Harmony Day

The day was introduced by the Howard Government to re-centralise a singular and unifying notion of Australian-ness within multicultural policy.[1] In 1998, Australian Prime Minister John Howard commissioned Eureka Research to undertake an anti-racism study to "explore and understand the subtleties and nature of racism in the Australia of the late 1990s with a view to mounting an effective mass media and/or education anti-racism campaign". Among the research conclusions were the notion that there was a clear need for an explicit anti-racism campaign, with 85% of respondents recognising racism as widespread and multi-faceted in Australia. And that a focus on 'living in harmony' should be promoted.[2]

According to subsequent media reports, the outcomes of the research were not aligned with Howard's views that Australians were not racist, as he later stated when commenting on the racially motivated 2005 Cronulla riots, "I do not accept that there is underlying racism in this country."[3] To avoid a focus on eliminating racism, the Howard government instead focused on the second part of the research and developed Harmony Day as a result. The complete findings of the Eureka report was suppressed from public access until 2011.[2][4]

The Diversity and Social Cohesion Program has two key elements: Community Grants and Harmony Day. The Diversity Cohesion Program provides funding, education and information to help organisations create a spirit of inclusiveness, and helps ensure all Australians are treated fairly regardless of their cultural background or circumstance.[5]

Critics include Emeritus professor Andrew Jakubowicz who was critical of the extended governmental suppression of the original Eureka research for 13 years, and the subsequent lack of research or focus on attempts to eliminate racism.[2]

Indigenous critics like IndigenousX CEO and founder Luke Pearson argue that while Harmony Day is perceived as a positive contribution to a multicultural society, the day provides little to provide practical solutions to racial discrimination[6]

Anti-racism groups have highlighted media coverage at the time Harmony Day was introduced that proposed the Australian government was not doing enough to eliminate racism.[4][7] Not-for-profit group All Together Now have questioned why Harmony Day was needed at all if there was no racism in Australia, describing the creation of the day as "Orwellian". The Secretary for the New South Wales Fabians, a left-wing thinktank, argued that the day dilutes the UN marked event of its intended meaning, by avoiding discussion of the structuraal barriers of racial discrimination.[7]

Commercial and technology lawyer Dan Ryan, [8] writing in The Australian in 2011, criticised Harmony Day, likening it to government projects in China. He said that events like Harmony Day are aimed at oppression of liberties in China, and are therefore impossible to achieve in a democratic country such as Australia.

The problem with the harmonious society is not just the disconnect between the rhetoric and the reality. The truth is, while superficially sweet-sounding, the idea is illusory and utopian. We may all wish in the abstract that everyone got along, but the reality is that free societies by their nature are cacophonous, argumentative and full of dissent."[9]

He also said that multiculturalism was being whitewashed by the government and media.

If it is decided that we must restrict speech or avoid discussing certain subjects to keep the peace over an apparently combustible population, might now not be the time to ask whether this type of harmony is worth celebrating?"[9]

Grette Toner, in an Australian Curriculum Studies Association paper titled "Beyond Harmony: Rethinking Intercultural Learning for Australian Primary Schools", visited a primary school and found the day's activities to be "largely symbolic...difficult to gauge what students learned". Criticism was also aimed at the school for not involving anybody from outside of it.[10]