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In short:
The Human Rights Commission has released a report that found governments across all sectors and departments Australia wide have failed to identify, and deal with racism.
The AHRC report made six recommendations, including developing a nationally recognised definition of racism, and anti-racism education in schools.
What's Next?
The AHRC report was part of a broader national anti-racism framework to be developed.
"You have to name the demon to slay it," Australia's Race Discrimination Commissioner, Giridharan Sivaraman told the ABC.
The "demon" in this case is racism, a term many in government were reluctant to use, a new report from the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) found.
The AHRC report found governments and their departments at all levels had failed to identify racism and were not taking enough action to address it.
"If some areas of government are reluctant to use the term 'racism', how can they tackle it?" Commissioner Sivaraman said.
The report investigated how Australia's national, state, territory, and local governments have engaged in anti-racism work through their policies and framework over the past five years.
The report often revealed their approach was "not good enough," Commissioner Sivaraman said.
'Negatively racialised people don't have power'
The AHRC made six recommendations in its report, including developing a nationally recognised definition of racism, and providing anti-racism education in schools.
It called for the establishment of a national anti-racism council that would bring together First Nations and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) leaders to advise government on strategic directions for policy and programs.
The AHRC recommended a national plan to address racism, with a "whole-of-society approach" to coordinate efforts at all levels of government and across all sectors.
The report was part of a broader national anti-racism framework to be developed and presented by the Commission to the government.
Reconciliation Victoria acting co-chair, Emily Poelina-Hunter, a Nyikina woman, was not surprised by the findings of the report after the "devastating year of racism" last year following the Voice referendum results.
But she had concerns about the way forward.
"Based on the Voice referendum results, I worry that the national anti-racism framework will not work for addressing racism against Indigenous Australians, and that we will have to wait for trickle-down effects that are decades away, once racism against other groups is finally understood," Dr Poelina-Hunter said.
After the referendum, she felt "offended, insulted, humiliated and intimidated about venturing out in public" for many weeks.
"I was scared to wear clothing that identified me as Aboriginal."
She believes racism toward First Nations people began with denial and fear. She said this came from a "stunning inability to empathise with other humans."
Mr Sivaraman said the commission had seen a dramatic rise in racism and hate towards First Nations peoples, Muslims, Jews, Asians, and other culturally and linguistically diverse communities, which showed "systemic failures" in dealing with racism.
"Racism is about power and negatively racialised people don't have power. Racism allows you to maintain power," Mr Sivaraman said.
Negatively racialised people belong to First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
Community groups competing for funding
The AHRC report also found that negatively racialised communities felt they'd been forced to compete with one another for funding to support their communities.
Nora Amath, executive director of the Islamophobia Register Australia — a not-for-profit organisation that provides a platform to report incidents of anti-Muslim racism, or abuse — said competition for funding was problematic.
The lack of funding only showed a need for a more equitable and comprehensive approach to discrimination, Dr Amath said.
"Instead of just focusing on the core work, organisations are having to constantly worry about whether they can sustain themselves after one year of funding," Dr Amath said.
She added that during the register's work with different levels of government "recently, elected members clearly deny incidents of Islamophobia", despite the register providing data to demonstrate otherwise.
Like Dr Poelina-Hunter, she said denial was part of a larger issue around inaction.
The Islamophobia Register's latest data showed Islamophobia incidents increased by 581 per cent since October 7 and amid the Israel-Gaza war.
Anti-Semitism has also risen since then, triggering the recent announcement of an anti-Semitism envoy by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Ms Amath called for a collaborative approach to tackle issues of discrimination.
"A collective effort is crucial in our fight against racism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, and all forms of prejudice," she said.