When independent MPs walked into the Mural Hall at Parliament House this week carrying a basket of unresolved parliamentary inquiries labelled "Albanese's too hard basket," the symbolism was clear: Reports don't mean anything if they are not actioned.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Indigenous affairs portfolio.
As the government launches a new inquiry into racism, hate and violence directed at First Peoples, the greater challenge will not be examining the problem, but ensuring the findings are acted upon.
The Labor-dominated Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs will examine the nature, scale and impact of racism, hate and violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Yet history suggests that the real test will come after the hearings conclude and the report is tabled.
Australia has no shortage of inquiries documenting the harms experienced by First Nations communities. Again and again, people have come forward to share deeply personal and painful experiences, only to see the resulting recommendations delayed, diluted or ignored.
As Senator Lidia Thorpe warned on Thursday, such reports can end up sitting on shelves gathering dust.
The pattern is long established. More than three decades after the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody delivered its findings, many of its recommendations remain only partially implemented, with governments across the country happily backtracking on commitments to suit political agendas.
Similar criticisms have followed the Don Dale Royal Commission, convened after images of abuse in youth detention shocked the nation. In 2024, the Northern Territory government's decision to reintroduce spit hoods in youth prisons was nothing but a reversal of reforms championed in the inquiry's aftermath.
The same pattern has played out with the Bringing Them Home report. Nearly 30 years after its release, only a small proportion of its recommendations have been fully implemented, even as survivors continue to age and pass away.
Dr Hannah McGlade, a Noongar woman and associate professor at Curtin Law School, told the ABC the federal government's response to racism has lacked urgency since the defeat of the Voice referendum.
"The lack of implementation of the inquiry into the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is concerning," she said.
"We're a country that says we uphold human rights and respect the rights of Indigenous peoples, but we're not taking these steps that we need to, to make sure that those rights are actually being recognised in Australia."
For many observers, this long record raises a central question: will this latest inquiry be different? Katie Kiss, Australia's Social Justice Commissioner, was blunt about what is required.
"Government already knows what needs to change; this Inquiry must turn that knowledge into concrete action, with timelines and accountability."
The concern among some advocates is that while racism directed at First Peoples is widely documented, it is still too often downplayed or treated as episodic rather than systemic.
Recent events have underscored those concerns.
The alleged terror attack at an Invasion Day rally in Boorloo/Perth has been treated by many as an isolated incident, despite growing warnings about far-right extremism targeting Indigenous people.
Likewise, last year's attack by neo-Nazis on Camp Sovereignty — a sacred site in Naarm containing the repatriated remains of 38 Aboriginal Victorians — drew comparatively muted national outrage compared with other extremist incidents.
Meanwhile, everyday racism — including harassment, discriminatory policies, over-policing, and public dog whistles — continues to be documented by community organisations and oversight bodies.
Within government, there is little doubt about the sincerity of Labor's First Nations caucus in pushing for change. Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy has repeatedly spoken about the need to confront racism, and in conversations with National Indigenous Times has acknowledged that more must be done.
Other Labor figures, including Senator Stewart, Senator Dorinda Cox and MP Marion Scrymgour, have also pushed for stronger responses to racism, both through public advocacy and policy initiatives.
But government, as several Indigenous leaders have noted privately, moves slowly. Progress in Indigenous affairs can be incremental in the best circumstances — and vulnerable to reversal in the worst.
It's why community organisations remain cautious about engaging with yet another inquiry process. The fear is not that the evidence will be lacking, but that it will once again be documented, tabled and forgotten.
Commissioner Kiss stressed this week that the problem of racism is not new. Rather, "it has shaped our lives since colonisation and continues to cause profound harm," she said.
"The time is now. This Senate Inquiry must produce concrete actions by Government that actually change outcomes for our communities."
