Federal Labor has been accused of dragging its feet on a plan to combat systemic racism in Australia, nearly 18 months after it received recommendations from the human rights commission.
New documents released to the Senate show no progress on the national strategy delivered to the government and published in November 2024 – despite the race discrimination commissioner imploring the government to take action in five letters and at least two meetings.
Released days ahead of the first hearings of the royal commission into antisemitism, the documents, requested by the Greens, cover communications between the commission and the attorney general, Michelle Rowland.
They reveal that the race discrimination commissioner, Giridharan Sivaraman, wrote five times and held at least two meetings with Rowland, pleading with the government to adopt their proposed anti-racism framework. Rowland replied four times that the recommendations were “being carefully considered”.
The government has defended its response to combating racial hatred, citing the upcoming royal commission as well as work done by the Islamophobia and antisemitism special envoys, the former which the government is also yet to respond to.
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia emailThe Greens deputy leader, Mehreen Faruqi, said the documents showed a “clear and troubling pattern” that the government was commissioning and receiving reports but failing to act on them.
“Time after time, the race discrimination commissioner has urged this government to act, and every time his pleas have been ignored,” Faruqi told Guardian Australia.
The framework makes 63 recommendations, including establishing a national anti-racism taskforce, creating a standalone Human Rights Act, and implementing a positive duty to eliminate racism across employers and businesses, the health and housing sectors. Labor introduced a similar duty to eliminate sexual harassment in 2022.
In a letter to the minister on 1 September following anti-immigration rallies that targeted the Indian community, Sivaraman wrote, “Until we address the structural roots of racism and reform our systems and institutions, this racist bile will continue to spill onto our streets, making all of us less safe.”
Rowland responded three weeks later that the government was still “carefully considering” the framework recommendations as well as the special envoys’ reports. The royal commission is due to hand down its findings in December.
Some in Labor have been openly frustrated by the government’s lack of response to the framework, including former cabinet minister Ed Husic, who was the first Muslim frontbencher, and has repeatedly called on his party to tackle the issue.
“We have an issue with racism in this country,” he told the Rational Fear podcast in March. “The anti racism framework, we haven’t responded to that, we’ve got to get working on it.”
Other Labor MPs privately told Guardian Australia they wanted to see a formal response to the framework to show the government was taking racism seriously.
One MP said the commissioner was “owed” a response and questioned whether the royal commission would be able to address racism broadly.
But others in Labor said the issue had drastically changed in the last year and the framework was no longer the best policy pathway.
Islamic and Jewish groups have also called on Labor to address the framework.
Imam Shadi Alsuleiman, the president of the Australian National Imams Council, said “we need implementation” of the plan.
Dr Rateb Jneid, the president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, urged the government to introduce a positive duty to prevent racism.
“Given the rise in Islamophobia since its launch, it is disappointing that the government has not formally responded and ministers are still describing it as guidance for future work,” he said.
Bart Shteinman, executive officer of the progressive advocacy group Jewish Council of Australia, called the framework the most “comprehensive, evidence-based and consulted on” approach to tackling antisemitism and racism and said the JCA would encourage the royal commission to endorse it.
Peter Doukas, chair of the Federation of Ethnic Communities Council of Australia, said implementing the framework was a “no brainer”.
“There is a social cohesion crisis going on, possibly it will get worse, and we want to work to … combat the growth of insular, unhistorical policies and views.”
