Rates Of Discrimination, According To New Survey

Almost a third of young people in Australia have reported experiencing some form of unfair treatment based on their race in the last year.

The Mission Australia Youth Survey was completed by 22,000 young people, aged between 15 and 19, from across the country. Around 4,000 teenagers said they spoke a language other than English at home, the most common being Chinese, Vietnamese and Arabic.

The results show Mandarin-speaking young people experience the highest rates of racial discrimination, at 90 per cent.

“I’ve definitely felt discrimination,” 19-year-old Mavis Tian told the ABC. “Sydney has a lot of Asian tourists and people often think just because you look Asian that you don’t speak English and that makes it OK to treat you worse.”

“This is a little bit of a wake-up call for us, isn’t it?” warned Mission Australia’s chief executive Catherine Yeomans.

Breaking down the survey a touch further, it found that 80 per cent of Cantonese and Filipino young people reported unfair treatment based on their race.

“There are some conversations going on in our community, or some actions being taken against young people, that are simply not right,” Ms Yeomans said.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people were twice as likely to report having experienced racial discrimination than their non-Indigenous peers.

drinking water from a 'special' cup reserved for me at my friends house by his parents so i wouldn't touch the normal ones #DefineAboriginal

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Yesterday, a United Nations official urged Australian politicians to denounce racist rhetoric. “The elimination of racism, xenophobia and discrimination will not happen unless it is led by the most senior political leadership,” said Mutuma Ruteere, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on racism.

Commentary from politicians as of late, including One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, has ignited nationwide conversations about racial discrimination.

“Racism is definitely a thing in Australia,” 19-year-old Steven Chen told the ABC. “I don’t think there’s any point in denying it, but I think as the population becomes more educated racism will become less and less.”

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