Kind Enterprises Submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Racism, Hate and Violence directed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Executive Summary
This submission is presented to the Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs by Tanya Hosch AM and Erfan Daliri of Kind Enterprises. We propose that the racial hatred and violence experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is not simply an aspect of the racism experienced by other groups, but the epicentre of all racism experienced by other racially marginalised groups in Australia. We draw on Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholarship which also suggests that racism is not only the overt racial vilification, discrimination, socioeconomic disparity and violence, but further to that, it is a sentiment prevalent even in progressive spaces in Australian, rooted in a sense of cultural superiority. Built on this sense of cultural superiority, is the condescension, paternalism, and the predictable expression of racial resentment evident in all settler colonial states anxious and guilt-ridden about the survival of the peoples it presumed would die out. We argue that this expression of racial resentment has recently been amplified rather than addressed by many structures and institutions. We also maintain that racism and its impacts are poorly understood in Australia.
We identify five issues at the centre of the present moment: the ongoing systemic failure to implement the recommendations of past inquiries, royal commissions and coronial findings; the emboldenment of overt and covert racism through the normalisation of racist political rhetoric and the complacency of those who would otherwise oppose it; the pervasive operation of affinity bias within the very roles tasked with responding to racism in workplaces, schools and other public institutions; the absence of genuine and ongoing accountability across the turnover of public and private sector leadership; and the persistent undermining of First Nations self-determination through the paternalistic posture of institutions that continue to position themselves as the proper authority on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs.
This submission documents the escalation of public disrespect toward Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the spike in racism following the Voice referendum, the worsening of the Closing the Gap targets, the structural failure to implement decades of national recommendations, and the everyday racism faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees, students and community members across the country. The submission closes with five recommendations grounded in the Indigenous-led infrastructure that already exists, the Australian legislative framework that already binds, and the practical lessons of more than two decades of anti-racism work in Australian institutions.
Key Identified Issues
Ongoing systemic failure to address and implement already identified issues and recommendations from previous reports, commissions and inquiries. There is a well-documented history of commissions and inquiries, and sector-wide or organisational level reports and reviews which continue to remain unimplemented.
Emboldenment of overt racism and covert racist sentiment as a combined result of normalised racist political rhetoric and collective inaction on prevalent issues. The response to speaking up about racism is far more antagonistic and robust, than the response to actual racist rhetoric in parliament and in the policy framework of politicians.
Racist affinity bias identified within the roles and positions responsible for responding to racism in workplaces and places of education across the country. The reason why racism remains unaddressed is due to the collective shame and affinity shared between beneficiaries of systemic racism.
Lack of requirements for genuine ongoing accountability and leadership due to the turnover rate of public and private sector leadership positions. The failure to achieve outcomes, objectives, targets, and avoid accountability for catastrophic failures of duty of care to maintain commitment to anti-racism strategies and action plans is due to the ease with which those in positions of responsibility change jobs, roles and organisations.
Undermining of self-determination as a result of the continued contestation of the principle of the right to self-determination of First Nations peoples.
Anti-Racism Recommendations:
Recommendation 1:
Standing National Anti-Racism Commission with Enforcement Powers
The Australian Government should establish a permanent, independent National Anti-Racism Commission with a mandate that extends beyond education and awareness to include investigative authority, enforceable compliance standards, and the power to refer matters for prosecution under existing racial vilification and anti-discrimination legislation. The Commission should be co-designed and majority-led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, with dedicated First Nations representation embedded in its governance structure. Its remit should include the monitoring of political rhetoric for compliance with racial vilification standards, closing the gap between aspirational government policy and legally enforceable obligation.
Recommendation 2:
Legislate a Positive Duty on Employers and Institutions to Prevent Racism
The Australian Government should amend the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) to introduce a positive duty on all employers, educational institutions, and service providers to take proactive, reasonable, and ongoing steps to prevent racial discrimination and vilification — mirroring the positive duty on sexual harassment introduced under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) following the Respect@Work reforms. Compliance with this duty should be independently audited, publicly reported, and enforced with meaningful financial and reputational consequences for failure. This recommendation directly addresses the submission's finding that the current opt-in, complaint-driven model systemically fails racialised people by placing the burden of proof and the risk of retaliation entirely on the victim.
