Equity Human Rights Lecture

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In 2006 the QUT Equity Section has introduced a Human Rights lecture series which is open to staff, students and the wider community. These lectures will bring to the fore national and international issues of interest to the QUT community.

We were pleased to host Dr Carmen Lawrence MP for the inaugural lecture entitled Fear and Politics in Australia.

Audio recording of lecture (size 7.5mb, length 50 minutes)

Transcript [Word]

Fear and Politics in Australia

On November 3, 2006 the QUT Equity Section hosted its inaugural Human Rights lecture with guest speaker the Honorable Dr Carmen Lawrence MP.

Dr Lawrence's lecture focused on fear and politics - in particular how fear of others, fear of crime, fear of terrorism - is shaping public policy and influencing our modern political systems.

Federal Labor MP Carmen Lawrence says fear of others, crime and terrorism is shaping public policy in Australia .

She says in the current world climate, fear is often manipulated by politicians.

"It's a way sometimes of distracting attention from the real problems that we confront if they're uncomfortable for Government," she said.

"It's a way of making people turn off politics as well, so it has all sorts of effects.

"But I think most of them are dangerous because very often the fear is based on fear of some other person who's going to do you harm."

Dr Lawrence says Indigenous Australians are often discriminated against because of fear campaigns run by politicians and the media.

"We're being asked to see them in the way the media and some politicians describe Indigenous issues as they were all paedophiles and violent drunks," she said.

"When the images are repeated over and over again you find that it leads to discrimination and racism.

"You ask any Indigenous Australian whether they're treated with disrespect on a regular basis and the honest answer is yes."

Entry to the event was by gold coin donation and $265 was raised for Amnesty International Australia. Thank you to all those who donated generously.

Useful Links

Further lectures by Dr Lawrence on fear and politics are availabe at http://www.anu.edu.au/hrc/freilich/Lawrence.php