A new anti-racism campaign aims to tackle racism and discrimination embedded in Australia’s systems and institutions.

The ‘There’s nothing casual about racism’ campaign was recently launched by the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC).

The AHRC says the campaign “will target the ‘everyday’ racism of these systems, which dehumanise communities experiencing racism”.

“Systems that undermine their resilience, strength and the powerful contributions they make to our society. Our campaign will target these systems by creating and sharing information, tools and resources to help people combat all forms of racism,” the commission said.

“Everyone deserves to live with dignity and without fear or discrimination – regardless of their background or identity. Racism has been deeply embedded into our systems and institutions creating an uneven playing field,” it said.

“Even access to basic services can be beyond reach for some communities,” the commission said.

The campaign’s key messages include:

• Everyone deserves dignity and respect when they’re at work, in school, or going about their day.
• First Peoples have been leading the fight for justice, truth, and equity for generations.
• Let’s get real about change – together.

The campaign follows the ‘Racism. It stops with me’ campaign, launched in 2012.

“After extensive consultation the Australian Human Rights Commission has launched There’s nothing casual about racism,” the commission said.

“It is a rebrand of our longstanding Racism. It stops with me campaign launched in 2012 and is designed to challenge racism in everyday life. It encourages everyone to recognise the broader impact of racism beyond racial slurs.

“It will focus on the structural nature of racism embedded in our systems. Think of it as combating the disease, rather than just a symptom. This is the next step in pushing forward for the implementation of the National Anti-Racism Framework.

“Together, we need to use collective action to tackle racism wherever it occurs, from the smallest personal interactions to where it persists in our laws, policies and systems,” the commission said.

The campaign aims to amplify expertise, from First Peoples and other communities experiencing racism, which can support the development of shared understandings of race, racism, anti-racism and other important concepts.

It also aims to create information, tools and resources for our supporters and the broader public to combat racism in a range of contexts, and to motivate and support the public to take action against racism.

Read more about the campaign: https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/campaigns