2022-03-21
On the UN International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (IDERD), The Greens have announced their election plan to build an anti-racist Australia.
With racism on the rise, the Australian government must urgently tackle the root causes of racial hatred, discrimination and white supremacy.
The Greens will:
- Mandate anti-racism training for all Commonwealth employees and federal Members of Parliament;
- Provide $50 million over four years for a fully-funded national anti-racism strategy that centres First Nations and racial minorities;
- Provide $10 million to develop a national hate crimes database and better data collection on racial disparities and discrimination;
- Make hate speech illegal.
The Greens will also introduce policies targeted at strengthening multiculturalism, including by establishing a federal Multicultural Commission and Multicultural Act, and commiting to a referendum to amend section 44 of the Constitution so dual citizens can run for parliament.
Quotes attributable to Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Greens spokesperson for Anti-Racism:
“Racism is widespread in Australia and it’s beyond time we had a coordinated national approach to prevent racism and tackle far-right racist extremism.
“We’re done tinkering around the edges. It’s time for an honest reckoning with the toxic racism in this country and to challenge white supremacy in the very echelons of leadership from where racist filth still dribbles out.
“Parliament remains a racist place, where even MPs feel free to spout racial hatred. It’s time to challenge their white privilege and show them what anti-racism looks like, what real respect looks like and what a genuinely equal society should look like.
“The time for polite talk is over. MPs need to be forced to the table to see their own white privilege, unpack white supremacy and learn about the racist colonial past of Australia. Sit with it, even if it makes you uncomfortable.
“Australia has a bloody history that is tainted with dispossession and violence. This violence, oppression and discrimination against First Nations people has never ceased; it continues to this day in the settler-colonial systems and structures of this country.
“Racism causes direct personal harm and trauma to people of colour, but is also extremely dangerous and a real threat to our wellbeing and safety, and it impacts negatively on society as a whole.
“There is no nice way to say this, but we have yet to reckon with the fact that Australia is the country that raised the Christchurch killer. Far-right extremism and Islamophobia that inspired the Christchurch killer is not just present here, it is growing.
“Three years on from the Christchurch mosque attacks, where an Australian white supremacist killed 51 innocent Muslims, we are yet to see any dedicated federal commitment to tackling the root causes of racism and white supremacy in this country.
“A big injection of federal funds will be required to empower communities, collect the appropriate data, and really start to shift the dial on racism.
“Australia’s leaders have legitimised and encouraged extremism and racism, by blaming migrant communities for social problems. The Greens will mandate robust, effective anti-racism training that addresses white privilege and systemic racism for all Commonwealth employees and federal MPs.
“Whether it is Islamophobia, antisemitism, anti-Asian hate or systemic racism against First Nations people, racial discrimination damages the physical, psychological, and social wellbeing of our community.
“Everyone has the right to live without fear of racial violence, abuse and discrimination.”