limited work being done specifically on anti-racism, with the work of councils generally falling into the much broader category of ‘multiculturalism.’53 Cultural load and incidence of racism A common challenge raised by local government stakeholders was the extent to which community members who experience racism must carry the overwhelming responsibility of the work involved in addressing it. One stakeholder said: ‘Multicultural communities do so much in this space and absorb the brunt of the work even though they get the brunt of racism in their communities. They experience a high cultural and moral load.’54 This was reflected in broader stakeholder feedback which identified that most antiracism activity involves those individuals and communities who experience racism themselves, with some input from councils, human rights bodies, and the tertiary sector. There was little if any mention of cohesive, systemic efforts to address racism across local or indeed with any tiers of government - apart from efforts taking place within Victoria. Several stakeholders identified the ongoing occurrence of racism as a key barrier to change. Examples were provided of regular racist verbal abuse sometimes escalating into property damage, as well as racism occurring in the community, on public transport, in schools, online and at sporting grounds. These incidents were often relayed at local council anti-racism events or to anti-racism workers who are charged with assisting community members to navigate their way through options for addressing them. Awareness Research participants highlighted that a lack of awareness and understanding as a major barrier to addressing and responding to racism at the local government level, with respondents suggesting that current awareness levels are very poor. Some stakeholders believe this is further complicated by different types of racism, such as interpersonal and systemic racism. One interview participant told us that a ‘broad national education’ effort was urgently needed to address this challenge. Victorian participants stressed that a lack of awareness could be further exacerbated by cultural and language barriers requiring explanation of what racism is, how to make a complaint and await a potential response. They went on to explain some of these barriers to understanding and reporting racism: 53 WALGA Interview. 54 NSW Stakeholder. 35