Recommendation 3:
Mandate Independently Audited Anti-Racism Action Plans
All Commonwealth Government departments, publicly funded institutions, large private-sector employers and NGOs working with racially marginalised people and communities should be required to develop, implement, publish, and independently audit Anti-Racism Action Plans. These plans must include: specific, measurable targets for the reduction of racial discrimination, disparity and inequity; named accountability holders at executive and board level; transparent reporting against prior commitments; and escalating consequences for organisations that fail to meet or substantively progress their stated targets. Action plans should not be substituted with diversity statements, cultural awareness programming, or Reconciliation Action Plans alone, they must explicitly name racism, set anti-racism objectives, and be evaluated against outcomes rather than activities.
Recommendation 5:
Mandatory Anti-Racism Training
All Commonwealth-funded workplaces and educational institutions should be required to deliver evidence-based, structurally-focused anti-racism training to all staff, including senior leadership and those in human resources, people and culture, complaints-handling, and disciplinary functions. Training must go beyond awareness-raising and cultural competency to address the mechanisms of systemic, structural racism, institutional and interpersonal racism, and the documented failure of internal complaint processes. Training providers must be accredited, curriculum must be independently reviewed, and completion must be tracked. Training programmes led or co-designed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander practitioners and organisations should be prioritised for funding and procurement. Training alone is insufficient without structural change; this recommendation is therefore to be implemented as a component of the broader Action Plan framework described in Recommendation 3, not as a substitute for it.
Recommendation 5:
Binding Implementation Accountability for Existing Inquiry Recommendations
The Australian Government should establish a formal, independent mechanism — with reporting obligations to the Parliament, to track, assess, and publicly report on the implementation status of all outstanding recommendations from Royal Commissions, parliamentary inquiries, coronial inquests, and national reports addressing the welfare, safety, rights, and self-determination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This mechanism should have the authority to issue implementation notices and escalate persistent non-compliance. The continued failure to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (1991), the Bringing Them Home report (1997), and the Royal Commission and Board of Inquiry into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory (2017), among many others, is not a resource problem or a knowledge problem; it is an accountability problem, and it requires a structural accountability solution.
About the Authors
Tanya Hosch AM - Ms Tanya Hosch is the Director of the Goodes O'Loughlin Foundation (GO Foundation) and chair for the Advisory Committee for the Centre for Indigenous People and Work (UTS). An accomplished public speaker with her long and distinguished history in Australian Indigenous policy, advocacy, and governance, Ms Hosch was recently the Executive General Manager Inclusion and Social Policy at the Australian Football League (AFL). Before joining the AFL as the first Indigenous person and second woman in its executive ranks in August 2016, Ms Hosch was the joint campaign director of the Recognise Movement for Constitutional Recognition. At the AFL, Ms Hosch’s portfolios included Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues, gender equality, sexuality and gender diversity, racism, and sexism. Ms Hosch is a Co-Chair of the Indigenous Advisory Group of the National Australia Bank and was a member of the Referendum Council that led the process and final recommendation that resulted in The Uluru Statement of the Heart in May 2017.
Erfan Daliri – Mr Erfan Daliri is a Baha’i born in India, and of Iranian heritage, who moved to Australia as a child with his parents in 1984. Erfan was worked in the field of multicultural affairs, community development and social change strategy for over 20 years and has experience in participatory development, youth work, advocacy, migrant services and arts for social change. He is currently the CEO of Kind Enterprises, providing racial justice coaching, consulting and education services to government, NGO and private sector clients across Australia. Erfan has a Masters in Communication for Social Change from the University of Queensland, is the founding-director of Newkind Social Justice Conference, and the Chairperson of the Australian Centre for Social Equity
