"I felt rejected and sad because they claimed I couldn’t live in the shared house because I’m Mexican," Viry laments, as she details how the incident left a profound imprint on her.
The graphic designer from Mexico tells SBS Spanish that it all began when she came across an online ad for a room at a shared house in Canberra, which ticked all of her boxes.
She decided to reply to the ad, with a quiet confidence that her chances of securing the room would only be improved with a message of interest.
Highlights:
- A young Mexican woman living in Canberra felt she was discriminated against because of her nationality after her application to rent a room in a shared house was rejected.
- An investigation by Choice claims that there is widespread discrimination in the Australian rental market, for a broad range of reasons.
- Under the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, it is illegal in Australia to discriminate against a rental application on the basis of race, nationality, age or gender, although there is an exemption allowed for shared accommodation.
"I sent them a very long message describing who I am, what I do, and I mentioned that I am Mexican," she explains.
Viry says she emphasised that she liked to dance and cook and looked forward to showing off her Mexican culinary skills with her new potential roommates.
However, the response she got was not what she expected, and not because her application was rejected, but for the reason given.
"They replied, 'the other housemate reminded me that unfortunately, we can’t live with someone who is not from the United States, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom or Australia, due to our jobs'."
The two people who lived in the house claimed that their jobs with the Australian Department of Defence prohibited them from living with people who were not from certain nationalities, Mexicans among them.
Upon receiving the message, Viry had a gut feeling she was being lied to.
The dialogue between Viry and the individual. Source: Supplied
“I was quite surprised and told her that I was speechless. I had never heard anything like that before. And I know people who work for Defence, and Intelligence, and I have never heard anything like that,” she says.
“I know Latinos who have dual citizenship and work in the high ranks of the federal government and live with other Latinos who are not Australian citizens and have never had a problem ... I immediately knew it was a lie.”
Viry’s instinct was not far from fact.
A Defence spokesperson told SBS Spanish that the department “Does not have any security clearance requirements or policies that restrict employees from residing with people of certain nationalities.”
The spokesperson confirmed that as part of the security clearance process, the Australian Government Security Vetting Agency (AGSVA) "requests the details of all co-habitants of security clearance applicants, including their name, date of birth and nationality".
“All security clearance holders are also required to keep AGSVA updated with any changes in their personal circumstances, including updates to any co-habitants. All Defence staff and contractors that have access to Defence systems are required to have at a minimum a Baseline security clearance," the spokesperson added.
“In particular roles, staff are required to declare they reside with a foreign national by reporting through the Contact Report Scheme.”
Despite Viry’s response questioning the veracity of the claim, the woman insisted that she was telling the truth and that the so-called clearance regulation was “silly”. Viry decided to drop it.
Source: Supplied
“I said thank you and didn't want to talk to them anymore. It seemed to me that she was lying and that he was being a bit racist.”
SBS Spanish attempted to contact the two individuals who refused Viry's application for comment, but they deleted the ad on social media, and no longer appear with the same profile names on Facebook.
Under the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, it is illegal to discriminate against a rental application based on race, nationality, age, or gender. However, in practice, there are many cases of discrimination based on ethnic origin.
Also, an exemption to the Act establishes it is not unlawful to discriminate when it comes to shared accommodation.
“Whether it is unlawful to discriminate in shared accommodation depends on the type of discrimination and whether you are living with the owner or their close relative and how many people you are sharing with.
“Under the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, an act is not unlawful in relation to accommodation if sharing with the owner or their close relative.
“Under the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977, an act is not unlawful:
- If the tenant is sharing with the owner or their close relative, and
- If the accommodation is for no more than 6 people.”
According to a by the consumer advocacy group Choice, there is widespread discrimination in the Australian rental market on various grounds, including race.
“Half of all renters report having experienced some form of discrimination when looking for a rental property in the last five years,” the report reads.
“The nature of the discrimination people reported experiencing varied greatly – those on low incomes were much more likely to have faced discrimination for receiving a government payment, for being a single parent, or based on their race or on their disability.”
Despite the experiences of discrimination and rejection that Viry experienced, she says her impression of Australians as tolerant people remains intact.
“Not all of them are like that. I know very nice Australians. After this, I have had a lot of support and there are Australians who apologised.”
“But there are still a large number of Australians who discriminate.”
Viry's experience attracted the interest of the ABC, who published her story in October.
Following the ABC article, Viry says she received many messages of support and solidarity, even from strangers, who commended her courage for bringing the issue to light.
The young Mexican says she learned how important it is to report these cases so that they become visible and do not happen to anyone else.
Messages received by Viry after the ABC article. Source: Supplied
“I extend an invitation to more people who have had an experience like this to say it, to share it. These things have to be exposed to create awareness.”
“It is important to speak out to make a change.”
People in Australia who consider they have been turned down on a rental application or treated unfavourably by a real estate agent or property owner on the basis of age, disability, race, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy or caregiving responsibilities, can file a complaint with the Australian Commission for Human Rights.
Every state and territory in Australia has an office that also ensures that the laws related to these types of cases are followed.
