The Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA) has today called for the establishment of a national anti-racism strategy and campaign designed to address the rising tide of subtle racism and discrimination in the community.
The campaign would promote social cohesion, dispel myths and stereotypes and educate the community and businesses around how to deal with racism. Australia’s culturally and linguistically diverse communities and Aboriginal and Torres Islander communities face the brunt of these racial discrimination.
The call comes after the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition both recognised and denounced the racism around the community response to coronavirus.
FECCA Chairperson Mary Patetsos said a national anti-racism campaign was crucial.
“FECCA has been really encouraged in recent days with the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition and Chief Medical Officer all coming out in a bipartisan way to call for an end to racism in response to coronavirus,” she said.
“Australia has long been proud of the claim that it is the most successful multicultural society in the world and a national anti-racism strategy and campaign would ensure we remain so.
“The spread of racism and discrimination erodes our community and it is currently spreading much faster than the coronavirus.
“We commend our leaders for recognising this problem and for taking a stand against it. We now call on them to work together to invest into our community and establish a national anti-racism strategy and campaign.
“An anti-racism campaign would both tackle existing issues around racism and be a positive action we can take as a society to promote community cohesion into the future.
“Recently, the Canadian Government announced $45 million in funding over five years for a similar campaign in Canada.”
