Matteo Vergani, a Senior Research Fellow at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation in Melbourne's Deakin University, is involved in a research project that is collecting data about hate crimes in Victoria.
Highlights
- A recent study shows that people of Indian descent face more discrimination than the average population.
- Sikh community has 'double the risk of victimisation'.
- SBS Punjabi listeners and readers can also participate in this research study.
Quoting a soon-to-be-published research conducted by the Victorian government, Mr Vergani told SBS Punjabi that people of Indian origin are at a greater risk of facing discrimination in Victoria.
“We know from recent research that people who self-identify as being of Indian background, are victims of general discrimination and prejudice more than the average population.”
“Looking at recent data, 26 to 27 per cent of the average population reported to have faced discrimination in the last 12 months, whilst among people of Indian descent, the number is much higher – about 36 per cent,” he revealed.
He says this was one of the very few studies of its kind in Victoria, and indeed in Australia, since not much data is gathered about incidents of hate crime, discrimination and prejudice.
This inspired the current research he is involved in, which is funded by Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Society (CRIS ). It specifically seeks to study the experience of the Sikh community in Victoria and reasons why they may not report hate crimes to the Human Rights Commission or even the Police.
“We decided to go deeper into certain communities that we think are particularly at risk of facing victimisation.
"We chose the Sikh community since it goes beyond race and ethnicity, which can be shared (as an experience) by other South Asian groups – because of their religious garments they can be mistakenly associated with Islam. So they can also be the victims of Islamophobia. So with double the risk of victimisation, we selected the Sikh community to do a more in-depth analysis of the reasons why they do not report incidents of hate.”
Mr Vergani says that if interested, SBS Punjabi listeners can participate in this study as well.
“We are still looking for people to get involved in our study. The survey will be open for another one week to ten days and people can still participate by getting in touch with me.**”
Apart from the Sikh community, this research is also documenting the experiences of the Chinese, African Jewish, Muslim and LGBTIQ+ communities.
“We aim to publish and launch this report by the first week of July, so really, in a few weeks time, and it will published on the website which is supported by the Victorian government.”
While it is early days still, the initial responses to the current research point to a common thread.
“Many people internalise the sense of hopelessness and normalise – they think that incidents of hatred and discrimination are normal. So a lot needs to be done by way of education and to improve rates of reporting of such hate crimes.”
Mr Vergani hopes that if this pilot project is successful, they can extend the scope of the research nationally and improve data collection about discrimination and victimisation.
** If you wish to participate in this study, please email punjabi.program @sbs.com.au and we will pass on your details to Matteo Vergani.
To hear the full interview click on the audio player above.
People in Australia must stay at least 1.5 metres away from others.
Testing for coronavirus is now widely available across Australia. If you are experiencing cold or flu symptoms, arrange a test by calling your doctor or contact the Coronavirus Health Information Hotline on 1800 020 080.
The federal government's coronavirus tracing app COVIDSafe is available for download from your phone's app store.
The federal government's coronavirus tracing app COVIDSafe is available for download from your phone's app store.
SBS is committed to informing Australia’s diverse communities about the latest COVID-19 developments. News and information is available in 63 languages at
More from SBS Punjabi
Sikhs contribute $8.1 billion annually to the Australian economy: report
