Australia has a new platform to confront racism with the launch of the Racism Register, a national initiative that allows people to anonymously report racist incidents across workplaces, schools, healthcare, and public spaces.
Founded this year by Elizabeth Lang and Elizabeth Tekanyo, two migrant mothers and long-time anti-racism advocates, the Register gives people a safe way to share what they experience or witness. The project aims to break the silence that often surrounds racism and build a body of evidence that can inform policy, advocacy, and public debate.
“For too long, the stories of those who experience racism have been dismissed or minimised,” said co-founder Elizabeth Lang. “The Racism Register ensures these voices are not only heard but turned into actionable data that can’t be ignored.”
The platform has already drawn strong engagement. Since its soft launch, more than 2000 users have registered, over 600 reports have been partially completed, and the Register has received its 50th comprehensive report. The early findings underline how widespread racism is: 41 per cent of incidents reported happened in the workplace and 27 per cent in public spaces. Racial slurs were the most common form at 57 per cent, alongside microaggressions and discrimination in schools, services, or jobs at 50 per cent each. Other reports detailed exclusion, colourism, physical harm, and discrimination based on hair or facial features.
More than half of respondents said the abuse came from someone in a position of power, and almost half described racist incidents happening more than once. Three quarters of reports were from people directly targeted, while a quarter came from witnesses.
Co-founder Elizabeth Tekanyo said the aim was to turn individual experiences into collective power. “We want to equip communities, advocates, and decision-makers with evidence that leads to tangible systemic change. This platform is about visibility, empowerment, and ultimately justice.”
The Register has also partnered with the Racial Justice Centre, Australia’s first community legal service dedicated to addressing race discrimination. Its founder, Sarah Ibrahim, said the collaboration is designed to ensure individual stories contribute to structural reform. “The partnership with Racism Register is a very important partnership because the hardest part about people sharing their stories, and this has been true even till this point, is what do you do with these stories? How can you use the accounts of racism to help inform and drive systemic change? The Racial Justice Centre is born out of my own lived experience, and that of many others. What we do with the pain of experiencing direct discrimination is sometimes we use it in service to others.”
Supporters of the launch have described it as a vital step. Dr Caroline Fleay, former Co-Director of the Centre for Human Rights Education at Curtin University, said, “This is such a powerful launch of a vital tool in bringing about systemic change. Such important work you are both doing!”
Others emphasised that tackling racism requires collective responsibility. Nikki Poulish, Reconciliation Action Plan Coordinator and Senior Project Officer at the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development in Western Australia, said, “Addressing racism is everyone’s business because racism thrives in silence. Add your voice of support by reporting what you see or experience.”
By turning lived experiences into evidence, the Racism Register hopes to force recognition of patterns that otherwise remain hidden. Reports can be submitted anonymously, with aggregated data made available to campaigners, journalists, researchers, and policymakers.
Every figure in the Register represents a person’s story, from a child left out in a classroom to a patient ignored in a clinic or a worker blocked in their career. The aim is to build the proof needed to ensure institutions take racism seriously.
The Racism Register is open to anyone in Australia who has experienced or witnessed racism. Reports can be made at racismregister.org.
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