A room for rent advertisement which is exclusively available to Indian or Nepalese immigrants has sparked outrage in Australia.
The discriminatory Gumtree ad for a $150/week room in southwest Sydney stating “only for Nepalese or Indian individuals” was shared on X on Sunday by Migration Watch Australia founder Jordan Knight.
“Your government brought in people who will actively discriminate against you,” Mr Knight wrote. His post attracted hundreds of comments, with many pointing out that it was a common occurrence on the site.
The listing in question appears to have been taken down, but another near-identical one in the same suburb by the same seller is still available, as are many others seen by Noticer News that exclude Australians and non-south Asian ethnicities.
Your government brought in people who will actively discriminate against you. pic.twitter.com/uRZ1kzz8Zh
— Jordan H Knight (@jhk_______) October 6, 2024
Some are as general as “Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani and female only”, while others say “available for Gujarati and south Indian only”, “prefer Indian vegetarian only”, “only Indian boys please”, and “only Haryanvi or Punjabi people”.
“If the shoe was on the other foot and you said Whites only you would have A Current Affair chasing you down the street,” read one popular comment on Mr Knight’s post.
“Yes, this is intentional. Indians can do it but Aussies can’t because it’s racism,” said another.
“That’s a violation of the Racial Discrimination Act. How are they getting away it?” asked a third, to which another responded: “The Racial Discrimination Act is only there to limit racial discrimination by White Australians. It’s illegal for us to have a preference to advance our own race and culture.”
“Because they are not White. None of these Indian landlords will rent to a lower caste as well. Welcome to the new Canada!” said a second commenter.
“This is what ‘diversity’ looks like,” said another.
Several others recounted their experiences living in western Sydney, where many suburbs are now minority Australian.
“In 2018 I had a lot of Indian friends. I mentioned I should get an apartment in their complex so that I could live closer (I lived about an hour away.) They all laughed like I was stupid and explained how I can’t get an apartment there because I’m White,” said one.
“I was 17 working front of house at Rashays as the only person that wasn’t Nepalese. I remember this guy came in once asking if his CV could be given to the manager. He said to make sure they knew he was Nepalese. This is just how they are,” said another.
Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has allowed 1.15 million immigrants into Australia since taking power, with Indians making up 18% of the intake in the last financial year.
There were 92,940 Indian arrivals, followed by China on 12% with 64,320, and the Philippines on 8% and 40,890. Next were Nepal, Colombia, the UK, Vietnam, Pakistan, New Zealand, and Thailand.
Noticer News contacted Gumtree and Mr Knight for comment.
Header images: Gumtree
