Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner Chin Tan has established a plan for a new national anti-racism framework and is calling on the federal government to support and implement it.
Mr Tan released a concept paper on Wednesday setting out the main elements of the proposed plan, noting in the paper he was "deeply troubled by the resurgence in racism being experienced in Australia and across the globe".
In a message released alongside the paper ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on Sunday - also Harmony Day in Australia - Mr Tan said the need for a new framework has become “painfully apparent over the past year”.
He pointed to , as well as ASIO and the AFP identifying homegrown terrorism and extremism as a significant threat to Australia's national security.
“It is time that we looked at the scourge of racism in the same way that we look at the scourge of domestic violence or the scourge of child abuse,” he said. “On those issues, we have in place longstanding national frameworks, signed onto by all governments in Australia, with three-year action plans to target priority issues and make serious headway in addressing them.”
Federal government funding for a previous anti-racism campaign called 'It Stops With Me' ended in 2015. Since then, anti-racism strategies have been funded through the budget of the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC).
Labor and the nation’s peak multicultural body, the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia, have for some time advocated for a new anti-racism strategy.
Mr Tan told SBS News the AHRC has been in preliminary discussions with the federal government about the new strategy and is urging them to back it and finance it.
“I believe the federal government will come on board because it is in our national interest to have a framework like this," he said. “Racism is a significant economic, social and national security threat to our society and it is time we treated it as such.”
The new plan will include extensive consultation with the community sector and government in the coming months and will tackle key issues such as centralising data collection to ensure the nature, prevalence and incidence of racism in Australia is fully understood. It will also include reviewing the current legal framework to ensure it effectively protects people from racial hatred.
“Currently, there isn't a central place where race issues can be picked up, and on a practical level, when you ask the average person in the community, 'where do you go with a complaint to make on race issues?', most of the time they say, they don’t quite know,” Mr Tan said.
“My hope is that we can find a one-stop-shop of some sort where people can actually ring up and find support in being directed to the right places.”
Targeted in racist attack
Vincent Chen came to Australia from China initially to study but had always dreamed of opening his own coffee shop. That dream became a reality two years ago and said his local community in Canberra where he lives has always been very friendly.
But earlier this month he was “shocked” to be targeted in a racist attack.
“I have heard of racism happening to some of my friends but I never thought it would happen to me," he said. “I couldn’t help but feel unwelcomed in this country when you are called names.”
Vincent Chen was targeted in a racist attack. Source: Supplied
Mr Chen said the incident started when he told a group of young people to stop smoking outside his cafe. They left but later returned. In an exchange filmed by a member of staff and shared with SBS News, a teenage boy can be heard calling the staff “viruses” and making racial slurs about the appearance of staff at the shop.
The boy can also be seen on video spitting outside the shop.
Mr Chen said he reported the incident to ACT Police but did not wish to take the matter further.
The boy has apologised to Mr Chen and he accepted the apology.
“I don’t want to focus on this incident alone, my intention in posting the video was to make people aware that these kinds of things still happen," Mr Chen said. “I believe the government and authorities can do something about this, Australia is a diverse and multicultural country so I think something does need to be done.”
Mr Chen welcomed the launch of the new national anti-racism strategy and said he hoped it was the first step in making Australia safer and more inclusive.
"I believe there will be change and the ideal outcome would be if none of these sorts of incidents happen again."
In October, the AHRC said its strategy had initial support from the federal government.
Speaking at the time, secretary of the Attorney-General's Department, Chris Moraitis, expressed his “full support” for work to progress on the framework.
“We’re on the same track. We’re on the same wavelength. We want to go further with this," he told a Senate estimates hearing. "We certainly recognise that social cohesion issues are very important.”
No additional funding had been allocated to support the response at that time.
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