Racism in Australia is still prevalent

Sydney, Jan 19(ANI): World-renowned neurosurgeon, Dr Charlie Teo has said that racism is still practiced on a wide scale in Australia.

Dr Teo has been selected to give the NSW Australian Day speech and his address to the audience is expected to revolve around existing racism in Australia.

He stressed that despite Australia being the world's best nation, claims made by some Australian politicians denying racism in Australia, annoys him.

"I don't quite like it when I hear politicians reassuring the Indians there's no racism in Australia. That's bullshit. Racism is still very much alive in Australia," The Telegraph quoted, Dr Teo, as saying.

He said his her daughter was recently a victim of racism.

"My daughter, for example, was saying to me just the other day, very sadly, she doesn't like Australia Day. She has in the past dressed up, got into the spirit of things, put a sticker on her face, worn the green and gold and been told by drunk Australians to go home because she looks Chinese. That's so sad. You can't get more Australian than my daughter," he added.

Dr Teo also gave another example of an Indian neurosurgeon who experienced racism in Australia.

"He was Indian and it was so sad. He came in one day and says 'I was just standing on the side of the road waiting at the traffic light' and someone spat at him and told him to go home, back to India. Just spat on him. How sad is that? That still exists," he added.

Meanwhile an expert panel in Australia has called for new section (116A) to prohibit racial discrimination.

The expert panel of 19 indigenous leaders, politicians and legal minds, also urged to increase efforts to recognize indigenous Australians in the constitution.

Few obsolete discriminatory sections were also suggested to be removed including Section 25, which says an Australian voter could be excluded from voting on the basis of race and section 51(xxvi) on 'race power," the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

"For many Australians, the failure of a referendum on recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples would result in confusion about the nation's values, commitment to racial non-discrimination, and sense of national identity," the report said. (ANI)