In a country that professes to support a ‘fair go’ and refuses to believe that racism is an issue, this report lays bare “the unconscious biases that have been hard-wired into Australian culture and worldviews as a result of our colonial past”.
The report outlines the content of calls to the Call It Out online register over the period from March 21, 2023 to March 20, 2024.
The register — an online, independent, Indigenous-controlled mechanism to report incidents of racism — is a collaboration between the University of Technology Sydney’s Jumbunna Institute for Education and Research and the National Justice Project.
The 2023-2024 report “explores the impacts of the (Voice) referendum, the racism that plays out in our institutions and systems of governance and in the everyday places we live, work and play”.
The disappointingly high levels of racism are not a new occurrence. Racism is woven through Australia’s history.
The underpinnings of Australia — the constitution of the new nation and the White Australia Policy that followed — are systemically racist.
They are an integral part of how our institutions and organisations and our attitudes as a nation, and even individuals, have been shaped.
These underpinnings have directly and indirectly led to unfair treatment and inequalities for Australia’s First Nations peoples.
In February 1965, students from the University of Sydney organised a bus trip through regional NSW. Known as the Freedom Ride, this changed the way Australia thought about race.
It highlighted the everyday experiences of racism experienced by First Nations people — and shone a harsh spotlight on the many cinemas, pools, clubs and shops that were segregated or off-limits to Aboriginal people.
According to the 2020 National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation Reconciliation Barometer, 52 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people reported experiencing at least one form of racial prejudice in the past six months — up from 43 per cent in 2018.
The 2024 Kaiela Institute Final Report of the Rumbalara Wellbeing and Resilience Project — a local study — found “participants encountered racism in all aspects of their life at the sporting club — both on and off the field — and within the broader community”.
And yet, we constantly hear the comment “Australia is not a racist country”, often from those who refuse to consider the glaring inaccuracy of this view.
This is not what ongoing reports, studies and the experience of First Nations peoples tell us.
The current Call It Out report examined the ways in which racism and discrimination exist in Australia, as well as the impact of the October 2023 referendum — where 60 per cent of Australians voted against the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
The director of the Jumbunna Institute and guest author of the report, Professor Lindon Coombes, noted that racist views were “emboldened” during the referendum, with racist abuse and harmful and derogatory language being spread online and in person.
“One of our darker moments in this regard was the 2023 referendum,” he said.
“There can be no genuine discussion on the Voice referendum without discussing the impact of racism, both throughout the campaign and in its aftermath.”
The report said that many commented that “the lead-up to the referendum and the outcome of the vote had facilitated the normalisation of racism”.
“The filters are off — it almost feels like it is okay to be racist.”
The most common types of racism reported were negative attitudes or stereotyping (23 per cent) and discrimination (15 per cent), followed by hate speech (13 per cent) and non-recognition of cultural rights (11 per cent).
Thirty-five per cent of responses highlighted aggressively racist behaviour: physical violence, verbal abuse, hate speech, threats, intimidation, bullying and property damage.
More than 20 per cent of reports identified government and private institutions or services as the location of incidents.
Professor Coombes said “racism remains an insidious and all-too-common aspect of life for Indigenous people in Australia”.
“While the way racism can be presented has shifted in its nature and expression, and will continue to do so, the fundamentals of this problem remain alarmingly consistent and seemingly impervious to the best efforts of many seeking its eradication,” he said.
In a recent opinion piece in The Saturday Paper, the Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman wrote: “Systemic racism is like cancer. The tumours can be removed, but the cancer will keep making us sick until we confront its source.”
It is an illness that began 237 years ago. As Stan Grant wrote, “Racism isn’t killing the Australian dream. The Australian dream was founded on racism.”
“When I meet with First Nations communities, one of the common threads among the conversations is that colonisation is not just a date in history, but an ongoing reality,” he wrote.
“It has impacted every institution and informed every dominant way of thinking since 1788.
“So, when we talk about systemic racism in Australia, we are talking about systems that have been built to advance the interests of colonising white settlers.
“These systems don’t consider or protect the interests of First Nations people and others who experience racism.
“Our education system is built for white knowledge and our workplaces elevate white people into leadership by default.
“This is not just a mere inconvenience for people who experience racism — these systems cause harm to communities, so that those who benefit can thrive.”
The Australian Human Rights Commission’s National Anti-Racism Framework — launched in November 2024 — has 63 recommendations for eliminating racism.
They span government, education, health care, justice, workplaces and the media.
It calls for a hard look at the composite parts of our nation and the urgent need to examine the insidious way in which racism has made its nest in almost every facet of Australian life.
As Mr Sivaraman points out in his article: “We need to deploy our tools: law reform, new policies, relevant training and whatever else is needed to dismantle racism at its roots. The longer we leave things to fester, the more severe the outcome. It is our collective responsibility to act now and do more.”
The crucial question is: Are we, as a nation, up to the task?
To read the Call It Out racism report, go to justice.org.au/referendum-influence-on-call-it-out-racism-report
To find out more about the National Anti-Racism Framework, go to humanrights.gov.au/anti-racism-framework
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