Subtle or 'casual' racism can be just as harmful as more overt forms. Stop. Think. Respect. Courtesy: Beyond Blue

ALMOST half of white Australians believe Aboriginal people are given unfair advantages by the government, and one in five people say they would move away if an indigenous Australian sat next to them.

The disturbing findings are contained in new research conducted for BeyondBlue, which will today launch a powerful new television campaign highlighting the link between subtle, insidious forms of racism, and the depression and anxiety it triggers.

Athlete turned Senator Nova Peris will help launch the campaign, which is designed to highlight the widespread racism still endured by Australia’s indigenous citizens.

In a speech today, Senator Peris will say she has been the victim of “all forms of racism — from the blatant verbal abuse through to subtle bias against me”.

“The Stop Think Respect campaign makes a stand that racism is not acceptable,” Senator Peris said. “But it also makes people think about whether they might be subconsciously engaging in subtle racism. It makes people think about the potential consequences of their actions.”

The TNS survey for BeyondBlue, of 1000 non-indigenous Australians, alarmingly found almost ten per cent of non-indigenous respondents admit they would not hire an Aboriginal jobseeker.

One in ten people said they would avoid sitting next to an indigenous Australian on public transport, while more than a third of people surveyed conceded they believe indigenous Aussies are “sometimes a bit lazy”.

Indigenous actor Greg Fryer who featured in the movie The Sapphires and appears in the commercial, said it is critical the country has an honest conversation about how widespread and despicable racism is.

“Australia has progressed since the 1970s but racism still raises its head and projects like this certainly contribute to making us a better community,” Mr Fryer said.

“It can be really overt, like abuse in the street, but at other times it can be very subtle but really undermine you,” he said.

BeyondBlue chairman Jeff Kennett said regardless of whether racism is subtle or overt, “it still ruins lives”.

“Indigenous Australians are twice as likely to die by suicide as non-indigenous Australians, and are almost three times more likely to experience psychological distress,” he said.

“Racial discrimination contributes to these tragic statistics and it’s about time things changed.”

The survey results also showed men were more inclined than women to display racist behaviour toward indigenous Australians.

More than a quarter of the men surveyed said it was hard to treat indigenous Australians the same way as everybody else, and men were twice as likely to deliberately avoid sitting next to an Aboriginal person.