Racism, Hate and Violence Directed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People
Submitted to the Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs — Inquiry into Racism, Hate and Violence Directed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People.
This 21-page submission was a major piece of collective public-policy work. It brought local testimony into direct conversation with national evidence on racism, health, children, incarceration, online platforms, extremist violence, reporting systems, human rights and self-determination. It addresses all six Terms of Reference and sets out twelve recommendations for legislative, institutional and cultural reform.
My role is stated on the submission itself: Coordinated, Integrated & Edited by Dr Philippe Foubert. That description matters. The submission was made by First Nations Allies Wynnum, under its co-chairs, and draws on the experiences and contributions of its members. My contribution was to bring the evidence, testimony, structure, argument and recommendations together into a coherent submission to Parliament.
Read the full submission (PDF) Back to Australian Writings
Scope of the submission
The submission follows the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference and moves from evidence of harm to concrete institutional reform. Its principal areas are:
- the nature, prevalence and impact of racism, including health consequences and the burden carried by children;
- systemic racism in the criminal justice system and the continuing crisis of deaths in custody;
- the scale and amplification of racism through online platforms, including the post-Voice-referendum environment;
- truth-telling, community-controlled approaches and sustained cultural literacy as anti-racism measures;
- ideologically motivated extremism and organised white-supremacist threats directed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people;
- the inadequacy of existing avenues for reporting and responding to racial hatred;
- UNDRIP, media reform, Closing the Gap, community-controlled services and self-determination.
- Require proactive monitoring by online platforms for hate speech, threats and vilification targeting First Nations peoples, with enforceable removal timelines and substantial penalties.
- Amend the Online Safety Act 2021 to address the cultural, historical and human-rights dimensions of racism directed at First Nations peoples and adequately resource the eSafety Commissioner.
- Establish a national, independent Truth and Justice Commission and incorporate its findings into a mandatory national curriculum on First Nations history.
- Implement all 63 recommendations of the Australian Human Rights Commission’s National Anti-Racism Framework, including a National Anti-Racism Taskforce and binding targets.
- Establish dedicated First Nations Community Safety units within the Australian Federal Police and state and territory law-enforcement agencies.
- Require ASIO to publish disaggregated annual reporting on ideologically motivated extremism targeting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
- Strengthen section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 by imposing proactive obligations on media organisations, platforms and large employers to prevent racial vilification.
- Establish a free, culturally safe, First Nations-led national racism reporting platform integrated with the Australian Human Rights Commission and relevant law enforcement.
- Legislate minimum national standards for responding to racial hatred complaints, including response timeframes, independent oversight and annual public reporting.
- Incorporate the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples into Australian domestic law, accompanied by a co-designed National Action Plan and expanded parliamentary human-rights scrutiny.
- Expand the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s mandate to investigate and sanction media content that promotes, normalises or incites racism against First Nations peoples.
- Legislate a statutory obligation on Commonwealth departments and agencies to co-design, co-implement and co-evaluate policies and programs directly affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, with independent parliamentary oversight.
Evidence and method
The submission deliberately combines two kinds of evidence. It records what members witnessed locally — including racism during the Voice campaign and in everyday public life — and tests those experiences against national data and authoritative research. Its reference base includes the Australian Institute of Criminology, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Human Rights Commission, Reconciliation Australia, Jumbunna Institute, Australian National University, Productivity Commission, the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, the eSafety Commissioner and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
That combination is central to the document’s method: local experience is neither treated as anecdote nor allowed to stand alone. It is placed within the national statistical, legal and institutional record.
“Ally work is not a substitute for government action. It is what we can do while we wait for governments to act.”