Ethnic Discrimination

Ethnic Discrimination is an excerpt from the documentary I’ll Call Australia Home (54 mins) produced in 2008.

I’ll Call Australia Home
Refugee families from Burma and Sudan discover the joys and challenges of their new Australian home. While the horrors of war and the confinement of refugee camps are behind them, the new lives of these families are not without struggle as they negotiate the everyday realities of settling in a new country.

A Screen Australia National Interest Program in association with Becker Entertainment. Produced in association with SBS Independent.

Outcomes

• explain social, political and cultural developments and events and evaluate their impact on Australian life
• explain the changing rights and freedoms of migrants in Australia

Inquiry Question

How have the rights and freedoms of migrants in Australia changed during the post-war period?

Students Learn about

• the changing patterns of migration 1945–2000

The issue of refugees and displaced people is one of the most complicated before the world community today. Every year millions of refugees from around the world search for a new homeland. About 13,000 of these people are allowed to make new lives in Australia. Of these, around 6,000 are chosen by the government from the world’s most notorious refugee camps and a further 7,000 arrive on humanitarian visas, often sponsored by family and friends.

All have met the United Nations definition qualifying them as refugees, a “well-founded fear of being prosecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality”. (1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees)

What happens to these people when they come to live in Australia?

Refugee families from Burma and Sudan discover the joys and challenges of their new Australian home.
While the immediate horrors of war and the confinement of refugee camps are behind them, the new lives of these families are not without struggle as they negotiate the everyday realities of settling in a new country. They face getting to know a new currency, schooling for their children, learning a different language and reuniting family torn apart by war.

Over six months, I’ll Call Australia Home offered an intimate record of these families as they tackled their new life experiences; from their first supermarket trip to their first day at school, to dealing with Australian welfare agencies.

For the ethnic Karen family from Burma so many things are startling—suburbs that seem to be for cars not people, too many clothes to choose from at ‘op’ shops, using automatic teller machines and discovering chickens wrapped in plastic from the supermarket fridge. But learning English in 510 hours of government paid lessons is proving the biggest challenge of all.
For Constance and her extended family from Sudan who have been in Australia longer, the task is not so much the practical realities of Australian life but drawing together all the members of her family separated for over 10 years.

This is a gentle and revealing story of ordinary people who have witnessed extraordinary tragedy. But united in a new country they find strength, resilience and courage; not necessarily the courage of ‘heroes’ but the daily courage required to remake their lives.

1. Note-making: While watching clip:
   1. Note the experiences of the Karen minority in Myanmar.
   2. Note the personal experience of Ma San Myint and her family.
   3. Note details of the relationship and circumstances of Ma San Myint and her husband.
2. Research
   1. What part have refugees played in migration to Australia since 1945?
   2. How and why has Australia’s policy on refugees changed since 1945?
   3. What other countries in Asia have suffered from civil war since 1945?
3. Reporting
   1. Explain how Ma San Myint and her family qualify as refugees under the UN definition.
   2. Draw up a concept map of conflict in post-colonial Asian states.

Wikipedia – Karen people

Asean Focus Group, History of South East Asia