Chinese Immigrants in Australia
There are a number of factors affecting the experiences of the various ethnic groups in the society. Australia is country where a number of socio-ethnic groups have cemented their position making it a multicultural society. Apart from the aboriginals and the natives, who live in the country, a number of people from different ethnicities living in the society of Australia form a majority of its population. There are people in the Australian society from different socio-ethnic backgrounds and cultural groups. One of the major aspects of understanding the cultural diversity of the Australian subcontinent focusses on growth and development of people belonging to various social and cultural ethnicity residing in the area. The Chinese immigrants and the people belonging to the native group of Australian aboriginals are two of the major communities in the country which are relatively marginalised and need to be understand in their relative development in the fields of work and social development. The importance of the healthcare and other facilities in catering to the needs of the Australian aboriginals help in the formation of a developed society working towards the overall welfare of the country and the society.
After 1973, a large number of Chinese settlers arrived in Australia which led to sizeable increase in the population of the Chinese ethnic groups in Australia. Apart from China, people from a number of Asian countries such as Malaysia, Vietnam and Laos also flocked the nation. The initial cause of the influx of the Chinese in the population in Australia was the Gold Rush that was experienced in Australia in 1850s. This led to significant increase in the number of settler from a number of nations coming to Australia and Chinese were one of them. One of the major issues that the Chinese faced like the Local aboriginals was the strict racism that was rampant in the society. They were strictly discriminated in the local population of New South Wales where they settled (Sydneylivingmuseums.com.au, 2018). One of the major issues that is to be highlighted in this context is that the people in the society were basically discriminated due to the stereotype that was present in the society. There were inflammatory rumours about the Chinese population bringing about diseases like smallpox and typhoid with them (Hage, 2014). This led them to become an isolated community from the usual social groups of the people who settled there for business. After the Opium wars in china, the local Chinese man choose to flee the nation and headed for Australia. The shift of the population shifting to a number of places in the country leading to a major issue in the creation of hatred towards the Chinese population by the European settlers with whom the wars were being fought.
Impact of Racism and Discrimination
The Chinese also faced the anti-immigration stance against the Chinese due to the increased hatred in the society about the position of Chinese in the society. This led to one of the major problem of the hindrances in the human rights that were to be given to the Chinese population (Griffiths, 2012). The anti-Chinese policy along with the common sentiment of hatred among the people in the society led to a major problem in the development and acceptance in the Chinese populations.
When the Europeans settled in the Australia the local native populations also faced a flak of discrimination and extreme resistance in their acceptance in the society. One of the major issues in this case was that the majority of the aboriginals in the Australian society were living in the forms of the tribes and were not welcoming of the intrusion of the western culture in the society. In this situation to exert their domination the Europeans exerted brute for leading to a situation of war between the two communities the results of which are still evident in the Australian society. It was a common sentiment among the locals that the people in the society that the foreigners were taking their homeland. This feeling was reinforced due to the fact that the majority of the people in the society were not allowed to move freely in their own country unless permitted by the intruders.
The common situation of racism that the Chinese and local natives faced at the hands of the colonizers of Australia made their situation the society relatively similar leading to major issue in their development. Due their past experiences the aboriginals and the Chinese are highly critical of the intention of the Europeans and in the modern globalized society it is causing a major issue in the outreach of the facilities that are targeted towards these communities to bring them in the mainstream in the society. The issues that have caused an issue in the acceptance of the society by the Chinese and the Native communities is discrimination that they face in the society (Ngan, & Kwok-bun, 2012). Therefore, a number of healthcare and other facilities have been planned in the management of involving the communities in the society and bringing them together to the level of social development in Australia. The natives and the Chinese have shown a relatively lower utilization of the healthcare in the Australian infrastructure making them a victim in the Australian society. To eradicate these issues the Australian government have put up plans and policies for the proper utilization of the healthcare sector opportunities in the society. In case of the Chinese, they being a close community, the language barrier plays a major role in being the hindrance for the spread of the healthcare facilities in the country. The majority of the Chinese coming the country are still not fluent in English and choose to communicate in Mandarin or Cantonese which causes an major communication barrier among the Chinese and the healthcare service providers.
Healthcare Issues for Chinese Immigrants
The Torres Strait Islanders and the local natives have also been a community which have faced the discrimination depending on the racial stereotyping and pose a major threat to the development in the society. In most cases due to a number of historical factors and atrocities that were committed against them the people choose to avoid taking the help of the medical practitioner Short, 2016). In the modern scenario too the racial stereotyping in the society which is major hindrance in the overall development of the native and their overall heath as they avoid coming to the people for aid due the previous atrocities committed to them in the name of healthcare.
One of the major common habit among the natives and the Chinese population in Australia is that of them shifting for self-medication or taking the help of tribal medicine in a number of cases affecting their health. The Chinese and the Natives have lowest life expectancy among the different ethnic groups that reside in Australia. This is in stark contrast to the majority of the population which have a relatively high life expectancy in their own country (Chan & Quine, 1997). The overall concept of the Chinese ideology of relating the illness to food habits and relating the habits as hot and cold in the types of food and the illness seen as the illness seen as the imbalances in body elements. This makes them to opt for the Chinese traditional medication like acupuncture and acupressure to treat their issues despite the various facilities that are put in place by the government for their health improvement. The tendency of the Chinese to prefer the doctors of their same gender to examine them is another major hindrance in the outreach of the healthcare to the Chinese.
