KEY POINTS:
"Salaam alaykum," greets Ross May, a leading figure in the Australia First Party, a minor neo-Nazi outfit which has sparked racial debate. A skinhead, he has been a leading figure in the politics of race for three decades. In response to a blank stare, he asks, "Aren't you Arabic?"
When I tell him otherwise, he replies, "Oh well, same thing." The party's leader, Jim Saleam, quickly retracts, but the party's position has subtly been made clear; all ethnic faces are not welcome at Cronulla, especially on the anniversary earlier this month of the day that many call "white pride day".
Both men have chequered pasts. Saleam was jailed for three-and-a-half years for the attempted shooting of an African-American man, while May has admitted to acts of violence on social and political leaders. Their explicit, white supremacist ideology has angered opposing groups.
"Jim Saleam is deluded," says Mat Henderson-Hau of anti-racism group Fight Dem Back. "He literally expected tens of thousands of people to be here today, and that by 8pm they would have overthrown the state government in Macquarie Street. They really expected a similar turnout to last year's riots, and Jim was going to seize the megaphone and rile up the masses."
It did not happen. On the train south, there are no brash, vindictive signs of tension. The carriage only contains a few teenagers, clutching McDonalds in one hand and surfboards in the other. On the beach, there are children on bikes while their parents have coffee.
A man dressed as Santa Claus leads the kids outside the surf club in a giggly rendition of Merry Christmas. For a moment, the beach almost seems idyllic, but then the police helicopter swoops low overhead. Across the road, officers wait, in dune buggies, on horseback and in numerous ground vehicles.
"I see today as white pride day in Australia," says May. "I would like to see white people getting together. I would like to see the Department of Immigration closed down, and for Australia to become a closed society. What's a racist? If a racist is someone who stands up for his own racial kind, then I am one. I don't care who says it; it's a badge I proudly wear. I don't feel guilty."
Local residents, who have had enough of the prying media eye, mouth off at the news cameras, and blame the journalists present for what they see as a media beat-up. What many fail to realise is that by denouncing media attention so explicitly, they are actually perpetuating it.
Local resident Jim Peace, a New Zealander out for a Sunday walk, says that if the press wasn't regularly writing about Cronulla, it would not even be known the riots happened. "Every time you pick up the paper, you see something about it. It's no different to what happens in other suburbs. It's not racial tension; it is youth with nothing better to do than look for trouble," he said.
Carefree
Australia First's local candidate, John Moffat, is on the beach to campaign and speak to media. Moffat speaks of Cronulla in terms of sun, surf and sand; its carefree atmosphere, and how it is "always like a holiday" on the beach.
Moffat pauses when asked what his main policies are. "We would ..."
He glances at his party's pamphlets, which condemn multiculturalism, immigration and 'Asianisation'. "Look, I'll tell you what. Our main policy is to keep Cronulla as it is. A lot of people ask me, 'Well, that just means a lot of white people, doesn't it?' I say, keep Cronulla as it is. What is wrong with that?"
Moffat says that while he didn't foresee trouble, he would have liked to see "a few more people" on the beach. When asked if he was simply inviting all good law-abiding Australians to have a pleasant day at the beach, he replies, "On this day, I would rather see my people turn up".
Word has got around the Lebanese community that it is best to stay away from Cronulla, while up the road at Bundeena Beach, a larger group of Lebanese enjoy the summer weather. According to beachgoer Steve Martin, the absence of Lebanese at Cronulla contributed to its stability.
"It's better to have all the Lebs out of here. There are some good ones and some bad ones. We don't want the bad ones. They're scared to come down here now and it's better this way. But if people are just here to have a good time and behave themselves then that's fine."
Confrontation
The day's only confrontation, between Jim Saleam and anti-racism campaigner Mat Henderson-Hau, occurred in front of a few journalists above South Cronulla Beach. While the confrontation was spontaneous, Saleam had hatchet job pamphlets on Henderson-Hau at the ready. Henderson-Hau has been praised by community leaders for his work in fighting racism, and his group, Fight Dem Back, has had a presence in New Zealand for the last two years.
He said they were concerned with claimed links between former National Front leader Kyle Chapman and right-wing activist Kerry Bolton. "Their scene in New Zealand was more united than it was in Australia, and there were more funds for the National Front."
He said he and Wellington activist Asher Goldman "decided to get a group of activists in Australia and New Zealand to work together, to stop the National Front expanding. We take credit for causing Kyle Chapman's resignation."
Many locals believe in the intent of last year's riots, and they're not afraid to say it. But in a charged political climate, they are afraid to say that the riots were anything other than shameful.
"It's about our rights, our liberties, our identity and culture," says Matt Smith. "I'm not proud of what I saw that day, but I can see where it came from. For two decades, we have been copping abuse, manipulation and attacks [from Lebanese]. The blood boils, and eventually enough is enough. No Australian would support what happened that day, but it had to."
On white pride website Stormfront, all discussion and speculation on the forum boards about Cronulla died down after the anniversary. One member, RideTheLightning, wrote: "Don't feel down because things didn't turn out the way we would have hoped...Three years ago I was just your ordinary kid, until me and my mate got ganged up on at school that things started to change…Now me and all of my mates are White Nationalists…The police don't understand what us youth have gone through…If anything, there is a huge support base growing right now."
On Stormfront's forum last week, members responded to the recent news that the Asian community is making up a larger part of New Zealand's population than ever before. "We don't control immigration to New Zealand; our super-liberal, queer government does," said a member by the name of KiwiAryan88. "New Zealand is probably the most open, multicultural country in the world and our government gleefully rolls out the welcome mat to third world immigrants."
Racial tension was stirred up again in Sydney this month, when it was reported that a teacher at Blakehurst High School called a Lebanese student a terrorist, causing an uproar and sparking calls for the teacher's resignation.
Ali Osman, the teen who sparked the Cronulla riots by assaulting a lifeguard, lost an appeal against his conviction. More bad news came the next day when the town of Tamworth declined a Department of Immigration offer to resettle five Sudanese refugee families, fearing it could lead to racially-motivated riots in the area.
"If people don't like our views then don't vote for us," says Jim Saleam. "I'm happy that the Australian state is deeply embarrassed. It's marvellous that those who want Australia to become part of a trade zone in Asia feel uncomfortable. The more damage we do, the better."
It is clear that Australia First's radical ideas have influenced media portrayal of an issue which is thought to be driven by a large, seething mass of disillusioned Australians.
Further, in Sydney, there is strong feeling that the Lebanese community is not entirely blameless; a view that contrasts the way that Australia's race debate has generally been portrayed overseas.
So, in many ways, it is difficult to gauge just how serious Sydney's racial tensions are, and whether they do pose further threat to the political and social stability of the area. If Cronulla Beach last week was anything to go by, the tension may have abated, but the sentiment lies slumbering, for now.
