Racism must face in-depth scrutiny, inquiry told

An advocate says Aboriginal children rarely experience racism as a single moment in time. (Darren England/AAP PHOTOS)

Systems designed to protect children must face in-depth scrutiny, otherwise efforts to address racism will only provide surface-level change, an advocate says.

In a submission to a federal inquiry into racism against Aboriginal people, SA's Guardian for Children and Young People Shona Reid says, for children, it is rarely something experienced as a single moment in time.

"It is experienced across a trajectory, shaping how they come into contact with systems, how they move through them, and where they ultimately arrive," she writes.

"What emerges from oversight is not a series of disconnected events, but a pattern of cumulative harm."

Shona Reid has called for a more in-depth look at racism against Aboriginal children. (Jason O'Brien/AAP PHOTOS)

The inquiry is examining the prevalence, impacts and drivers of racism, hate and violence, as well as existing responses and opportunities for reform.

Ms Reid writes that if it was to meaningfully address racism, it must look closely at the systems that exercise the greatest power over Aboriginal children and young people's lives.

Government data from 2025 shows that despite Aboriginal children accounting for  only 5.5 per cent of young people in SA, they represented 37.9 per cent of all children in care, and 39.8 per cent of all children in out-of-home care.

Aboriginal children are over represented in out-of-home care, putting them at risk of racism. (Lucy Hughes Jones/AAP PHOTOS)

"It is within these systems that racism is most consistently experienced and where reform has the greatest potential to change the trajectory of a child's life," she said.

Recognising this is a call to examine the architecture of the system itself, Ms Reid writes.

"Without this, efforts to address racism will remain focused on surface-level change, while the underlying structures that produce inequity remain intact."

The parliamentary inquiry into racism directed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will take evidence at a hearing in Adelaide on Friday.

Witnesses will include Ms Reid,  SA Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People Dale Agius, and representatives from the SA Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation Network, NPY Women's Council, and the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement.

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