An online register of racism and discrimination against First Nations people is receiving up to $2 million in Commonwealth funding to help inform anti-racism action.
The federal government has announced the funding ahead of the final report by a parliamentary inquiry into racism, hate and violence directed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
It has received more than 700 submissions and held public hearings across the country.
The register is the only national, Indigenous-led collection of such data, by the University of Technology Sydney’s Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research, in partnership with the National Justice Project.
Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy said the parliamentary inquiry had heard confronting stories from Indigenous people about the hurt and harm they had experienced.
“While we await the committee’s final report, we are not waiting to act,” Senator McCarthy said.
“This investment will strengthen the important work of Call It Out and support efforts to collate rigorous data.”
Callitout.com.au is a culturally safe, trauma-informed website that collects data for analysis by Jumbunna Institute to help raise awareness and drive systematic change.
The government funding will support a new online data dashboard to inform anti-racism action.
The parliamentary inquiry heard of significant gaps in racism reporting and response mechanisms, and that existing systems were fragmented, inconsistent, slow and often culturally unsafe.
Jumbunna Institute's Lindon Coombes said the aim was to generate evidence to inform anti-racism action and policy development, to support the response of First Nations communities, and educate the wider community.
In March, Pat Dudgeon told an Indigenous health conference in Adelaide that racism remained prevalent after the failed Voice referendum gave Australia permission to stage a “redneck jamboree”.
The final report from the Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs is expected in December.
