New data from Reconciliation Australia shows strong public support for reconciliation and truth-telling, but also a rise in Indigenous people reporting experiences of racism.
The group's latest survey - the 2024 Australian Reconciliation Barometer (ARB) – found 85 per cent of Australians believe the relationship between non-Indigenous and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is important.
The ARB is undertaken every two years to measure the attitudes and perceptions First Nations people and non-Indigenous Australians hold about each other and about key issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The 2024 survey was conducted almost a year after the Voice referendum campaign and at a time when Australians juggled cost-of-living pressures at home, while violent conflicts and extreme climate events wreaked havoc across the world.
Reconciliation Australia chief executive Karen Mundine said she was encouraged by the latest survey findings.
"Despite the economic and global challenges and despite the disinformation and racism we witnessed during the referendum campaign, the 2024 ARB results show that most Australians share an enduring optimism in the possibility of a more united Australia and believe that the Federal Government should do more to advance reconciliation," she said.
"It gives us hope to report that Australians now largely accept the truths of our history, place importance on our relationships with each other, and are prepared to work together.
"I am particularly heartened by this latest ARB data indicating growing support for reconciliation from two critical demographic groups: multicultural Australians and young Australians."
"Tension" in the data
Ms Mundine told National Indigenous Times that there was, to an extent, a "tension in some of the data" in regards to increasing reports of racism despite popular support for reconciliation.
The 2024 ARB indicated a rise in First Nations people experiencing racism since the 2022 ARB.
"More than half of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people surveyed reported experiencing racial discrimination in the past six months. Not only has there been rise in these experiences since 2022, but we have seen a significant increase in racism the last decade," she said, with the 2014 Survey finding 39 per cent reported experienced racism compared with 54 per cent in 2024.
"Of particular concern is that younger Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples experience racism at higher levels than all other age groups, with 68 per cent of First Nations people aged 25-34 years old experiencing at least one form of racial prejudice in the past six months.
"This exposure to racism has meant that half of the First Nations people surveyed feel unable to be true to their cultural identity in their community, in their dealings with government departments and in the criminal justice system.
"This is a shocking finding and adds weight to calls for governments to fully implement the National Anti-Racism Framework, as a key established mechanism to address systemic racism in Australia."
Ms Mundine told National Indigenous Times one of the things the data shows is that "there is an overwhelmingly positive response to, for example, Reconciliation Action Plans; when organisations do proactive things to talk about history, truth-telling, we see attitudes and actions start to change".
"It often only takes a small group, small committed group, to create dissent and disharmony and I think that's what we are seeing. We can't just say because people are reporting or feeling more experiences of racism that is only because things are getting worse; part of it is also people better understand what racism looks like, how it sounds, and people are more prepared to call that out – I think that has an influence on the numbers as well.
"The referendum and the times around it –we saw sharp increases in the 2022 and 2024 surveys – is having an effect.
"The overall impression is that we want to be better, we want our relationship to be good, we see that it is important and imperative to who we are as Australians."
Views of multicultural Australians
The 2024 ARB shows that multicultural Australians believe more strongly in the importance of relationships in building unity than mainstream Australians and are more driven to take action on reconciliation.
Multicultural Australians believe in the importance of truth-telling at higher levels than Anglo-Australians (81 per cent compared to 67 per cent) and are more than twice as likely to have participated in a local truth-telling activity than Anglo-Australians.
They are more likely to have attended a First Nations art exhibition or museum display or a celebration of First Nations culture.
Multicultural Australians more strongly believe the wrongs of the past must be rectified before all Australians can move forward (36 per cent compared to 24 per cent).
"Our ARB respondents from multicultural backgrounds show significant support for the key principles of reconciliation," Ms Mundine said.
"Our challenge is to ensure that this support is consolidated with access to good information in languages other than English, and more opportunities for interaction with First Nations people."
The voice of youth
Ms Mundine noted that the 2024 ARB data shows young Australians have more positive attitudes towards unity, cultural understanding, and the importance of truth-telling than older Australians.
"Young Australians are more committed to acting in support of reconciliation (66 per cent compared to 47 per cent), they are more likely to recognise racism in Australia and more than 90 per cent of them believe it is important to learn about the impact of European colonisation and government policy on First Nations Australians.
"They overwhelmingly support having Welcome to Country ceremonies at major sporting events (80 per cent compared to 55 per cent of older Australians) and official dual naming of important sites.
"And they believe, at rates more than double that of the general community, that the wrongs of the past must be rectified before all Australians can move forward (58 per cent to 28 per cent.
"Young Australians are showing the way, and we must harness their energy and positivity into the future, if we are to achieve a reconciled and more just nation."
In the workplace
Reconciliation Australia's survey of people employed by organisations with a Reconciliation Action Plan – the Workplace RAP Barometer (WRB) – shows increased understanding of, and support for, reconciliation compared with the general population.
Every two years Reconciliation Australia conducts the WRB, surveying employees in organisations with a RAP.
The WRB survey results have been compared with responses from the general population drawn from the 2024 ARB to give an indication of the impact of RAPs on understanding of First Nations histories and cultures and attitudes towards reconciliation.
RAP employees have higher knowledge of the history of colonial Australia than the general community (70 per cent of RAP employees compared to 60 per cent in the general community), and most believe the Australian people should be educating themselves about First Nations histories and cultures in response to the referendum result (72 per cent compared to 42 per cent in the general community).
The Reconciliation Australia CEO said that the more than 3,000 RAP organisations with members and employees making up over five million Australians are clearly having a significant influence on Australian attitudes.
Optimism a guiding light
Ms Mundine told National Indigenous Times the public's "desire and hope" for a better Australia is "the guiding light for us".
"We know that when people get exposed to activities whether it is truth-telling, things that talk about Country, particularly where it is directly relevant to them – communities they live in, learning the history, learning the stories, learning the connection within their workplace to First Nations communities… We know when there are these multiple touch points people's attitudes start to change, people start to understand how history continues to have an impact on today, and how that has shaped the inequalities we find ourselves in," she told National Indigenous Times.
"That becomes the driving force for us. Yes, it's happening slower than we would like but it is possible to make those changes, it is possible to have these bigger conversations about how we create change now, for the future."
