Who is missing from the conversation?

Jan 25, 2025
Australia's mass people.

We need to stop putting all our eggs in the ‘anti-racism strategy basket’ and start to recognise that a more holistic approach where everyone across the population can see themselves as benefitting from the initiatives is the future to reducing discrimination for all, writes Anthea Hancocks.

Whether it is the result of the recent rhetoric in the lead up to the US election, or a push back against what are perceived to be overly progressive ideologies, there is an increasing number of calls to reduce or eliminate anything that fits under the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) banner.

These include such things as the embedding of welcomes or acknowledgements of country, the support or withdrawal of support for Australia Day or the media coverage of workplace resistance to cultural diversity or inclusion training.

In addition, the perception that governments are not doing enough to assist many in the population with the cost of living, the struggle of wages to keep up or the inability to be able to accumulate advantages (financial support, housing relief, addressing climate change effects etc.) that can be passed on to the next generations, are adding to feelings of discontent.

The frustration with DEI and the feeling of abandonment described above is directly related to persistent fears that individuals are being deprived by institutions, government decisions or the pressure of vested interests, to be able to live a prosperous and successful life. The natural reaction to find, and call out, those that are to blame.

Over the past year, and many times before, we have seen these fears and apportioning of blame placed on immigration and therefore the individuals who appear to have the various characteristics of an ‘immigrant’. They could be identified by their skin colour, accents, level of competence with the English language, how they dress or where they choose to participate in their faith.

Last year, the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Victorian Government released their responses to racism. The AHRC released their National Anti-Racism Framework and the Victorian Government released their Anti-Racism Strategy.

Both publications are based on extensive consultations with those that experience racism and both are committed to reducing or eliminating racism. They equally demonstrate their deep commitment to First Nations peoples and how important this commitment is to ensuring that their specific and ongoing needs are met. They recognise that all peoples deserve to be treated with respect and without fear of discrimination.

Both these strategies justifiably outline initiatives and recommendations designed to support the victims of race-based discrimination, ensuring there are laws, regulations or accountability mechanisms in place to enable people and organisations to be held to account. There are also educational and resource commitments or recommendations intending to create an understanding of the current and historical systems or structures that have created and perpetuated racism specifically.

Although the Victorian Anti-Racism Strategy speaks to their strategy being for all Victorians and that everyone has an active role to play in tackling ‘racism, discrimination and vilification’. It is based on the proposition that some Victorians are victims and others are not, that some Victorians need to learn to be better and that this reprogramming needs to be embedded at the local level along with monitoring and oversight.

The Australian Human Rights Commission’s National Anti-Racism Framework has similar intentions across a broad cross-section of sectors. It makes it very specific that those that need to learn to be better are those that are white. In line with many of the calls that diversity, equity and inclusion policies are unnecessary or misguided, the Race Discrimination Commission in his foreword is asking for an even more deliberate confrontation of racism in our systems, structures and institutions.

If the intention is to reduce, or eliminate, racism, then these strategies and frameworks support an increasingly assertive approach to those that would be identified as white to undertake ongoing formalised anti-racism training, to overtly denounce racism and to actively confront others to do the same.

The fears that drive the perpetrators to enact race-based discrimination believe that they too are the victims of discrimination. That their lifestyles, values and opportunities are compromised as a result of the economy, housing and immigration. Anti-racism strategies only reinforce the view that their issues don’t matter, that they are the problem and that they being deprived of benefits that are being offered to others.

These views are not necessarily true or justified but they are often the perception and as the cliché goes, perception is reality. Creating government publications that fail to address the overall population’s perceptions and therefore their fears of discrimination and mistreatment will doom them to failure.

The Multicultural Framework Review has also been recently published, in a similar fashion it seeks to represent broad segments of the Australian population and recommends means to improve equality and accessibility across our society.

It is similarly based on extensive consultations but also does not reference the drivers of the perpetrators. The intention of this argument is not to address the most extreme or international perpetrators but rather that we need to understand those who may harbour and then choose to act on those they blame for their circumstances.

An acknowledgement and better understanding of the drivers of perpetrators of race-based discrimination is essential before any national or State strategy can be effective.

We need to stop putting all our eggs in the ‘anti-racism strategy basket’ and start to recognise that a more holistic approach where everyone across the population can see themselves as benefitting from the initiatives is the future to reducing discrimination for all.

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