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.