Hi Jenny, I just saw your post and I wann share my experience with you. I personally wouldn't hesitate to say that the "racism" in Australia is far much lesser than many many countries in the world. I have noticed that the Aussies are particularly welcoming and easy going and doesnt care much about skin colour or racial background. This is generally the case with majority of the population. However there are still some small cases. End of the day, the number of these people are very less and it is not fair to generalise the whole country due to the very small number of people with negative behaviour.
But I have to tell you that you will always come across a small percentage of racist people no matter what corner of the world you go to. This is life...so we have to deal living with different people with different opinions and characters...
In the case of Australia, we are lucky that the amount of people with racism are far much less that you might rarely come across one..You would hardly see racism in the big metropolitan cities like Sydney and Melbourne due to the number of multicultural diversities and the number of international people from different ethnic backgrounds living here..People in these areas live together in harmony and with not much probs..
Adding to that, I have noticed that people tend to act differently when you go to maybe a remote place with not much international people. This doesn't mean that they are racist. Its just that they are not used to seeing people other than the locals..so thats normal..
Now let come to your experience. Based on what you've told, its difficult to term if the act from your centre was an act of racism. The reason behind this is, when selecting a candidate for work, the employers should consider various aspects that is best for work and the parents at the center. I will give you some of the list below so can you get an idea:
1) Some employers considers a lot before hiring someone who had recently arrived from overseas or one who has stayed in Australia only for a short time..The reason behind this is, each time when a centre hires a new employee, they have to go through training process to make sure that the employee is able to cope with the centre's workload, etc.. Last thing an employer wants is to spend all the time and money in training someone and later the person leaves..Hence its a big waste for the centre. Therefore they assess a lot before one employs someone...
2) The problem with the overseas applicants is that, its hard for the employers to do the reference check of your experience and qualification since the past experiences are from another country. Hence it make it hard for employers to check the credibility of it. However, this problem will go away once you have stayed and worked in Australia for a while because by then you would have built up a resume with experiences of working in Australia itself..
3) On the other hand, in centres where there are a lot of multicultural kids and parents, might prefer to employ someone who is multicultural and maybe multilingual as well. In your case, speaking Chinese and other languages will be a bonus in your resume..
As you can see from the above examples, there are some that works out for you and there are some that doesn't. Having an accent is not an issue as long as people can understand you. It is always hard to settle in especially in a new country since you are yet to develop a good record, history and a resume of working and living in Australia. So don't worry..it is a phase you need to go through..Its all a part of adapting and settling-in now..
So in the end I would conclude that you should not be too much worried about racism in Australia. It is a good country and racism is taken very seriously here...From my opinion, if I have to choose to stay somewhere peaceful and happy, I would choose either Aus or NZ...
Its a shame what happened to you, but don't think too much about it..Just try another one if the last one didn't work out..If you keep trying, you will eventually succeed.
Also let me also tell you, the first 1-2 years will be hard for every international people who have just migrated to Australia. The reason behind this is that you are still trying to settle in mentally, physically, emotionally and even socially. So give it some time...its just a matter of time. You will settle-in before even you know it...
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