An Anti-Racism Framework: Experiences and Perspectives of Multicultural Australia The consultations also highlighted low representation of people from multicultural backgrounds at executive levels, including in the public service:27 “In work environments, individuals from migrant backgrounds often find themselves underrepresented in high-ranking positions, such as on boards. In the public service it is more difficult to get promotion as a non-white Australian.” – Consultation with new and emerging communities Similar to experiences in schools, participants did not feel safe and protected to report racism. They had no trust in the effectiveness of racism reporting or redress mechanisms in their workplace and feared the negative consequences for those who complain. A common feature of institutional racism is the dismissal of or minimisation of race discrimination complaints, questioning the victim’s perception or the intentions of offenders. Some participants recounted how, when they tried to raise issues of racism, they were not taken seriously, and their complaints were invalidated or they were told to ‘take a joke.’ Some victims left their jobs, after feeling they had been branded as ‘troublemakers’ and were no longer safe in their workplace. In some instances, such acts of invalidation led to a sense of resignation with the system: “You just feel you should ignore it and get on with life, focus on the future.” – Consultation with new and emerging community “If you are reporting you can be made to feel that you are a troublemaker, you have to put it in writing it can be mentally extremely stressful. The process and paperwork can be complicated and confusing with no certain outcome.” – Consultation in Canberra, with various cohorts “Sometimes the consequence of being silent about racism is better especially in the work environment as you can lose your job or make the workplace uncomfortable.” – Consultation with new and emerging communities. 27 16 Australian Public Service Commission (2024). APS Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Employment Strategy and Action Plan. Australian Government, April, https://www.apsc.gov.au/publication/ aps-culturally-and-linguistically-diverse-employment-strategy-andaction-plan. See also Bargallie, D (2020). Unmasking the racial contract. Indigenous voices on racism in the Australian Public Service. Canberra, Aboriginal Studies Press. An Anti-Racism Framework: Experiences and Perspectives of Multicultural Australia Racism in healthcare services Racism in healthcare services can appear in many forms but its ultimate consequences are felt in the disparities in access to health support and health outcomes for the most discriminated groups, including First Nations people, refugees, and people seeking asylum. 28 Studies also show the racism negatively impacts the foundations for health and wellbeing, as well as the development of children and adolescents. 29 During the consultations, participants spoke about discrimination across the whole spectrum of their experience with healthcare services, from access to the quality of care they received. Among other challenges navigating the healthcare system, they also cited racism from interpreters, and lack of cultural competence from health service providers: “My two-year old was sick and we went to the Emergency Department, she had asthma and the nurse put a mask on her to get her oxygen, she was rough and put it on very tight, it was hurting her, my daughter was very stressed and nervous, she could not breath but the way the nurse was treating her was not helping her to calm down and it was making me angry. Afterwards, I thought about what had happened, I was concerned that the nurse was treating us like this because we are Muslim and are dressing differently and don’t speak English, then I also think maybe she does not know much about us or maybe just a bad day and very busy in emergency and my daughter is struggling against what she needs to do. It is hard to know, but still, it makes me feel bad”. – Consultation with refugees “There’s a clear bias when accessing healthcare. The assumptions made based on my cultural background affect the quality of service I receive. There’s a need for cultural competency training across sectors.” – Consultation with refugees “A tall, very lean African boy is not considered likely to have an eating disorder, yet this happened but it took a very long time for diagnosis and therefore treatment, putting that person in danger.” – Consultation with young people 28 Gatwiri, K., Rotumah, D., & Rix, E. (2021). ‘Black Lives Matter in healthcare: racism and implications for health inequity among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia.’ International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18(9), 4399; Willey, S., Desmyth, K., & Truong, M. (2022). ‘Racism, healthcare access and health equity for people seeking asylum.’ Nursing Inquiry 29 (1), e12440. 29 Priest, N., Lim, C. K., Doery, K., Lawrence, J. A., Zoumboulis, G., King et al (2024). ‘Racism and health and wellbeing among children and youth-an updated systematic review and meta-analysis.’ medRxiv 2024-07. In consultations, health care workers spoke about facing everyday racism, such as when “patients prefer to be attended by white nurses.” There was also a comment on discrimination in wages: “I discovered that a group of African nurses including me were being paid less than others who were doing similar work. I took it to my manager who said she’ll do something about it, but nothing changed. I then went to the union and got them to represent me at the hospital. Only then did our wages increase. Why did this happen only to African nurses?” – Consultation with refugee women In one case, the issue of racism across cultures was touched upon: “When I arrived, and the interpreter was a Christian and made aggressive comments including ‘you Muslim people have no idea.’ Before we left the hospital, we made a complaint to the nursing staff. This created a discussion about how racism can occur both within and across cultures. The group got distracted by this conversation and we did not go back to talking about what the complaint process was like.” – Consultation with refugees Mistrust of the police emerged as a theme in various consultations, particularly amongst younger cohorts. Participants reported that it was difficult to make formal complaints about incidents of racism they had experienced, and generally felt that their concerns were not taken seriously by police: “I reported [a police officer]. An inspector rang me and questioned me on calling it as a racist event, questioned my report and went on saying how the officer was a gentle, good officer and that talking aggressively is part of the police officer’s role. The outcome was that the report was closed and filed, and that the officer behaved ok. Investigator asked me to understand the police job and insisted in me considering to withdraw the complaint.” – Consultation with young people Many participants cited a low level of trust in the police as an institution and felt unprotected against racism when relating to them: “I won’t go to the police. I don’t feel they care. I feel the legal system is corrupt and I don’t trust.” – Consultation with young people Racism in interactions with the police The difficulties in relationships with the police are not new. The consultations once again revealed the tensions between reporting to the police, and experiences of racism when interacting with the police. “It happens a lot with the police. For example, when we are just walking, they start searching us, then realise that they have mistaken us for somebody else and they are not aware of how it is affecting us. As well as standing up for yourself, they always see it as aggressive behaviour, so they are always on edge even when you are trying to stand up.” – Consultation with young people 17