Local government has come under criticism for not doing enough to combat racism in a new report from the Human Rights Commission.

“While there are excellent individual examples of local government work, generally local government does not see anti-racism work as a consideration, either at local council or their state/national peak body levels,” the report, titled Mapping government anti-racisim programs and policies, says.

The report looks at the nature and scope of national, state, territory and local government anti-racism policies and programs over the past five years, with findings based on publicly available information and interviews with stakeholders.

The report will inform the Commission’s development of a National Anti-Racism Framework. 

The report says councils and peak local government bodies are key stakeholders in developing the framework, but attempts to get the sector involved has had limited success.

“Overall, local government stakeholders varied in the extent to which they embraced anti-racism as a priority for action among their constituents and this was reflected in their responses to and engagement with this research,” the Human Rights Commission says.

Reluctance to commit

The report notes that councils across Australia are financially stretched, and for many this translates into a reluctance to commit to extra work that isn’t funded by the state or federal governments.

It says there are pockets of anti-racism activity in some local government areas, but much of this is happening under broad ‘social cohesion’, ‘inclusion’ or ‘multicultural’ initiatives.

“This is important but also highlights what efforts are missing where racism is not considered a priority and signals the reliance on these other stakeholders to address racism more generally,” the report says.

The Human Rights Commission also says while the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) takes a human rights-based approach to its work as a national peak, member councils differ in the way they approach anti-racism issues, and  racism is addressed on a council-by-council basis.

“ALGA stated that resource constraints mean that councils are limited in what they can address and further noted the pressure to ensure that councils are financially able to address the growing impact of climate change and natural disasters,” the report says.

“As a result, they may not prioritise anti-racism work.”

The report highlights a lack of acknowledgment by local government that racism is a pressing issue in some communities, and a general lack of awareness, funding and targeted strategies.

It acknowledges that a number of councils have Reconciliation Action Plans (RAP), but says there’s ‘little to no detail’ on what work is being done in partnership with the community.

Not all bad

However, the report does acknowledge some strengths and positives in the way local government is responding to racism.

For example, a number of councils do have RAPs, and there’s been an improvement in the number of culturally diverse people elected as mayors and as councillors.

LGNSW’s Anti-Racism Working Group gets an honourable mention, as does Darebin’s, anti-racism officer and Queensland’s 17 Aboriginal shire councils.

The commission says community awareness initiatives specifically targeting racism can be a key element of local anti-racism strategies.

Data collection also needs to improve to gain better insight into the nature, extent and impact of racism, but there is a significant gap in information on  racism at the local level in Australia.

“This presents a significant barrier to monitoring, evaluation and developing appropriate local solutions,’ the report says.

“The absence of even basic data on the nature and extent of racism at the local level makes addressing racism very challenging.”

Other Findings:

• Government is reluctant to use the term ‘racism’.

• Government work at all levels appears to be ad-hoc, disjointed, and reactive and is most commonly focused on internal staffing issues.

Recommendations:

• Establish a national anti-racism council

• Develop a nationally recognised definition of racism

• Design a whole of government approach to addressing racism

• Establish a national database of anti racism policies, programs and research