Former Prime Minister John Howard doesn't believe the infamous Cronulla riots expose Australia's underlying problem with racism.
He appeared on the ABC's Australia Talks programme last night and was quizzed by host Nazeem Hussain about the recently published statistic that showed roughly 76 per cent of Australians think there is 'a lot of racism' in the country.
Nazeem referred to Mr Howard's statement following the 2005 riots that suggested Australia isn't racist, and yet 16 years later loads of people think it is.
The former leader retorted, saying: "Well, that has not been my experience. I have to respectfully say to that 76 per cent, I don't think there is underlying racism in Australia. I think there are racists in Australia.
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"My view about the Cronulla riots was it was not an example of underlying racism.
"I think that is a supremely pessimistic view of the Australian community and I've seen so many examples of where people of different races have worked together in a seamless fashion for the common good. I think that's a hugely pessimistic view of the Australian community."
Sure, there are countless examples of multicultural Australians getting along with each other, however there are also many examples of them not.
The Cronulla riots has been specifically referred to as a race riot.
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It all kicked off in December when a group of Middle-Eastern men got into a fight with Caucasian lifeguards on Cronulla beach. Some media outlets and radio shock jocks, namely Alan Jones, reported on the incident and contributed to inflaming tensions in the area.
Jones told his listeners on 2GB about the people involved in the fight, saying: "What kind of grubs? Well I'll tell you what kind of grubs this lot were. This lot were Middle Eastern grubs."
Nearly a week after the initial altercation, a crowd of round 5,000 people had gathered at Cronulla. Chants filled the area, with people yelling 'F**k off Lebs!', 'We grew here, you flew here', 'Aussie Pride', and 'F**k off wogs!'
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Rioters targeted people from non-Anglo Saxon ethnic backgrounds, violence quickly spread to surrounding suburbs, police were called to break up the violence, two people were stabbed and there were several attacks on emergency service personnel.
In total, 26 people were injured and 285 charges were laid against 104 people for the initial riots and the retaliation event.
So, it's quite interesting that John Howard still looks back at that shameful day in Australian history and can't find a single element that points to Australia's underlying problem with racism.
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Featured Image Credit: PATopics: Australia
