Treating everyone the same doesn’t necessarily add up to fairness or national unity. What makes a difference is finding the best way to overcome disadvantage.

Recent calls by Pauline Hanson and others to wind back multiculturalism and question Indigenous-specific policies have reminded me of a conversation with a Cairns Uber driver. He recognised me from the many African and multicultural festivals where we had crossed paths over the years. Then he surprised me.

“I don’t go anymore,” he said. “Not to the multicultural festivals. Not to Indigenous events either.”  He explained that Australia had become too preoccupied with treating some groups differently.

“If we’re all Australians,” he asked gently, “shouldn’t we all be treated the same?”

There was nothing hostile in his voice. He sounded thoughtful rather than angry. By then we had reached my destination, so neither of us tried to persuade the other. Yet the conversation stayed with me.

It reminded me of countless taxi journeys over more than three decades. Different cities. Different drivers. Remarkably similar conversations. Almost everyone seemed to know what Indigenous Australians should do. Very few ever asked what decades of research might have taught us instead.

Looking back, I realise I developed three ways of responding.

Sometimes I simply lacked the energy. A taxi ride is not always the place for a conversation shaped by decades of research and relationships.

Sometimes I sensed the driver’s views were already settled. Then I would smile, explain that the journey was too short for such a large question and return to my........

© Pearls and Irritations