An ABC reporter has shared a clip of the ‘casual racism’ he receives while trying to do his job.
Nabil Al-Nashar was reporting on an alleged hit-and-run in Sydney’s south-west on Wednesday morning when a passerby made an allegedly racist comment just as he was about to record a segment.
The clip began with Mr Al-Nashar allowing the man to walk past his shot.
‘Because of increased immigration – thanks very much,’ the man said to the camera as he walked past.
Mr Al-Nashar shook his head in disbelief.
‘Great. Immigrants are always the problem, even when it’s a hit-and-run – you’ve heard it hear first,’ he said to the camera in sarcasm.
The ABC journalist shared a clip of the encounter , describing it as ‘just a small sample of the casual racism I sometimes cop as an Arab-Australian journalist’.
‘Notice how polite I was to him before he declared immigrants are the root of all problems. I was covering a hit and run by the way… but I guess the culprit is always ‘immigrants’,’ Mr Al-Nashar wrote.
Dozens of people on X were appalled by Mr Al-Nashar’s experience.
‘So sorry you had to endure this horrible racism,’ wrote one.
‘This is not the Australia I know or want. I love multiculturalism and it adds to Australia’s heritage.’
Nabil Al-Nashar was reporting on an alleged hit-and-run in Sydney’s south-west on Wednesday morning when a passerby made an allegedly racist comment just as he was about to record a segment (pictured)
It is not the first time Mr Al-Nashar, who is an Australian citizen after emigrating from Qatar with his Egyptian family, has been on the receiving end of a racially-charged slur.
In December 2022, he was reporting outside court in Parramatta when he and his cameraman were asked by a police officer to step onto the sidewalk.
After the officer, who was allegedly giggling at the time, looked Mr Al-Nashar up and down, he asked if he worked for the Middle-Eastern broadcaster Al Jazeera and not the ABC.
Mr Al-Nashar reported the incident to NSW Police, and received a response two months later notifying him they had determined ‘misconduct had occurred’.
Mr Al-Nashar’s only requested an apology from the officer and for him not to be fired.
It is not the first time Mr Al-Nashar, who is an Australian citizen after emigrating from Qatar with his Egyptian family, has been on the receiving end of a racially-charged slur. In December 2022 he was asked by a police officer if he worked for Al Jazeera, not the ABC
‘When you first file the complaint, they ask you what outcome would you like to happen?’ Mr Al-Nashar wrote on twitter in May last year.
‘I said, I’d like an apology. That’s all. I don’t want the officer to get fired. I didn’t (still don’t) want anything bad to happen to him.
‘Just basic polite behaviour our mothers taught us.
‘When you’re wrong, you apologise & the police acknowledged he was wrong.’
However, Mr Al-Nashar never received an apology only a notification of the officer’s misconduct and ‘proportionate action has been taken’.
The statement to Mr Al-Nashar also stated that NSW Police ‘consider this matter finished’.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk