Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Racial Discrimination Act—a landmark piece of legislation that was designed to ensure that all of us are treated equally, regardless of race, ethnicity, background or the colour of our skin. The Racial Discrimination Act also laid the groundwork for the Sex Discrimination Act and the Disability Discrimination Act, both of which have helped us build a more inclusive society. We should commemorate this anniversary and how far we've come. We should also use it as a call to action for how much more we can do to stamp out racism in our communities and make our society more equal for all Australians and for all people who call Australia home.

Late last year, the Australian Human Rights Commission launched the National Anti-Racism Framework, with recommendations and a road map for governments, business and community organisations to address all forms of racism in Australia. The recommendations in that framework call on the Australian government to lead a national response to eliminating racism, starting with truth-telling for First Nations peoples and embedding their right to self-determination. It also recommends the implementation of antiracism action across all sectors, including health, education, the media, the arts and the justice system. So far, those recommendations have been left to gather dust. There's been no formal response from the Labor government and, crucially, no funding for the Australian Human Rights Commission to start implementing that framework.

Everyone deserves to live with dignity, equality and access to justice, but our current systems are failing to deliver. Fifty years on from the Racial Discrimination Act, it remains a vital tool in the fight against racism, but it cannot be the only tool. It's not enough to say that racial discrimination is illegal; we need to be actively antiracist.

Wherever we are in this nation, we are living and working on stolen and unceded land, and we still have a long way to go before we can achieve any semblance of racial equality with First Nations people, let alone justice. First Nations kids are 26 more times likely to be imprisoned than non-Indigenous kids. First Nations women are 33 times as likely to be hospitalised for family violence as non-Indigenous Australians. It's 2025, and we still don't have a truth-telling process in this country. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice referendum campaign clearly showed there is a compelling case for truth-telling and treatymaking to deliver hope, justice and pathways towards healing for this ancient nation. The major parties have not only failed to address these issues; they've also often exacerbated them through divisive rhetoric and policies that neglect the lived realities of racism in Australia.

Australia is a country built on immigration, and we should be proud of that fact. We are enriched by having diverse communities with cultural, linguistic and spiritual traditions, but those communities face systemic racism and discrimination. We've seen an increase in Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian racism and antisemitic threats and attacks alike. These are not isolated incidents; they are part of a deeply worrying trend that demands urgent action. This year we've seen those on the opposite side of the political spectrum ramp up their attempts to harness people's rightful anger at housing and the cost-of-living crisis and try to twist that into an unfounded attack on migrants. We cannot let the major parties or those on the far right demonise migrants and use them to distract from their own failings. The reality is it's inequality and not immigration that people should be angry about.

The Greens are the only party with a standalone antiracism portfolio, held by our fabulous and staunch deputy leader, Senator Faruqi, and we're the only party with a plan to build an antiracist and genuinely multicultural country. We are the ones in this place encouraging people to direct their anger at the real cause of inequality in this country—the big corporations and the ultrawealthy individuals who are pulling the strings behind the two major parties.

Everyone has the right to live without fear of racial violence, abuse and discrimination, and the Greens will always support people and communities left behind by systemic racism, in the face of major parties that seem hell-bent on upholding policies that entrench inequality and injustice.