Asian-Australians have been subjected to a wave of racist abuse during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a community survey that recorded 377 incidents in two months. The Asian Australian Alliance, which launched the survey in April, found that the equivalent of 47 racist attacks occurred each week up to 2 June.
The preliminary report, released on Friday, showed that women were disproportionately affected, accounting for 65 per cent of victims. Nearly 40 per cent of incidents took place on public streets, and almost 60 per cent involved physical or verbal harassment. In 84 per cent of cases, the perpetrator was a stranger, and 90 per cent of victims did not report the attack to police.
One 19-year-old Vietnamese Australian woman from Sydney reported being threatened with a knife and spat at. 'I was told that it was my people who brought the virus over here,' she said. '[They] attempted to kick me. Called me an Asian slut and an Asian dog. Told me to go eat a bat. Threatened me with a knife. Spat in my face, getting spit in my left eye.' Another victim, a 23-year-old woman from Perth, was told by a group of men: 'You're f***ing Asian, go eat bats and die alone. Don't come to Australia.'
Survey organiser Osmond Chiu said that media reporting had fuelled the racism, particularly the overuse of East Asian images in stories about face masks and Covid-19, and the sharing of a hoax about a Melbourne factory hoarding goods for China. 'Covid-19 has brought this to the surface but clearly something existed previously,' he said. Erin Wen Ai Chew, national convener of the Asian Australian Alliance, criticised imprecise tabloid reporting against the Chinese government, saying it had normalised anti-Chinese sentiment.
Chiu urged that reporting on racism should not be used as a 'geopolitical wedge', stressing that 'racism that happens against Asians in Australia does not diminish what happens in China'. The report comes as Anti-Discrimination NSW noted a surge in anti-Asian complaints, with its president Dr Annabelle Bennett saying the statistics did not capture the full picture.
