Julie Tongs, CEO of Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Service says she was stunned to read in the latest Closing the Gap Annual Data Compilation Report from the Productivity Commission that Aboriginal people living in the ACT experience racial prejudice at a higher rate than is experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people anywhere else in Australia.
The Productivity Commission reports that the latest available data shows that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience racial prejudice at a significantly higher rate than non-indigenous people with both the rate and the gap continuing to grow.
The report reveals that across Australia the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 18 years and over who reported experiencing racial prejudice in a six-month period increased from 43% in 2018 to 60% in 2022. For the general community, the proportion reporting racial prejudice in the past six months rose from 20% to 25% over the same period.
Stunningly, however, the Productivity Commission also reports that the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Canberra reporting they experienced racial prejudice in the same six-month period was 76%, the highest rate of any State or Territory in Australia. By way of comparison the rate reported in Tasmania was 30%.
The Productivity Commission notes in its report that it is widely accepted that racism negatively affects the social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, increasing risks of anxiety, depression, self-harm, asthma, higher Body Mass Index, smoking and death by suicide.
Julie Tongs says the Productivity Commission’s exposure of the levels of racism experienced by members of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community of Canberra demands an immediate and forensic response from the ACT Government. Julie noted that she has been calling on the ACT Government for almost a decade to establish a Royal Commission style inquiry into all aspects of the lived experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents of Canberra.
Julie Tongs insists that this latest revelation from the Productivity Commission that Canberra is the most racist city in Australia surely demands nothing less than a Royal Commission to ensure that this vile racist behaviour is addressed and eradicated.
For further information please contact Ms Julie Tongs OAM, Chief Executive Officer on (02) 6284 6222