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Two years on from 7 October 2023, the need to address racism against affected communities in Australia is urgent 

AHRC President Hugh de Kretser

The issue that has dominated my first year in the role as President of the ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ is the impact of the Israel-Hamas war on communities here in Australia. Addressing that impact can be challenging but there are solutions that will help affected communities, including implementing the Commission’s National Anti-Racism Framework. 

Since Hamas’ attack on Israel two years ago and Israel’s ongoing military response, there has been a surge in Australia of antisemitism, anti-Arab racism, anti-Palestinian racism, Islamophobia and prejudice against Israeli Australians. This has been documented by bodies including the Scanlon Foundation, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the Islamophobia Register as well as in the reports of the two Special Envoys to counter antisemitism and Islamophobia. The ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ has also received increased racial vilification complaints related to these issues. 

The severity of the threat was underscored by yesterday’s antisemitic terror attack at a synagogue in Manchester on Yom Kippur, where an attacker murdered two Jewish people and seriously injured four others. Attacks like these reverberate through Jewish communities around the world. We must address the profound hatred and ensure safety for affected communities. 

Talking about the different forms of racism that have risen since 7 October 2023 doesn’t mean equating them or invalidating them. On the contrary, we must recognise that each form of racism has unique aspects demanding unique responses. We must also recognise that all forms of racism have common elements demanding common responses. All communities in Australia have a shared interest in eliminating racism. 

The Commission’s Seen and Heard project supports Jewish, Muslim, Arab, Palestinian and Israeli communities in Australia facing increased racism after 7 October 2023. As part of the project, we held over 150 meetings with 167 people from 78 different organisations. We also conducted 27 community consultations across Australia involving more than 450 people from these diverse communities. 

These consultations have underscored the harm caused by racism in Australia and the connection between the violence overseas and its impacts here. Among all communities, we heard of: physical assault; physical and online abuse; severed friendships; lost opportunities; fear, anger, grief, isolation and being ‘othered’; pressure to shed cultural identity and retreat from public; challenges to feelings of belonging to Australian society; and mental and emotional exhaustion. We heard of communities in Australia being unjustly blamed and vilified for the actions overseas of the Government of Israel, Hamas and others.  

People told us that compounding these experiences is the feeling that these impacts are not being properly acknowledged in the broader Australian community. Across all communities we consulted, a theme that stood out was that communities are being made to feel less human than others around them – a process of dehumanisation. 

When Hamas’ massacre, rape and kidnap of Jews and Israelis on 7 October 2023 is not acknowledged, is downplayed or worse, is celebrated, it dehumanises them. By extension, it dehumanises Jewish and Israeli Australians. 

When Israel’s devastation in Gaza including killing over 60,000 Palestinian people, inflicting mass starvation and destroying or damaging hundreds of thousands of homes, is ignored, downplayed or said to be justified, it dehumanises them. By extension it dehumanises Palestinian Australians and Arab and Muslim Australians who identify with them. 

Failing to recognise suffering, wherever it occurs, strips people of their humanity. It says that their lives, their suffering, matters less. This is felt deeply by communities here whose loved ones have died or endured horror overseas.  Human rights standards require us to address unjust human suffering without discrimination. When we diminish or fail to acknowledge the abuses being experienced by one group, we diminish the human rights of all. 

Many people in Australia want the actions of the Government of Israel to be recognised as genocide. Others oppose this characterisation. Genocide involves acts committed with intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group in whole or in part, such as killing members of the group or deliberately inflicting conditions of life on the group that are calculated to bring about its physical destruction.  

It’s not the role of the ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ, with our legislative focus on human rights in Australia, to determine on the evidence whether Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide. Many experts have concluded that genocide is occurring, including the . The International Court of Justice is currently considering against Israel and will rule definitively on this. Separately, the International Criminal Court issued for Israeli and Hamas leaders to face charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes such as intentionally attacking civilians and starvation.  

To address racism here in Australia, in the past year the Commission has released the National Anti-Racism Framework and the Special Envoys against and have both released their respective reports. 

There are common elements in the recommendations of all three reports including improving education and legal protections. Our primary recommendation is for the Australian Government to establish a National Anti-Racism Taskforce with senior government, community and Commission members. The Taskforce would examine the relevant recommendations to identify priority actions and implementation plans. It would also ensure there is an expert advisory body ready to support the Government in its efforts to address racism. We urge the Australian Government to create the Taskforce. 

Many people in Australia understandably feel strongly about what is happening in Israel and Gaza. We need to ensure that people’s rights to gather together and speak up about injustice are not unduly restricted by Australian governments. Human rights standards help governments to make the right decisions to protect protest while respecting the rights of others. Peaceful protest is a critical part of our democracy and should be supported by governments. Any limitation on protest must be strictly necessary and reasonable. While protests generally should not be restricted based on the ideas or viewpoints taken by protesters, governments must address hate speech and the incitement of violence. Our protest rights explainer sets out the relevant principles. 

We also need to help Australian workplaces and institutions make good decisions in this context. Workplaces must comply with laws that prohibit discrimination on the grounds of race, religion and political opinion. They must ensure health and safety for staff. They should only limit employees’ freedom of expression where it is reasonable. Certain sectors like universities, the arts and the public service have specific obligations around academic freedom, artistic freedom and impartiality respectively. We need to help workplaces get it right.  

In this regard, the Commission is conducting a landmark national study into racism at universities. We have conducted focus groups with students and staff and our national survey has now closed. The study is looking at all forms of racism, including against First Peoples students and staff. Given the impact of the Israel-Hamas war in Australia, the study is particularly significant for Jewish, Muslim, Palestinian and Arab students and staff. Our final report will document the prevalence and nature of racism and set out practical recommendations for universities on how to respond to it.  

For people fleeing the violence overseas, the Australian Government has an important role to play in adopting a compassionate, sustainable, non-discriminatory humanitarian response. And on the international stage, the Government must contribute effectively to efforts to end the war in Gaza, ensure humanitarian support, safely return the remaining hostages, promote accountability for war crimes and ensure a sustainable, just peace.  

The Israel-Hamas war has fractured Australian society, sparked sharp rises in racism and brought great distress to many in Australia who are connected to the events overseas. We need to protect their human rights and in doing so, we must not lose sight of our common humanity. 

ENDS | 3/10/2025