Australian Human Rights Commission Australia and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), Shadow report to the CERD Committee – 8 July 2010 8. In the introduction section of the Compendium of Social Inclusion Indicators, discrimination is identified as one of the major causes of social exclusion. However, the document does not go on to include race-based discrimination as one of the categories of analysis relating to social inclusion. Nor does it identify race-based discrimination as an indicator for social inclusion or social exclusion. 9. The Compendium identifies people from non-English speaking backgrounds as being one of the groups most vulnerable on the: (1) persistent relative poverty assessment and the (2) vulnerable on the more stringent risk of poverty assessment. 2 10. Though the Commission supports the list of Social Inclusion priorities, we are disappointed that there is no specific priority that expressly focuses on the disadvantage of ethnic minorities in Australia. 11. The Australian Government has committed to developing a National Action Plan on Social Inclusion. Recommendation 1: That the Australian Government Social Inclusion Board include in its list of priority areas (I) newly arrived migrants, (II) disadvantaged migrants and (III) people from refugee backgrounds in their list of priority areas. 4 The domestic implementation of ICERD and the Durban Declaration and Program of Action (DDPA) 4.1 An implementation mechanism for ICERD in Australia 12. There is currently no clear mechanism operating in Australia to consider, coordinate or enact the recommendations or the Concluding Observations of the ICERD Committee. Recommendation 2: That the proposed Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights be empowered to make recommendations in relation to the implementation of ICERD Committee Concluding Observations. Recommendation 3: That the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australian Human Rights Commission co-chair an annual ICERD implementation meeting to (I) delegate responsibilities and (II) monitor progress. Recommendation 4: That the Australian Government appoint a full time Commissioner exclusively dedicated to race discrimination. 4.2 Consolidated approach to research and data Recommendation 5: That the Department of Immigration and Citizenship and the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous 5