Academics from the Centre for Indigenous People and Work (CIPW) are urging the federal government to expand protections for First Nations people under the proposed Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill 2026, warning without intersectional safeguards, racism and discrimination will continue.

On Monday, Federal Minister for Home Affairs, Tony Burke, referred an Exposure Draft of the Bill to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (the Committee). Among its comprehensive package of reforms, the bill aims to "further criminalise antisemitic, hateful and extremist conduct" through penalties reflecting the seriousness of the conduct.

However, academics from the CIPW, a self-determined, joint initiative of the University of Technology Sydney's (UTS) Jumbunna Institute and Business School, have spoken out.

In a formal submission to the Committee on Wednesday, they stated the proposed bill, while well-intentioned, fails to explicitly protect First Nations people, particularly in workplaces.

The submission was co-written by three of CIPW's staff: CIPW director Professor Nareen Young, assistant director Joshua Gilbert and research director Professor Jane O'Leary.

"This is a crucial bill for the country, and we thought it was important that our voice be heard," Professor Young told National Indigenous Times.

"We believe that the legislation proposed is worth supporting, but we would think it only appropriate to expand it to all of the targeted groups, including First Nations people."

The CIPW's submission highlighted three key areas where the bill could be improved to better address systemic discrimination.

Who is the Bill protecting?

The submission's first recommendation calls for the Bill to be broadened to explicitly protect other targeted groups, including First Nations peoples.

It calls into question who the Bill is protecting, with a gap in explicit coverage other than anti-semitism, risking leaving other marginalised communities without the same legal protections.

Additionally, it notes Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO, Peter Wertheim, has "also backed a push to broaden the new offence to capture hate based on other inherent attributes such as gender identity, sexual orientation, age or disability...".

First Nations peoples and intersectional identities

The second recommendation focuses on recognising the intersecting forms of discrimination experienced by First Nations peoples, particularly those who are LGBTIQ+ and/or living with disability.

"We know from our research that First Nations peoples, like non-Indigenous people, experience compounded discrimination and racial harm when they have a lived experience of being LGBTIQ+ and/or having a disability," the submission stated.

The CIPW believes limiting protections to race alone risks creating unequal protection under the law.

"Delimiting the protections to race only creates a hierarchy of protections, and yet if hate is unacceptable for one group, it must be unacceptable for all, especially for First Nations people who face intersecting harms arising from their LGBTIQ+ and disability identities," the submission stated.

A national racism at work inquiry

The submission also recommended a National Racism at Work inquiry and a comprehensive review of the current Racial Discrimination Act to ensure it "addresses modern workplace manifestations of racism".

They believe through coordinated action, the root causes of systemic racism can be addressed to provide real remedies for at-risk employees, such as First Nations employees.

"At the current rate of change, without further policy or legislative change, we estimate it could take another 118 years for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander workers to never hear racial slurs and jokes at work," the submission reads.

"And this is only for racial slurs - there was no reduction in unfair treatment at work, so without positive action, unfair workplace treatment for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people is unlikely to improve."

The CIPW asserts broadening the protections in the Bill is necessary to address racism and discrimination.

"We strongly recommend extending its scope to ensure First Nations peoples are robustly protected from the endemic unfair treatment and racial slurs identified in our research, extending protections to LGBTIQ+ people and people with disabilities to acknowledge the unique intersectional lived experiences of First Nations people," they said.

Professor Young reaffirmed the recommendations.

"We want to ensure the parliamentary inquiry system allows mob and others to be heard. We want to hear the experience of people, in our case, particularly First Nations people who have experienced discrimination at work," she told National Indigenous Times.