Central Australian country music singer and Indigenous rights advocate Warren H Williams has today lodged a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) against advertisements being run on the Imparja television network by business owner group ‘Action for Alice’.
Warren H Williams chats to Chief Minister Paul Henderson about the Complaint.
Mr Williams says the advertisements are racist and vilify Indigenous people. Mr Williams is being represented by human rights lawyer George Newhouse of Surry Partners Lawyers in Sydney. The complaint is requesting that Imparja and ‘Action for Alice’ take the advertisements off air and off the internet immediately.
The advertisements feature footage of Indigenous youth walking on footpaths and other public areas in Alice Springs. A voiceover claims that “gangs of youths from as young as eight years old roam the streets at 3am, damaging property and terrorising residents and tourists”. It also claims that the current generation of Indigenous teenagers are “lawless criminals” and calls for tougher policing and “zero tolerance”.
In the complaint, Mr Williams says:
“I have never encountered anything like the unjust portrayal and vilification demonstrated by these advertisements… Many Aboriginal peoples have seen these advertisements and feel they have been unjustly represented.”
“A serious repercussion of these advertisements is the effect on self-esteem and self-worth, further fuelling a deterioration in the mental health of Indigenous peoples, particularly our youth. There is enough segregation within our society between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people… these advertisements just wedge that gap open even further.”
The complaint to the AHRC alleges:
“This advertisement not only defames, vilifies and shames the complainant but it is also offensive, insulting and humiliating to Indigenous Australians”.
“The advertisements are likely to have a profound effect on Indigenous people, the most marginalised and disadvantaged group in Australia who have suffered and continue to suffer from racism in many aspects of their lives, causing significant distress, loss of dignity, anger, frustration, helplessness and despair.
“The advertisements evoke images of Indigenous people as dysfunctional, lazy, uncivilised, unintelligent and as criminals and abusers. The advertisements devalue Indigenous cultural traditions and justifies unfair and harsh treatment of Indigenous Australians. The advertisements appear to be directed at invoking fear, contempt, disgust or hostility by a non-Indigenous person”
The Intervention Rollback Action Group (IRAG) in Alice Springs, who helped initiate the complaint, say that racism has increased markedly in the town since the NT Intervention in 2007 and that Aboriginal people are being demonised for problems created by destructive government policy. IRAG says their efforts to campaign against the advertisements and the punitive agenda of ‘Action for Alice’ are gaining strong support in the local community and further actions are being planned.
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