Senator believes conflicts flare mostly about sport not race RACISM CASES ’ RARE’
LNP senator Ian Macdonald says the popularity of North Queensland’s “king” Johnathan Thurston is proof there is “very little” racism in Australia.
The North Queensland- based senator sparked intense national debate yesterday when he said he believed racism was “rare”.
“I might live in a bubble perhaps but I find it very difficult to find any but very rare cases of racism in Australia,” he said.
Senator Macdonald made the comments during a Senate committee sitting while questioning the need for a race discrimination commissioner.
“In this building we have two senior ministers who are clearly not white Australian males,” he said.
“In my own society, up in Ayr, the greatest hero, in fact the king of North Queensland, is Johnathan Thurston who if only I could get him to run for a political party, he’d walk it in, he’s the absolute hero.”
Senator Macdonald said he had been around a “long time” in a small country town where conflicts were mostly to do with sports, not race.
“I live in a small country town made up of many people including Italians, Greeks, Spaniards, Vanuat- uans who are descended from Kanakas, indigenous people,” he said.
“I often say the only ( difference) suffered at my school was that they were better sportsmen than us and you know you would be flat out to try and tackle them. That was only on a sporting basis, absolutely nothing to do with racism.”
Speaking in Townsville yesterday Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Senator Macdonald should reconsider his position.
“I think that he might need to have a good look in the mirror because we do have issues across our nation and we do need to have bodies that combat not just racial discrimination but sex discrimination as well,” she said.
Herbert MP Cathy O’Toole said Senator Macdonald’s beliefs “couldn’t be further from the truth”.
“If Senator Macdonald went out onto the street and spoke to young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people, spoke to the elders and just spoke generally to the people in the community, he would find racism is anything but gone.
“We only have to look at the fact the gap hasn’t been closed in health statistics, opportunities for highpaying job or getting through university so it’s nonsense … to say there is no discrimination.”
Thurston was contacted for comment but did not respond before deadline.