The federal government will provide up to $2 million to support a national register documenting incidents of racism and discrimination against First Nations people.
Call It Out, led by the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), in partnership with the National Justice Project, is the only national, Indigenous-led collection of data on racism and discrimination against First Nations people.
"We have allocated $2 million towards Jumbunna, and to the Call It Out register team, to be able to do the work it needs to do to really tackle this scourge on our country against First Nations people," federal Minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, told reporters on Wednesday.
Call It Out provides a culturally safe and trauma-informed place for First Nations people and other Australians to report incidents of racism. The funding will support the continued operation of the register, including establishing an online data dashboard intended to inform anti-racism policies and responses.
Professor Lindon Coombes from Jumbunna said the institute has been operating Call It Out pro bono for the last four years.
"We've always said with a little bit of a push in resourcing, this will really take off," he said on Wednesday.
"Let people know that it's out there, let people know about the app. And the idea is that we gather a lot of data about where racism happens, whether it's at school, the workplace or in sport. And we take that data, and we do something about it."
National Justice Project CEO George Newhouse said the register was the culmination of years of work.
"There were other communities in Australia that were recording incidents of antisemitism, or Islamophobia, and we learned from those communities, and we came to Jumbunna with the concept of collecting data on racism against First Nations people," he said.
"It's hard to believe that after 220-230 years, no one has kept records of data of racism against First Nations people. And if you don't have data, it's an invisible scourge on our society. It's visible to people who receive it and feel it, but governments don't see it, because they don't see the data."
The latest Call It Out register showed more than a quarter of reported incidents of racism targeting Indigenous Australians involved children and young people.
Of the 442 validated reports, 33 per cent of incidents were aggressive, including hate speech, threats, harassment and physical harm, while more than a quarter involved strangers and 25 per cent involved employees or workers.
Professor Coombes told reporters the data for the register isn't just collected for data purposes, but rather, "looked after" and "used".
"We want, particularly Indigenous people, to know the data, the information that you give us comes to an Indigenous-led, Indigenous majority staffed institute here at Jumbunna," he said.
"We'll be looking...to create a picture of where racism happens and then build on that data to create strategies to address that racism."
Racism towards First Nations people has exploded in recent years, with the recent Senate inquiry into racism hearing numerous incidents of violence, aggression and hate speech — often directed at children.
The Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs inquiry received more than 700 submissions and held public hearings across the country, with many witnesses arguing racism has become more legitimised and publicly acceptable since the 2023 Voice referendum.
The inquiry was launched after a series of high-profile racist incidents, including the alleged terror attack in Boorloo on January 26, the alleged attacks on Camp Sovereignty by neo-Nazis last year, and the booing of Elders delivering a Welcome to Country on Anzac Day.
In August, two "completely blameless" 12-year-old Aboriginal boys were hospitalised with serious injuries after a man allegedly chased and struck them with a ute in Mildura while they were riding a motorised pushbike. Despite their innocence, racist and vigilante comments have inundated social media platforms.
These included calls for the man's alleged actions to be celebrated and for the children to be killed. Numerous media publications initially also failed to mention the children's Aboriginality.
"In listening to some of those and reading the submissions, you can see how prevalent racism is in Australia in regards to First Nations people," Senator McCarthy said on Wednesday.
"Racism is a scourge. It's hateful, it's horrid, it hurts, and it really can paralyse people, in terms of reaching their potential as citizens in this country."
For more information and to make a report visit: https://callitout.com.au/
Lifeline (13 11 14)
13YARN (13 92 76)
Yarning Safe'N'Strong (1800 959 563)
Beyond Blue (1300 22 46 36)
