Race Discrimination Commissioner Chin Tan was targeted by bigots almost as soon as he arrived in Australia.
As he was starting his new life here with his family in the 1980s, Mr Tan's wife was told to "go home" while she was out for a meal with their kids.
Mr Tan was refused a train ticket by a conductor.
"That was the two weeks I was first in Australia as a student, where the conductor… refused to sell to me until I said the word 'please'," he told the ABC in an interview to mark the launch of a new national anti-racism campaign today.
The Malaysian-born lawyer ran into similar attitudes when he moved into the public sector, first as the Victorian Multicultural Commissioner then national Race Discrimination Commissioner.
"Even when I got into government… you have these situations where officers within government would adopt different attitudes, would say things like, 'I don't know what you do in the Chinese community, but this is what we do in government,'" he said.
Over the years, racism has become more subtle, Mr Tan said.
"A person of a different background might feel a sense that they can't get ahead," he said.
"Many non-European Australians have come forward and told us stories and said, 'We can't get ahead, the system is stacked against me, I just don't know what to do, it's like we can't find a place'.
"What we are and who we are is not appreciated."
The latest census data showed more than half of Australia's residents (51.5 per cent) reported being either born overseas or having an overseas-born parent.
Nearly 28 per cent of the Australian population speak a language other than English at home.
Racism. It stops with me
Mr Tan says the new campaign focuses on institutional and interpersonal racism.
"It's time we seriously addressed racism in this country," he told the ABC.
"We know racism prevents all Australians from living in a fair and just and equal society."
The campaign asks Australians who do not have lived experience of racism to reflect on its causes and impacts, and to do more to address it.
"Many of us are often unaware of racial and cultural biases, whether in ourselves or in society — but these biases have significant impacts on racial equity," Mr Tan said.
"This campaign is also to highlight and bring awareness that racism not only exists in the interpersonal level, but also exists in the systemic level.
"We see this in areas such as employment, justice, education and health, among others."
'Be part of the solution'
Sydney TV journalist Antoinette Lattouf is disappointed with the media diversity on our screens.
Throughout her career, she has found workplace racism to be rampant.
"I've had lots of covert jokes about my ethnic group. If crimes happened in Western Sydney, little so-called jokes about, 'what have your cousins gotten up to now'," she told the ABC.
"And other times I have been told I'm one of the 'good ones' [of my race]."
The insults and discrimination have led to her questioning whether she wants to keep working in the media, an institution she describes as perpetuating "both overt and covert discrimination".
"Part of the reason I have continued to stay working in it is because I'm determined to be part of the solution," she said.
She has even written a book — How to Lose Friends and Influence White People — to help others from diverse backgrounds survive in tough workplaces.
As a child of refugee parents from Lebanon, she entered journalism because of the media response to the September 11 attacks in the US.
"I saw the media reporting on Arabs and Muslims and the enormous impact that had on our communities," Lattouf said.
Years on, she has seen how that "same sort of hysteria" has focused on other communities.
"Depending on what's in the news agenda, or what's happening geopolitically, the spotlight can be on Chinese Australians, or it can be on the so-called African gangs of Melbourne," she told the ABC.
Lattouf also co-founded the organisation Media Diversity Australia, and she believes problems are deeply rooted in the industry.
"It's a blinding example of structural racism, because who are the gatekeepers of stories, who are the gatekeepers of power, they continue to be white and overwhelmingly male," she said.
"[It's] why our television looks so white and continues to be so white, even though small amounts of progress has been made — because it is a prime example of structural racism."
Racism in the media and entertainment industries
Recently, the ABC's news director Justin Stevens apologised after a report found some Indigenous and culturally diverse staff experienced racism in the workplace.
"No-one should ever feel that they don't belong at the ABC because of their cultural background," Mr Stevens said in an email.
In 2020, SBS managing director James Taylor respond to criticism of workplace culture of bullying and racism, which was raised by former Indigenous staff.
Many diverse communities have asked for changes.
The Australian Muslim community has called for increased representation in the media to provide "more opportunities for the broader community to learn about and engage with Australian Muslims", according to a report conducted by the Australian Human Rights Commission.
Chinese Australian actor Yang Li has worked in the film and TV industry for nearly three decades.
He is also worried about the lack of representation of the real Australia on our screens.
"I feel it's a bit too harsh to call it racism, it's better to be described as racial contempt. The film industry seems [to] not give a damn about [Asians]," he said.
"It's not just about Asians only, but all minorities."
Yang said actors like him have been pigeonholed into characters with clear Asian labelling.
"I've been in Australia for so long and looking back, I haven't played many positive roles, but gangsters and villains," he told the ABC.
He hopes culturally-diverse actors can become an integral part of the film industry.
On- and off-field racism
Jamie Pi came to Australia as a child in the early 1990s.
He fell in love with Aussie Rules and has become an AFL and AFLW players' agent.
But, an incident when he was 15 years old has scarred him.
After an on-field fight with another footballer due to a racist slur, he was summoned to the tribunal.
"I remembered clearly, the tribunal manager told me if I still want to continue with Aussie Rules football, I have to accept people may be racist towards me. As a teenager, I was very angry, thinking, 'Why do I have to deal with racism just because I love football?'"
He said despite efforts to stamp out racism on and off the field, it remained in the game but was more subtle and had also shifted to faceless people on social media.
"The most important thing is to protect the victims," he said.
"Being trolled online is very difficult to deal with, which I have personally experienced, as the attack is on your most basic personal identity, such as your ethnic background and the colour of your skin.
Problems in the sport persist at the elite level too, with the Collingwood Football Club revealing systemic racism in its organisation, following an independent review last year .
The review described Collingwood's history with racism as "distinct and egregious", with the club's leadership, "particularly its board", needing to drive structural change while reference was made to claims of racism across the AFL more generally.
Lack of positive role models
The Race Discrimination Commission has looked at institutional and systematic racism, and found 14 areas of concern.
According to the Commission's figures, Asian Australians account for only 3.1 per cent of partners in law firms, 1.6 per cent of barristers and 0.8 per cent of the judiciary.
Tuanh Nguyen is a corporate law specialist and a PWC consult on diversity and inclusion.
She was also a former president of the Asian Australian Lawyers Association.
Ms Nguyen said racist stereotypes had big impacts on career progression for people from diverse backgrounds.
"There is the unconscious bias and the stereotypes that Asian Australians are great workers, but they're not… really natural leaders, or they're not natural networkers," she said.
"When it comes to performance reviews, or talent acquisition decisions, or promotion decisions, those unconscious biases, and institutional barriers, they come into play to really create greater hurdles for Asian Australians and those from diverse cultural backgrounds.
"The reality is subtle acts of exclusion is also acts of racism. It can have a really profound impact on those from diverse cultural backgrounds."
