President's message | March 2025

We must work together to address the scourge of racism.

The Director-General of ASIO, Mike Burgess, said in Parliament last week that “in terms of threats to life” antisemitism is ASIO’s top priority. He said he believed it was the first time a form of racism was the agency’s highest priority.

The assessment underscored the intensification and severity of the attacks against the Jewish community over recent months. On top of racist abuse, threats and graffiti on homes, schools and neighbourhoods, these have included arson attacks on synagogues and a childcare centre, and the discovery of a caravan filled with explosives.

These antisemitic attacks seek to instil fear and division. The targeting of the Jewish community affects us all. It tests us as a nation. If we fail to protect any community from harm, we fail as a nation.

Racism more broadly is rising. Muslim, Arab and Palestinian communities have experienced increased racism since 7 October 2023. This includes the recent assault of two Muslim women in a Melbourne shopping centre and a violent online threat made this week against a Sydney mosque referencing the 2019 Christchurch mass shooting that claimed 51 lives. As Special Envoy Aftab Malik has said, Islamophobia is normalised and underacknowledged in Australia.

First Nations communities continue to experience widespread racism which spiked in volume and hostility during and after the Voice referendum. The systemic nature of racism affecting First Nations people is highlighted by the lack of progress on so many of the Closing the Gap targets including child removal and imprisonment.

The Australian Human Rights Commission is responding to racism in a number of ways:

•    Our access to justice services provide free, impartial and accessible dispute resolution services for people affected by racial discrimination and vilification.

•    Late last year we released our National Anti-Racism Framework which outlines a comprehensive, whole of society approach for eliminating racism in Australia.

•    We are undertaking work to support Arab, Jewish, Muslim and Palestinian communities in Australia affected by the most recent conflict in the Middle East through our Seen and Heard Project.

•    We are conducting a landmark national study on the prevalence, nature and impact of racism at universities and how to address it.

•    We continue to provide expert advice on law reform and policy proposals to tackle racism including on doxxing, the display of Nazi symbols, misinformation and disinformation and anti-hate and vilification laws.

Racism is pervasive and harmful. But it is not inevitable. Working together, we can build a society where everyone can live with dignity and respect and has the same opportunity to thrive, regardless of their race, culture or faith.

Hugh de Kretser
 

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