An Anti-Racism Framework: Experiences and Perspectives of Multicultural Australia In the context of race discrimination, the need for a sound human rights protection system6 could not be more evident: racism, by definition, breaches the fundamental right of every human being to be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of who we are or where we are, and transforms this right into a privilege. The Commission carried out national consultations on the discussion paper, which informed a thorough scoping report released in 2022.7 As a continuation of that process, the Commission engaged the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA) to conduct national consultations with multicultural communities to inform a national anti-racism framework. This new round of consultations drew on the findings from the scoping report, and focused on ensuring that a diversity of voices within multicultural communities would be heard and centred in discussions about a national anti-racism framework. Importantly, the consultations were designed with an intersectional lens from the beginning. This report summarises the key findings from those consultations. Racism in Australia: Recent Trends This report recognises that public conversations about racism continue to be highly divisive in Australia. However, as the experiences shared here indicate, it is time that Government and society work together to ensure that racism is acknowledged as a critical problem and addressed. Australian society is one of the most diverse in the world in terms of cultures, ethnicities, and languages. However, the embracing of multiculturalism is, in historical terms, very recent. As we continue to learn how to translate societal support for multiculturalism into equitable and inclusive policies for all, it is important to recognise that embracing multiculturalism does not mitigate the issue of racism. In fact, it is possible to say that in highly culturally diverse societies, the need for Government and social actors to consciously adopt an anti-racism stance is higher than in more culturally homogenous societies. An Anti-Racism Framework: Experiences and Perspectives of Multicultural Australia FECCA recognises the roots of racism in Australia in the settler colonial foundations of our country, and the systemic discrimination against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, as First Nations people of Australia.8 As highlighted in the Commission’s scoping report and recognised by many participants in our consultations and survey, the systemic discrimination against Australia’s First Nations people must be given attention if we really want to practice anti-racism and achieve racial equality. 9 In 2022, the Australian Reconciliation Barometer found that 60% of First Nations people had experienced at least one form of racial prejudice, compared to 52% in 2020 and 43% in 2018.10 The Closing the Gap data equally indicates how challenging change it can be when it comes to dismantling systemic inequalities.11 For the consultations, another critical factor was the public discussions around the 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum, and what the defeat meant in terms of public perception about racism in Australia. In the Mapping Social Cohesion 2023 report, one in six (18 per cent) people reported having experienced discrimination in the last 12 months prior to the survey due to their ‘skin colour, ethnic origin or religion.’ 12 Whist that average is not much higher than what was recorded in 2021 and 2022 (16 per cent), a different picture emerges when the numbers are disaggregated. 28 per cent of people born overseas and 39 per cent of people from non-English speaking backgrounds indicate they had experienced discrimination due to the characteristics of race, religion, or skin colour. Moreover, migrants from non-European backgrounds were also more likely to have experienced discrimination than those of European backgrounds: 8 6 7 8 The reinvigorated public debate around the introduction of a human rights act in Australia offers the Australian Government a historical opportunity to demonstrate its full commitment to human rights. See Australian Human Rights Commission Australian Human Rights Commission (2023). Revitalising Australia’s commitment to human rights: Free & Equal Final Report 2023, Australian Human Rights Commission, https://humanrights. gov.au/sites/default/files/2311_freeequal_finalreport_1_1.pdf Australian Human Rights Commission 2022 “ 41 per cent of Chinese Australian migrants who responded to the survey reported discrimination in the last 12 months, 50 per cent of Indian Australians, 36 per cent of migrants from southeast Asian backgrounds, 45 per cent of those from the Middle East and 46 per cent of migrants from African backgrounds.”13 13 O’Donnell 2023, p.82. Equally telling is the fact that 62% of the Australianborn participants in the survey considered racism to be a “fairly or very big problem in Australia.” World events impact community relations and social cohesion in Australia.14 Since the beginning of the IsraelGaza war, 2023, there is indication of significant rise in Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.15The consultations for this report started to be planned before the conflict intensified, and did not specifically focus on Muslim or Jewish organisations. Unfortunately, no Jewish organisation applied to run a consultation session with their communities and, as such, there was no specific insights from Jewish communities. We also note that the Commission has been allocated separate funding by the Department of Home Affairs to consult with and support Jewish and Palestinian communities in Australia. At a time when the Government’s concern with social cohesion has grown, it is vital to remember that social cohesion depends on anti-racism and on combating negative racialisation of communities. Racism fractures the social fabric through ideologies of ‘othering,’ superiority/inferiority between groups, and exclusion. The marginalisation that individuals and communities experience due to racism is both a symptom and a source of social exclusion. In this regard, it is not surprising that the latest Scanlon-Monash Index of Social Cohesion declined to its lowest level on record.16 14 The Scanlon-Monash Index of Social Cohesion uses the following measures of social cohesion: sense of belonging, sense of worth, social inclusion and justice, political participation, and acceptance and rejection. See O’Donnell 2023, p.14. 15 Whiting, N (2024). ‘Online hate analysts are calling for greater eSafety powers after study finds rise in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia,’ ABC News, 4 August https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-04/researchesafety-rise-antisemitism-islamophobia-police-training/104172854 16 O’Donnell 2023, p.6. The Commission uses First Nations and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander interchangeably and acknowledges that community members may have other ways of identifying. 9 Australian Human Rights Commission 2022 10 Nelson, D (2022). Australian Reconciliation barometer 2022. Full research report, Prepared by Polity Research and Consulting for Reconciliation Australia. Reconciliation Australia, September, https://www. reconciliation.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/2022-AustralianReconciliation-Barometer-FULL-Report.pdf 11 Australian Productivity Commission (2024). Closing the gap annual data compilation report. Australian Government, July, https://www.pc.gov.au/ closing-the-gap-data/annual-data-report/closing-the-gap-annual-datacompilation-july2024.pdf 12 O’Donnell, J (2023). Mapping social cohesion 2023. The Scanlon Foundation Research Institute, Monash University, Australian Multicultural Foundation, The Australian National University, https:// scanloninstitute.org.au/sites/default/files/2023-11/2023%20 Mapping%20Social%20Cohesion%20Report.pdf 9