Appendix 1: Understanding racism

Interpersonal racism is racism between people. It can be direct or indirect, and intentional or unintentional. Examples include:

• verbal abuse, slurs, threats, intimidation or physical attacks on people or property

• excluding people from sports, social activities or events because of their ethnicity

• comments or behaviours, like derogatory jokes, that indicate negative or racist attitudes (sometimes called microaggressions).

Random people yell out racist slurs while I’m driving or taking a walk.
– Online survey respondent

Casual racism … where people share some racist opinion in conversation without even thinking about it, because they don’t realise it’s racist or they assume I agree because I’m white.
– Online survey respondent

Institutional racism refers to organisational policies, practices or procedures that discriminate against First Peoples or people from multicultural or multifaith backgrounds. Institutional racism can make it difficult for people to access services or opportunities, which deepens inequality. An example of this is when a hiring manager disqualifies a candidate based on their name.

Not catering for the needs of people from other religions, like [not] having a prayer room or meditation room in their working places.
– Online survey respondent

Forms of racism and discrimination can often be subtle rather than overt incidents. Often, they show up in institutional discrimination with people of colour and First Nations people under-represented in positions of power.
– Online survey respondent

Structural racism is discrimination that is so deeply embedded in daily life that it is seen as the ‘way things are’. Structural racism exists because systems and society have developed over time based on racist principles and practices.

Structural racism worsens economic and social inequality for First Peoples, multicultural and multifaith communities. This leads to poorer outcomes in health, justice and economic participation. Examples of structural racism include:

disproportionate impacts of past public drunkenness laws to First Peoples and people in the Sudanese and South Sudanese communities[136]

schools mainly teaching white European colonial history and ignoring First Peoples’ histories

First Peoples, multicultural and multifaith voices being under-represented in the media

the media promoting negative stereotypes about racialised communities.

Racism cannot be understood only as interpersonal interactions, or as the behaviour or attitudes of individuals. I experience racism constantly, in all settings, because policies, services and cultural norms in this country are designed to serve the white majority.
– Online survey respondent

Assumptions [are] inbuilt into the curriculum that everyone or the ideal subject is white, English-speaking, Christian or secular background, straight and so on. Teaching of culture and history [comes] from an embedded position of white supremacy.
– Online survey respondent