New definition could entrench class system - Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney Morning Herald

Stepan Kerkyasharian ... has joined a chorus of concerns about the federal bill. Photo: Sylvia Liber

THE planned extension of anti-discrimination laws to cover ''social origin'' could give legal weight to a class system and threaten Australia's egalitarian spirit, the chairman of the NSW Community Relations Commission warns.

Stepan Kerkyasharian has joined a chorus of concerns about the federal bill and its potential to curb freedom of speech by making it unlawful to ''offend'' or ''insult'' - not only on racial grounds but in any area of potential discrimination such as sex, age and disability.

But Dr Kerkyasharian went further on Wednesday while hosting a debate: ''Is Sydney more racist than Melbourne?'' He revealed he had raised his fears with the federal Attorney-General about the inclusion of social origin among grounds for discrimination in workplaces.

''Is it a backdoor way of introducing and codifying social standing, or a class system, or a social strata?'' Dr Kerkyasharian said.

He worried it had no clear definition; nor did another of the grounds for work-place discrimination, political opinion. ''We need to ensure any legislation [does not harm] our egalitarian society and our very harmonious multicultural society.''

Racial harmony, or the lack of it, was the subject of the debate. Dr Kerkyasharian apologised to anyone offended by the implied city ranking of racism in the title. But he said: ''I think it is sometimes good to be provocative.'' The short answer was, yes, Sydney was more racist than Melbourne, based on the Scanlon Foundation's 2012 report, Mapping Social Cohesion. The long answer was more nuanced.

Presenting his research, Professor Andrew Markus, from Monash University, noted that negative feelings about Muslims ran at 28.5 per cent in Sydney against 15.2 per cent in Melbourne. Very negative feelings about immigrants from Lebanon ran at 12.1 per cent in Sydney and 5 per cent in Melbourne.

Possible reasons: Sydney's immigrants were highly concentrated in the western suburbs while Melbourne's were spread throughout the city. This may have led to xenophobia and flight from areas such as Bankstown and Fairfield by older people whose families had been in Australia for three or more generations. The cost of doing nothing to address these tensions would be ''huge'', Professor Markus said.

Professor Ien Ang, from the University of Western Sydney, took a ''glass half full'' view of Sydney's cohesion. She found the debate's headline unhelpful,.

So did Professor Jock Collins, from the University of Technology Sydney, who said the cohesion glass was ''80 per cent full''.

His research with young Sydney people from immigrant families revealed their aspirations. Many identified not as Australians but rather as ''global citizens'', he said.