Executive summary In March 2021, the Australian Human Rights Commission released a proposal for a national antiracism framework. This was in response to community calls for national action after heightened experiences of racism and racial inequality in recent years, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposal contained guiding principles, outcomes, and strategies to begin a national conversation about how to tackle racism. From March 2021 to April 2022, the Commission consulted with the public, peak and community organisations, experts, service providers, human rights agencies, and government at all levels on the scope and vision for a framework. In total, more than 100 consultations were undertaken with over 300 organisations. Submissions from individuals made up more than a third of the 164 total public submissions received. Australia does not have a consistent and comprehensive national approach to anti-racism, with approaches differing across the federal government, states and territories. Most actions by governments are not identified as intended to address racism, and sometimes this is incidental to the policy or action. Across the scoping phase of its project, the Commission found widespread support for a national anti-racism framework in Australia. In consultations, participants emphasised the importance of committed political will and adequate resourcing, genuine and comprehensive engagement with community, and accountability mechanisms to ensure the framework is a success. An anti-racism framework must be a collective project, steered by a human rights-based approach based on the principles of participation, accountability, non-discrimination, and equality, empowerment, and legality. The leading piece of feedback that the Commission received from participants, including First Nations and non-Indigenous organisations and individuals, was that the experiences of First Nations peoples must be central to the Framework and inform all strategies across national outcome areas. Many shared their strong view that a Framework must acknowledge the experience of colonisation and its ongoing impacts on First Nations peoples. The Commission also received feedback that the Framework needs a definition of racism that reflects a nuanced and intersectional understanding of racism and that is community-centric. Participants stressed that understanding racism only through the category of race does not address its breadth and complexity, including the systems and structures of power implicated in its process. The systemic nature of racism must therefore be acknowledged and addressed in the Framework. National Anti-Racism Framework Scoping Report 2022 | 9