THE NAKED CITY: WHITE AUSTRALIA REVISITED – City Hub Sydney

Chinese tourist in Sydney. Image: sbs.com.au

Australians like to think of themselves as friendly and welcoming when it comes to tourists, visitors and immigrants from overseas. There have certainly been times in our history when the opposite was the case such as the shameful ‘White Australia’ policy, in place from 1901 to as late as 1958. And back in the 1850s thousands of Chinese arrived here as part of the gold rush, only to be met with hostility, blatant discrimination and often violence.

Some 150 years later a new kind of discrimination is being dished out to potential Chinese visitors to the country, if recent examples are true. The ABC recently reported on the refusal of the Government to grant tourist visas to a large number of Chinese applicants, based purely on what seems like a very subjective judgement.

They noted the case of one Chinese businessman William Xie, well established in China, who was knocked back for a tourist visa and felt totally humiliated. There seems to be a prevailing paranoia amongst those that issue the visas, that tourists such as Mr Xie are looking for backdoor  entry to Australia, overstaying their visa and setting up shop here as an illegal. Why anybody would abandon family, friends and a well paid job in China and move to Australia where real estate rentals and the cost of living is sky high is hard to fathom.

Yet according to Melbourne based lawyer and immigration agent Sam Dong, the refusal rate could be as high as 30 to 50 per cent. It all seems very strange when the trade minister Don Farrell has recently been in Beijing, dunking Tim Tams in green tea with his  counterpart Wang Wentao, in an attempt to have Chinese bans on some of our exports lifted. In other words we want the Chinese to buy our wine and beef but we will be very choosy when it comes to letting them in the country.

Those tourist visa knockbacks don’t only apply to the Chinese – I personally know of Thai and Indonesian friends who have been denied entry  on the ruling of some bureaucrat at a local Australian consulate or other issuing body. When it comes to Indonesia it seems there is virtually no reciprocity given the thousands of Australian tourists who go for the iconic el cheapo vacation in Bali.

Given the boozy and hoonish behaviour of many of the Australian tourists who visit Bali via easy and relaxed visa requirements, the Balinese themselves are particularly friendly, tolerant and welcoming. That’s not always the case when Asian tourists, in particular Chinese, visit this country.

Take one example of the popular tourist trail for many Asian tourists in NSW. The Blue Mountains are an easy day trip from Sydney with popular attractions like Echo Point and Scenic World. Prior to Covid, busloads of Chinese tourists, as well as a large number arriving by train, would regularly descend on Katoomba and Leura. Whilst the injection of money they poured into the local economy was most welcome, there was also resentment on the part of some mountain residents.

There were regular complaints about tourist buses taking up too much parking space and Chinese tourists buying up baby formula and Tim Tams in the local supermarkets. Minor complaints you might say but there was a general feeling of unfriendliness to the aliens invading their hallowed patch. Post Covid, and Chinese and Asian tourists are slowly returning to the mountains.

You would think the local Council and tourist authorities would put out the welcome mat – if only as a means of increasing their patronage. Day trippers who travel to Katoomba in the grubby and outdated intercity trains are met with virtually no signage on arrival directing them to Echo Point and other attractions. They are left to navigate by their phones or attempt to get some advice from a less than helpful local.

It’s little wonder more and more Chinese tourists are heading to New Zealand where there seems a far more concerted effort to make them welcome. Maybe our Kiwi cousins are just a lot more friendly and a lot less paranoid about tourists overstaying their visa. What a strange relationship we have with almost 20 percent of the world’s population!