A violent attack on a couple in Sydney has sparked outrage in the Chinese community with almost 30,000 people signing a petition urging the New South Wales government to “urgently reform youth criminal justice”.
The man, 42, and woman, 40, both from China, were allegedly assaulted in Eastgardens in Sydney on 22 May by seven children. The woman was left with extensive bruising across her body, fractured fingers and impaired vision.
The group – aged between 12 and 16 – were arrested in the days after the alleged attack and police have charged six with assault.
On Friday morning, just over 29,000 people had signed a petition calling for a lowering of the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 10 for “serious violent crimes” and to “deny bail to repeat violent youth offenders”. The age of responsibility is already 10 in NSW.
Ami, who asked for her name to be changed, has signed the petition. She told Guardian Australia she was attacked in May while cycling through Redfern but says she does not “believe sending kids to adult jail is the right solution”.
Erin Chew, co-founder of the Asian Australian Alliance, which monitors anti-Chinese incidents, said personal safety is important to the community and it was affecting its response to this crime.
“I think, as Asians, we are taught as young kids to have more hypervigilance,” Chew said.
“When we go to countries like Australia, US or Canada … we are a visible minority. So we are actually a lot … more targets of opportunity in that sense.”
Chew said the alleged Eastgardens attack “may not necessarily be direct racism”.
“A lot of us who are Chinese or Asians know that because of racial stereotypes … you are perceived as being weak, meek and … somebody that doesn’t fight back.”
Speaking in NSW parliament on Wednesday in response to the recent attacks, Chinese Australian MP Jason Yat-Sen Li said “racism doesn’t need to be proven in court to be real in people’s lives” and argued for tackling the root causes of youth crime: “poverty, disengagement and trauma to young people and their families”.
The Chinese-speaking community in Australia has taken to social media to post about their experiences and offer advice on how to fight back.
Some have posted images of batons, rolling pins and even electric hair clippers as weapons to use in self-defence.
NSW police has warned people not take the law into their own hands.
In a statement, police said they “do not support vigilante behaviour as it is a risk to all involved and often leads to unintended consequences”.
Others are taking a different approach, such as Keira Yin, 32, who set up a mutual defence group chat for Chatswood residents, in the north of Sydney, to “stand up together” and to “avoid sleazy men”.
“The idea is that if something happens, people nearby can respond quickly and help each other.”
Meanwhile, Neo Xia, 25, was allegedly attacked in Box Hill in Melbourne’s east in April. He said a teenager holding a machete allegedly attacked him, causing injuries to his hands and arm. Police confirmed a 14-year-old boy was arrested and charged over this incident for recklessly causing injury and unlawful assault, and bailed to appear in court at a later date.
“I don’t really feel scared when it happened, more like angry,” Xia said. “I still feel a bit unsafe when I walk to the station … also, I feel particularly nervous when Australian teenagers approach me.”
Community advocacy groups say racism is rising after a downturn after the heights of the pandemic.
The Asian Australian Alliance says Covid-based abuse has morphed into being “more about people being told go back to China, or people being accused of being spies”.
In a statement responding to the Eastgardens attack, Simon Chan, the Chinese Australian Forum president and a member of the Australian Multicultural Council, said rhetoric around Chinese spies by politicians degraded social cohesion.
“Our political leaders should lead by example in maintaining … Australia as the best multicultural country in the world.”
The six children charged in the alleged Eastgardens attack have been released on conditional bail and are scheduled to appear in children’s court in June.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, faced internal dissent before extending controversial youth bail laws in late March, with one MP telling caucus the reforms had put the government on a “slippery slope”.
On Tuesday, the chief justice of NSW put out a rare statement in the wake of criticism over decisions to grant bail rather than place alleged offenders in prison.
He said the Bail Act aimed to strike a balance of dealing “with persons who have been charged with offences but who have not yet been found guilty of any crime” while also protecting the community.
The NSW government recently announced it was reviewing a centuries-old legal presumption that children aged 10 to 14 didn’t understand the difference between right and wrong.
The criminal age of responsibility is 10, but doli incapax – Latin for “incapable of evil” – can apply up to 14. The presumption can be rebutted if police can prove a child understood what they did was seriously wrong as opposed to naughty.
The review was criticised by youth advocates with Camilla Pandolfini, the CEO of Redfern Legal Centre, arguing the “state should focus on crime prevention and boost funding of Aboriginal community organisations and local services in rural and regional communities”.
- Additional reporting by Jordyn Beazley
