AUSTRALIA has failed in its obligation and responsibility to treat all people with respect, former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser said when he delivered the inaugural Western Australian Vice Chancellors’ Harmony Day Oration at Murdoch University on March 21.

In a wide-ranging speech, Mr Fraser spoke about the importance of multiculturalism for a healthy democracy and of the need to build on our cultural diversity to fight racism at all levels. He said that without racial harmony and tolerance Australia had no real future.

Profound and subtle changes had been wrought in Australian society by the wave of 3.5 million migrants who landed between 1947 and 1980 and this had led to a fundamental change in the way Australians saw themselves, he said.

Speaking about the importance of Aboriginal reconciliation, Mr Fraser said: “No society can retain the commitment and involvement of groups that are denied human rights - any society that does will pay a high price for that division.”

Mandatory sentencing was “a classic case where governments should lead and persuade their masters in the electorate that what they are doing is correct.” The current government had failed to do this.

On the issue of migrant detention, Mr Fraser said Australia had failed in its obligation and responsibility to treat all people with respect and self-esteem.

“Many countries treat these categories of refugees more humanely than we have in Australia,” he said.

“Our behaviour is a blot on our reputation and damages Australia’s name as a compassionate and humane country. We are in breach of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Conventions, the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights and the Convention of Rights of the Child.”

The Oration was a joint function between Murdoch University and the Office of Citizenship and Multicultural Interests. It will rotate through Perth’s universities annually on Harmony Day.