My name is Giridharan Sivaraman and I'm the Commonwealth Race Discrimination Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today.
I wish to acknowledge the Kaurna peoples as traditional custodians of the land we are meeting on and recognise any other people or families with connection to the lands of this region.
I wish to acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this city and this region.
I would also like to acknowledge and welcome other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who may be attending today's event.
Acknowledging that I'm on country is important. For me, as a non-First Nations person, but who has lived experience of racism and is leading anti-racism work, it's important to understand the difference between the racism someone like me suffers, and that which is suffered and has been suffered for 238 years by First Nations people. Someone like me may suffer racism through a denial of equality, dignity and respect. The racism First Nations people suffered and continue to suffer is also a denial of equality, dignity and respect. But in addition, it is a denial of self-determination and sovereignty which included the taking of their land by settlers before me. And I, as a settler, have benefited from that denial of sovereignty. I have benefited from the taking of their land. Therefore, it is a small but important step for me to acknowledge I'm on country.
As many of you know, this week has been traditionally celebrated as Harmony Week in Australia, and the 21st of March as Harmony Day. This is the context in which I've been invited here to speak today.
The 21st of March has been a date globally recognised as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (IDERD). It was designated as such by the UN in 1966 and began as a day of mourning. It is a day set aside to annually observe and reflect on the mass murder of 69 people, by police, at a peaceful demonstration against apartheid in Sharpeville, South Africa. The United Nations frames the day as one in which we should be "building solidarity with the peoples struggling against racism and racial discrimination."
For me, it is somewhat jarring that a day recognising a massacre born of racism, is replaced with a day of celebration under the banner of Harmony Day. And Australia is the only country in the world to do so. Harmony is a wonderful ideal. But we have to ask ourselves, as a country, why are we so loathe to talk about racism? Because to get to a harmonious society, we first need to address racism.
Racism is rarely about race. Ta Nehise Coates wrote, 'race is the child, racism is the parent'. It's usually about power and privilege. Structural racism ensures that power and privilege is maintained by the dominant race. In Australia that dominancy is white. It is white Anglo race, culture and identity which remains dominant, and structurally so.
If you are white, it's the power and privilege to know that the institutions around you were built by people like you, for people like you and privilege people like you.
It is also the power and privilege to decide on the narratives that influence politics and public discourse.
It was a deliberate decision to rename IDERD to Harmony Day. The change was made in 1999 under former Prime Minister John Howard, to celebrate diversity and multiculturalism, instead of focusing on racism and discrimination.
Celebrating the diversity within our communities has value. However, in Australia, the refusal to name and confront racism has prevented meaningful progress on eliminating it. In our work at the AHRC we have found that approaches to anti-racism across all levels of government is ad-hoc, disjointed and piece meal. Many areas of government don't even want to use the word racism. They would rather use terms like social cohesion, or harmony. Racism isn't Beetlejuice. Naming it doesn't make a demon appear, the demon is already amongst us. Anyone who's watched a horror movie knows that closing your eyes and pretending the monster isn't there doesn't make it go away. It'll still get you.
Australia is often eager to promote itself as a successful multicultural nation. But are we genuinely pluralistic or are you forced to express your culture in the shadows? I think of my own life and journey into the world of law. I was brought up in a Tamil speaking, Hindu, teetotalling, vegetarian household. I was acutely conscious of fitting into the world of law. It rewarded conformity not difference. I let go of Tamil so as to not sound different. It's a beautiful language, of poetry and literature but it had no place anywhere outside private spaces. I remember my ceremony to be admitted as a lawyer. I was given a choice of an oath on a bible or a secular affirmation. No room for Hindu beliefs there. I remember attending events started with a Christian prayer. Even now the only religious public holidays recognised by law are Christian ones. Alcohol was the key to mingling with clients or other lawyers, otherwise you were left out. So, all I maintained was my vegetarianism. For a while their veganism was in vogue which meant i was cool for a bit but that quickly passed. I'm part of the multicultural success story. Yet my culture, language and religion were all obstacles to my success.
When it comes to calling the 21st of March IDERD or Harmony Day, it can be easy to say that it's just a choice of words. But words are never neutral.
Throughout history, language has been used to label people, to erase struggles and to strategically shape political narratives. In Australia's own history, racist policies enacted towards First Nations communities were called 'protection policies'. Yet these policies involved abhorrent racial segregation, dispossession, and the tragedies that we now refer to as the Stolen Generations.
