On the bustling station platform in a huge, new modern city in China the announcement over the loudspeaker system to commuters is: “Be polite and be kind to others!” There is nothing wrong with the sentiment, but one wonders about the effectiveness of a disembodied voice from an anonymous person delivered in a public place in moulding people’s behaviour. At the bottom of opposition to the Abbott government’s proposed amendments to the Commonwealth’s Racial Discrim…