We measure antisemitism but, until now, no one has counted hate against Indigenous Australians

Callitout will enable the Indigenous community to measure hate – but we should combine our data, writes GEORGE NEWHOUSE

For many years, the Jewish, Muslim and Chinese communities have collected data on hate incidents to report on them and use that data for policy and practical change.

But no data has been kept on similar incidents against Indigenous people. That is, until now.

Earlier this year, the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research, the National Justice Project and The Big Smoke Media Group teamed up to launch a platform for Indigenous people to privately report an act of discrimination, vilification or race hate.

The platform is located at www.callitout.com.au. Deidentified data from complaints registered on the Callitout website will be used by the Jumbunna Institute to prepare an annual report on acts of racism and discrimination against Indigenous people.

Those reports will be used to advocate for political and policy change and advise action on the ground and through the Internet.

In June, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) released a “comprehensive” study on reported hate incidents in Australia. But, by its own admission, the picture that the ECAJ released was incomplete because “incidents against other targeted communities [including Indigenous communities] go unreported due to the lack of an organisation which takes reports for these communities”.

The suggestion that there could be a meaningful picture of race hate and vilification in Australia without including the most marginalised community in our nation, that is Indigenous people, is ludicrous. Racism against Indigenous people is systemic throughout our nation and is proliferating online.

We see the impact of colonisation in socioeconomic measures, in the disproportional imprisonment of Aboriginal peoples, in the high rates of Indigenous child removals, poor health outcomes and in violent police interactions.

In March 2021, the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Dr Fernand de Varennes, despaired that efforts to fight against “the tsunami of hate and xenophobia in social media” appear to be largely failing, because hate is increasing, not diminishing.

This reality and should spur the Jewish, Muslim and Chinese communities to reach out to other communities who are not represented to ensure that a more broad-based picture is made public.

The eradication of discrimination and hatred requires a joint effort. With the proliferation of hate and vilification on the Internet, we can only defeat this scourge together.

The good news is that, for 2023, the Jumbunna Institute should have its first year of data to report on.

It’s time for communities to gather together, standardise reporting to ensure that the data is comparable and then reach out to others who have not yet started to collect incident reports. Only then can we drive inclusive change and stamp out the haters amongst us.

Callitout.com.au is an important initiative that requires ongoing support. The deidentified data is being analysed by researchers at the Jumbunna Institute. If you are interested in supporting the project financially or through corporate support, please contact the National Justice Project or the Jumbunna Institute at 1800 064 312.

Photo: A mural honouring Indigenous Sydney Swans footballer who was booed into retirement after taking a stand against racism