Surveying 20,207 young people, Mission Australia’s Youth Survey Report 2021 found that over a quarter of those surveyed reported being treated unfairly due to their race or cultural background.77 Racial discrimination is at the forefront of young people’s concerns. Mission Australia’s Youth Survey Reports note the rapid rise of ‘equity and discrimination’ as one of the most important national issues identified by young people, with many specifying racial injustice as an issue of concern from their own experiences, media coverage, public dialogue, and grassroot movements.78 This was reflected in the National Anti-Racism Framework project consultations and submissions. With many young people experiencing racial injustice and being attuned to this issue, it is vital that a national anti-racism framework hear their insights and respond to their experiences. Exposure to different environments creates a range of settings for racism, as well as multiple presentations of racism. This was articulated by young people engaged in MYAN’s national consultation on a national anti-racism framework, who spoke about experiences of racism and challenges that ranged from a lack of representation in the media and workplaces, microaggressions encountered in educational settings, and discriminatory hiring practices. The report by MYAN also identified that during the pandemic period, racial abuse in particular, was heightened. Increased exposure to racism, including interpersonal racism, systemic racism, and institutional racism, can have a direct influence on the educational, social, and economic opportunities young people receive and/or feel that they could receive.79 On a personal level, experiences of racism can impact a young person’s wellbeing and health, as well as compromise their sense of identity and belonging as they journey through formative periods of their lives. 80 Students need to be taught about their rights as well as trauma and complex histories. — community consultation participant, NARF project, May 2021 – April 2022 As sites of learning, educational institutions have a critical role to play in anti-racism efforts. As the section on Education explores further, educational institutes can improve racial literacy in the broader public by providing the conceptual tools to understand race and racism. This includes the history of colonisation and how this relates to present-day experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities. Older people The Commission observes that specific issues experienced by culturally, linguistically, and ethnically diverse older people was not an explicit concern raised by participants in the consultations and within submissions. However, the Commission, through its work in the area of age discrimination, recognises that ageism compounds racism,81 and that the concerns of older people from negatively racialised communities should be a key consideration in the next stage of the framework, as age is an important category in intersectionality. National Anti-Racism Framework Scoping Report 2022 | 70