There has been a relative change in the healthcare facilities and as the Chinese gradually learn to speak the common language English, the development pattern has improved within the community, however, it is still not commendable. The lack of the healthcare access is also due to the job opportunities among the Chinese and the natives of Australia. The Chinese have an unemployment rate of 11.9% and the natives show and unemployment rate of 12.8- 14% which much higher than the national average of 5.2%. The lack of employment poses a major problem in the access of healthcare especially for the Chinese population. This is a major issue in the overall social development as lack in employment opportunity hinders the overall development and growth of the individuals in the society. The uplifting of the living standard of a person is extremely important for proper access of healthcare in the society.
Australian Aboriginals
Australia has put forward a number of policies for overall development of racially minor groups but to eradicate the issue of the communication and outreach that is faced among the communities need to focus on the overall planning of code of ethics in interacting with the communities. To mitigate this issue the Australian policy makers are focussing on the differential policies of code of ethics among the different ethnic groups to access the issue properly. The code of ethics that is used for the alleviation of the Chinese social mobility issues and one of the natives are quite different in this context (Couchman & Bagnall, 2015).
In case of the Chinese the healthcare professionals are told to deal with the people according to their own methods of communication and healthcare ethics that are followed. One of the most important issues that is to be mitigates is of communication and for this the policy makers are told to assign mediators and translators based on the different dialects. The doctors are told to understand the culture and the cultural norms and not discuss topics like sex which are considered taboo in the Chinese society. The patient’s own cultural consideration of illness and their beliefs have to be valued and heard getting a common ground of the treatment of the diseases. The language of the communication should be simple and uses of idiomatic language should be avoided as the people may not know the language and take it as insult upon themselves (Health.qld.gov.au, m2018). The lack of female healthcare in community is one of the Chinese issues that is because of the ethnic preferences and the number of female practitioners have to be increases to mitigate this issue. These practices however will help in the improvement of the Chinese people getting increased access to healthcare and their overall improvement of health conditions in the society.
Among the Natives one of the major issues was the lack of the respect of their culture and extreme racial discrimination and stereotyping against them leading to major issue in their choices in acceptance of western healthcare (Paradies, 2016). The guidelines that have been made by NHMRC to address the health issues of the people in the natives groups by focussing on giving them respect equal rights and respect for their uniqueness in the society. The building of the relationship with the natives plays an important role in the forging of the relationships with the different individuals in the society. The availability of free healthcare along with the facility of free medication and health homes have been provided to the natives which have greatly improves the condition (Daa.asn.au, 2018). The focus has to shift on the primary healthcare and improvement in lifestyle of the natives to align them in the society and work on their overall development. The facilities have to be scrutinised because there are still cases of discrimination against the natives because of the various stereotypes present about them. One such stereotype is substance abuse because of which healthcare professionals often refrain from giving painkillers.
Therefore, it is seen that the history and the discrimination had a major role to play in the lack of acceptance of healthcare by the Chinese and the natives in Australia. The racial issues and various communication problems due to cultural differences are being overcome by the Australian policy makers by including them in the mainstream society. There has been great development in the healthcare development of individuals in the society due to the ways in which the cultural factors have been included in the policy making, helping in overcoming the lingual barrier. These facilities if in lace will greatly help the development of the society and the inclusion of the natives and Chinese Australians in mainstream population.
References
Chan, Y. F., & Quine, S. (1997). Utilisation of Australian health care services by ethnic Chinese. Australian Health Review, 20(1), 64-77.
Couchman, S., & Bagnall, K. (Eds.). (2015). Chinese Australians: Politics, Engagement and Resistance. Brill.
Daa.asn.au. (2018). Values and Ethics: Guidelines for Ethical Conduct in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research. Retrieved from https://daa.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Reading-8_Values-and-Ethics_NHMRC.pdf
Griffiths, P. (2012). The strategic fears of the ruling class: the construction of Queensland’s Chinese Immigrants Regulation Act of 1877. Australian Journal of Politics & History, 58(1), 1-19.
Hage, G. (2014). Continuity and change in Australian racism. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 35(3), 232-237.
Health.qld.gov.au. (2018). Chinese: A Guide for Helath Professionals. Retrieved from https://www.health.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/154480/chinese.pdf
Ngan, L. L. S., & Kwok-bun, C. (2012). The Chinese face in Australia: Multi-generational ethnicity among Australian-born Chinese. Springer Science & Business Media.
Paradies, Y. (2016). Colonisation, racism and indigenous health. Journal of population research, 33(1), 83-96.
Short, D. (2016). Reconciliation and colonial power: Indigenous rights in Australia. Routledge.
Sydneylivingmuseums.com.au. (2018). Chinese on the goldfields. Retrieved from https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/stories/chinese-goldfields
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