"Anyone who says racism is dying is well and truly mistaken," he tweeted. He also mentioned that the bus driver said it was "your fault for not moving". Speaking later on ABC radio, Fernandez said: ''I thought I could move and then I had a flashback to a very famous case of a woman on a bus in the US, a black woman who was told to give up her seat. ''And I thought no, I'm having my own Rosa Parks moment, I'm not moving from this seat because it has turned into a racial issue. ''I said I'm not going anywhere, I've just been called a black c-word, I am not going anywhere, I've not done anything wrong, I have a right to sit here, I'm going to stay here.''

Fernandez said he felt he had to ''hold his nerve'' for the sake of his daughter. ''All I could think at the time was just hold your nerve, my little girl is with me, she needs to see a strong father right now,'' he said. He said he restrained himself from punching the woman in the face because he knew that ''would not be the smart, nor the right thing to do''. Worst thing is- i had my 2yo daughter with me. She had her primary school aged kids with her. All heard every word of her racist rant In a statement, State Transit said it had been in contact with the ABC to find out more about the incident and what bus he was on.

"Once we have those details we can assist him and the police, if necessary, with any investigation," the statement said. "We obviously expect all passengers to behave in a respectful manner to each other. "We also expect our drivers to be courteous and respectful to passengers. This is conveyed in bus driver training. If an incident of anti-social behaviour such as this occurs, the bus driver may try to intervene and ask the passenger to leave the bus. "If required, the driver can contact a supervisor via radio and organise for police to meet the bus." This week marks 100 years since the birth of Rosa Parks, who became one of the enduring figures of the Civil Rights movement in the US when, in 1955, she refused to cede her seat in the "coloured section" of a bus to a white man after the whites-only section had filled up. Her defiance and the ensuing black boycott of the city bus system helped Martin Luther King Jr. rise to national prominence. Parks died in 2005.

Late last year, a French woman was targeted in a racist attack on a Melbourne bus in which she was called a c---, a dog and threatened with having her breasts cut off after she sang a song in her native tongue. Another passenger captured footage of that incident, which showed passengers verbally abusing French tourist Fanny Desaintjores, 22, and her friends on board a bus in the city's southern suburbs. Ms Desaintjores said she and about nine friends were on the bus, having spent the day at the beach for a barbecue, and were singing "French popular joyful songs, not coarse at all". Footage of the racist taunts was viewed more than 1 million times on YouTube and been reported around the world. Police have spoken to three people over that attack, and investigations are continuing.

- with Stephanie Gardiner and AAP