COVID-19 and its impacts on Vietnamese in Australia
The novel coronavirus has had a dramatic impact on social cohesion in Australia and racism that has been directed at Asians has increased as a result of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Regarding the problems facing international students stranded in Australia during the pandemic, financial burden is one of their main concerns. Many students need to study and work part-time at the same time to support their living costs to augment the limited means of their parents’ financial support. During this current pandemic where most restaurants/coffee shops are closed, many of them have lost their part-time jobs.
(International students, who pay an average of more than $30,000 a year to study in Australia have not been eligible for government benefits during the pandemic, prompting queues at restaurants and food banks for free meals. There were more than 500,000 international students in Australia at the start of the pandemic. Trade Minister, Simon Birmingham, SydneyMorning Herald.)
Continuing restricted number of flights prevent several students from returning home. Universities and other charity organisations have provided some short-term support e.g. loans, food packages, delay of tuition fees, grants. Given that the current pandemic seems to continue to last for at least several months more, financial conditions will be a big problem for international students. The problems facing students would have a detrimental effect on their mental health exacerbated by a lack of emotional support from family (in Vietnam) and peer groups (in Australia) who are experiencing similar problems.
Racial Discrimination
- Research conducted by the Challenging Racism Project in 2015 and 2016 indicated that 84% of Asian-born Australians experience racism in settings such as the workplace, education, housing, healthcare, shops and restaurants.
- A similar proportion (85%) of Australians not born in Asia – but whose parents were born in an Asian country – experienced racism in these settings, compared with just 47% per cent of other Australians.
Racism experienced by the Vietnamese people is less pervasive and frequent than that reported by Indigenous Australians, however, the tradition of racism toward non‐Anglo immigrants continues Australia-wide.
• The language barrier, particularly among the elderly may lead to instances of racism.
The presence of gender inequality and lack of social protection e.g. in households, educational environments and businesses
Environmental, economic, social and political factors influence the ebb and flow of movement of Vietnamese in Australia
- Job opportunities, stable government, health system, education and security encourage Vietnamese to come to Australia.
- The value of the Australian dollar in comparison to the Vietnamese Dong.
- Political upheaval, famine, poverty, natural disasters, unemployment and corrupt government may force people to leave their country of origin.
The existence of fraudulent agents who arranged to smuggle innocent people illegally with unrealistic and false promises. Most Vietnamese who are cheated are poor people from rural areas back in Vietnam and are mostly farmers whose jobs are very physically demanding and very low paid. Jobs sought in Australia are mainly factory or farm work in rural areas.
Positives
• All Australians are encouraged to adopt a culture of respect and inclusiveness
• There is also a need to upgrade the skills of the workforce to create productive jobs at a large scale.
• Vietnamese to be acknowledged for their performance on general education. Vietnam received remarkably high scores in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2012 and 2015, where the performance of Vietnamese students exceeds that of many OECD countries.
• Notable Vietnamese refugees to have achieved excellence in medicine, science and politics to be acknowledged and publicised as exemplars to the Vietnamese community and Australia-wide.
References:
Determinants of anglo-Australian stereotypes of the Vietnamese in Australia by David Mellor. David Mellor is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Deakin University in Australia.
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