'Did you come here on a boat?': Program prompts Australians to responds to racist comments

A confronting new television program is testing how Australians react when they overhear xenophobic abuse on the streets.

SBS program “Is Australia racist?” uses a series of hidden cameras to catch unsuspecting Australians off guard by asking a series of grossly insensitive questions.

In one segment hired actor Anna Philps, who was born in Mauritius but grew up in Perth with her adoptive family, willingly endured brutal questioning from two other actors in front of numerous people waiting for a bus.

“Have you ever been in a refugee camp? Like Nauru and stuff?” one actor asked Ms Philps

“Did you come hear on a boat?”

While many of those in close proximity failed to break eye contact with their smart phones, one visibly shocked woman jumped to Ms Philps’ defence.

“Excuse me, are you bullying this girl?” the woman asked as Ms Philips stood there awkwardly.

“You are asking absolutely outrageous questions. If you are Australian, I am disgusted, disgusted in what I've just heard you say.”

Disturbingly, Ms Philps told Fairfax Media she had endured far worse abuse on Australian streets, that was not staged.

"I do get lots of looks, lots of comments, but I try to block it all out...I don't need that in my life,” she said.

“I'm quite slim, and I've had people say, ‘You're not in Africa, eat some more’. Some people will come right up in my face, or literally whisper something in my ear. That's when it does affect me,” she said.

In a different segment, a man hurled abuse at Rahila Haidary, a 22-year-old law student who was wearing a niqab.

The difference between the two segments was that this man was not an actor.

“Where's your f*****g face? What are you hiding from…f*****g Allah?” he screamed in her face.

“You're in our country because we helped save you from where you came from, from where you've been persecuted and you wear things like that.”

The program revealed that 32 per cent of Australians had negative views on Muslims, opposed to only three per cent in 1998.