‘Time for a new national anti-racism accord’

Australia needs a new approach to combating racism, with a focus on co-ordinating efforts across the country, the Australian Human Rights Commission says.

Race discrimination commissioner Chin Tan. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

Australia needs a new approach to combating racism, with a focus on co-ordinating efforts across the country, the Australian Human Rights Commission says.

And governments need to do more than condemn racism; they need to work to stamp it out, its race discrimination commissioner, Chin Tan, said.

Government funding for the nation’s previous anti-racism strategy expired in 2015, and the strategy itself wound up in 2018 despite efforts to keep it going.

The commission has now ­developed a new framework to co-ordinate public and private sector efforts to combat racism and is in discussions with the federal government to secure support and funding.

It is understood the proposed framework includes a standardised system across all states and territories to collect and share data about racist attacks and ­incidents, and racial discrimination.

Currently each jurisdiction has its own body or police officers to gather data, but it is not collated nationally.

The framework also calls for a rejuvenated national anti-­racism campaign, after the ­“Racism, it stops with me” campaign was severely scaled back due to a lack of funding.

Mr Tan said 2020 had put a renewed focus on racism worldwide with the Black Lives Matter movement and the increase in far-right extremism in the US. But Australia was far from immune.

“Last year we saw a spike in racism against members of the Asian community as a result of the pandemic,” he said. “We’ve also seen an alarming growth in far-right extremism locally, which is particularly concerning, and this is even acknowledged by the heads of our law enforcement and security agencies.

“We need clear goals and commitments on tackling ­racism. It’s not enough for governments to condemn racism: They need to actively support ­efforts to stamp it out — both ­financially and also in terms of leadership.”

In 2011, the commission ­received $1.7m over four years to create and implement a national anti-racism strategy. The commission has ­requested new funding for the strategy every year since 2015, without success, and has attempted to continue ­programs through its ongoing budget.

Mr Tan said the new anti-­racism framework provided the federal and state governments with a range of practical steps they could take to better understand and combat racism.

“It also outlines actions for civil society, law enforcement, educators, the justice system, and sporting associations, and others — because a national anti-racism strategy can only succeed if it has buy-in from all areas of society,” he said.