You say potato… A key challenge identified by both government and non-government stakeholders was continually diminishing bipartisanship at the federal level that was evident until approximately 25 years ago. In the ensuing period, the shift from political bipartisanship on approaches to racism has led to increasing shifts in polemic in this policy space as governments have changed. Most stakeholders interviewed believe that opportunities for work increase with a Labor government and, in recent times, decrease or substantially weaken with a Coalition government, which had not been the case historically. ‘In my experience, I find that as, as a kind of, you know, government agency, we’ll do what the government of the day expects us to do. So, if there isn’t any great push from the government for us to deliver on something in particular (it’s) not going to happen. So, you know, I, because I've worked in the space for a really long time and have seen kind of the, the ups and downs of support from different governments over those years…you really see the difference between a Labor government and a Coalition government in terms of their support of those these particular bits of work. And look, you know, the government at the moment has got a really keen interest, (has) given the Australian Human Rights Commission, $7 million or whatever it is to put together this national anti-racism, which is amazing. They're also doing, you know, the multicultural framework review at the moment as well, which again, is really good because it's when these things all kind of come into play, that that in a public service like the Australian public service, people sit up and take notice. So, you've got those two things happening. Then you've got the Australian Public Service Commission doing work on a CALD employee strategy, which they've not never done before, either. So, it's kind of, it feels to me like the planets are aligning a little bit. Which is great.’ Unsuccessful attempts by the previous Coalition Government to amend the RDA and the removal or break up of standalone departmental multicultural teams and branches in some agencies were examples given of direct political interventions, and public service responses to government agendas. There are significant frameworks at the federal level with a range of policies and programs attached that address broader diversity and inclusion within the APS. However, it was identified that specific issues around racism can be lost or not addressed in a more general focus on access and equity and social cohesion. A shift from directly addressing racism to a broader social cohesion agenda, as well as weakening or losing the focus on racism in diversity, access and equity approaches has created what one stakeholder described as an unclear environment in which racism as a term has become unpopular. What this means for addressing, for example, structural or institutional racism - as identified in the Closing the Gap National Agreement as a government priority - is unclear. 15