Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman has warned of a surge in racially motivated violence in the wake of the antisemitic terrorist attack at Bondi Beach, saying online hate is being allowed to spread “unchecked” by social media platforms.
Speaking to multiple media outlets, Sivaraman said racism and antisemitism online were fuelling real-world harm, warning tensions would worsen before they improve.
He told The Guardian on the sidelines of the Queensland Council of Unions meeting on International Migrants Day that “It’s just that it’s not in the interest of the social media platforms to do so because, unfortunately, racism and hate can be profitable.”
He said more could have been done to counter antisemitism if the federal government had adopted the Australian Human Rights Commission’s National Anti-Racism Framework.
Launched in November 2024 as a roadmap to eliminating racism in Australia, the framework calls for a whole-of-society approach and includes 63 recommendations, including stronger legal protections against online hate and the establishment of a national taskforce to tackle racism.
“That taskforce could have identified—and still can identify—the recommendations to move with as a matter of priority, particularly to tackle antisemitism,” he told The Guardian. “So there were things that could have been done under that framework that simply haven’t happened, because the framework hasn’t been adopted or funded.”
Earlier, Sivaraman told 7NEWS that antisemitism has always existed, but Australia has now witnessed the most horrific antisemitic violence ever seen on its shores. He said all forms of racism have increased, warning the country has a serious problem that must be confronted.
“We need to name the beast to slay it,” he said. “We need to confront it.”
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