Frustrations were raised regarding processes where communities are often consulted but no responding changes are made. It was also noted that there is often a disconnect on the ground between government intentions and how policies function in practice. This was characterised as a reflection of the state of relationships between negatively racialised communities and government bodies, namely one where the relationship is neither genuine nor equal. It’s never a genuine partnership, the community has to demonstrate their value, but the government never has to show their value. — consultation with First Nations organisation, NARF project, May 2021 – April 2022 Accountability Accountability was a recurring theme in both consultations and submissions. The Commission consistently heard that unless there are mechanisms in place to hold governments and organisations accountable, an anti-racism framework will be ineffectual. There have been numerous occasions when international human rights bodies have recommended that Australia improve its racial discrimination laws. Australia has not acted on these recommendations. For example, responding to Australia’s eighteenth to twentieth periodic reports to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the CERD noted: The Committee regrets the State party’s decision not to adopt a federal human rights act, as recommended during the national human rights consultation of 20094 The Committee is concerned that protection against racial discrimination is still not guaranteed by the Constitution, in accordance with article 4 of the Convention, and that sections 25 and 51 (xxvi) of the Constitution in themselves raise issues of racial discrimination 5 The scoping phase of the project also identified the continued failure of successive governments to implement fully the recommendations outlined in the Bringing Them Home Report6 and the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.7 Participants felt grave concern that even while these powerful evidence-based reports exist, government implementation of the recommendations has not occurred or has at best been piecemeal and ad hoc. A National Anti-Racism Framework, as it relates to First Nations issues, must refer to the numerous studies, reports and recommendations that have been released over the decades since RCIADIC with the intent of protecting or responding to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community interests. The National Anti-Racism Framework must be the vehicle to actualise the solutions that have been established for so long. — submission from Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR), NARF project, May 2021 – April 2022 National Anti-Racism Framework Scoping Report 2022 | 44