Language is powerful. It can empower people or silence them. It can expose or obscure the truth. It can challenge or reinforce injustice.
In this case, replacing acknowledgement of racism with words of harmony risks contributing to the notion that racism is not a significant problem in Australia -- one that requires urgent attention and policy change.
In 2024, polling by Essential Media found only 37% of respondents believed Australia was a racist country. Meanwhile 64% expressed that they were scared to say what they really think in case they'd be labelled as racist. Spoiler alert: if a person is worried that something they want to say may lead to being called racist… most of the time, that's because it is racist.
And despite the Essential Poll showing only about a third of people acknowledge racism is rife across our society, reports of racism are only rising. For example, many organisations and peak bodies, including Reconciliation SA, have noted the increase in notifications of racism since the referendum in 2023.
Moving forward
Racial literacy and intro to Framework
Before we can tackle racism, it is necessary to first meaningfully acknowledge the issue. We must call out racism for what it is and recognise its ongoing harms, instead of allowing it to be obscured under words like harmony or social cohesion.
But there is still cause for optimism. That's because we have a roadmap for the future.
In November, the Commission released the National Anti-Racism Framework. It contains 63 recommendations for a whole of society approach, with proposed reforms across Australia's legal, justice, health, education, media and arts sectors as well as workplaces and data collection.
In the Framework, a key theme is the need to build racial literacy. When I walk into a room, people will automatically have assumptions about me based on my name and the way I look. Understanding that is racial literacy. The next step is understanding how our institutions and systems disadvantage some people based on race. That is building our racial literacy in a way that allows us to improve our institutions and systems.
Stronger racial literacy across society is essential for initiatives like the Framework to properly address racism in all forms across vital areas of our lives like health, education, workplaces, justice and the media.
Learning and education
Skills in racial literacy are built over a lifetime.
None of us can be expected to know everything. For us to tackle racism, we must all make a genuine commitment to ongoing learning and educating both ourselves and others.
I am encouraged by noting that Reconciliation SA has taken proactive steps to deliver anti-racism training at schools and organisations.
However, enhancing racial literacy and education alone is not sufficient for addressing racism. It must be accompanied by actively challenging racist systems, structures, and ideas.
Action
The National Anti-Racism Framework aims to tackle racism in Australia through real action and change, instead of symbolic words and gestures.
We are all too familiar with seeing corporate diversity campaigns that showcase staff of different backgrounds, while there are no steps to address the discrimination those staff are being actively subjected to. We are tired of people in authority publicly condemning a horrific act of racism when it occurs, and then seeing no action being taken. We no longer want the pain and suffering of so many communities being swept under the rug and silenced with platitudes.
Examples like referring to IDERD as 'Harmony Day' hinders our collective anti-racism journey. It weakens our ability to identify and address the harm experienced by negatively racialised communities. We need to take this chance to address racism in Australia. Let's question how racism affects our society and commit to anti-racist efforts to eliminate it.
I encourage everyone here today to read the Framework and reflect on your own areas of work and influence and commit to meaningful change as we embrace this collective journey to eliminate racism.
In my explanation of structural racism, I have talked about how it is inherently tied to, and upheld by, power and privilege. Fortunately, it is also power and privilege that can be used to dismantle it.
Yes, tackling racism on a systemic level in Australia requires significant action - some of which requires commitment from government. But each of us still have a role to play.
Everyone in this room today, whether institutionally or individually, has some sort of power or authority. We therefore have the privilege of being able use our power to lead the way. Challenge racism in your workplaces, advocate for anti-racism policies and speak up when you see injustice. When we collectively commit to a better future and reflect this commitment in our everyday actions, change is possible.
Many of the rights we take for granted today exist because people came together in solidarity, refused to accept injustice and demanded change. History shows us that when communities unite in this way, systems have to shift. At a time when the road ahead might seem overwhelming, this is the hope we must remember.
And if you are someone who does not experience racism, your role is even more important. As Lilla Watson and other Aboriginal activists once said "If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together."
I'm not asking for anyone to give anything away. Defeating racism is not a zero-sum game. If we live in a society where everyone feels safe, everyone can be their whole selves, everyone can prosper and everyone can be happy, imagine how much better that would be for all of us. That's my vision and I ask you to join me help us realise it together.
