Comments by Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman often shape the national conversation on migration and identity. Speaking at a panel discussion in Brisbane, he turned to housing and migration, describing aspects of the current debate as “implicitly racist”.
Mr Sivaraman made the remarks during a panel discussion at a human rights seminar in Brisbane, where he said recent political messaging risks targeting migrant communities.
“On one side of that fault line you have two parties, a populist party and now the federal opposition, who are dehumanising, scapegoating migrants,” he said.
He said migrants were being blamed for a wide range of issues, including housing shortages and cost pressures.
Together, they encouraged people to blame migrants for everything from the housing crisis and traffic to the cost of milk, he said.
“That is implicitly racist, because … the only signal as to whether someone is a migrant usually is the colour of their skin, or their name, or their accent, and it draws on this deep vein of racism that’s always existed from the time of colonisation,” he said.
“This notion that some people belong here more than others or some people are superior to others.”
The comments come as housing remains a central issue in the national debate, with Opposition leader Angus Taylor proposing to reduce migration levels and link intake more closely to housing supply.
“This is about mass migration running ahead of the homes, roads, hospitals, schools and services Australia can provide,” Mr Taylor said in his budget reply speech.
Mr Sivaraman said he expected the tone of the debate to intensify in the coming years.
He said that over the next two years, he anticipated an escalation in “the racism that accompanies” blaming immigrants, describing it as a “significant issue” for his work.
The discussion has drawn attention within multicultural communities, including the Indian diaspora, which continues to grow in major metropolitan areas and remains closely tied to housing and workforce trends.
Mr Sivaraman said the tone of the migration debate is likely to sharpen in the coming years, warning that blaming immigrants for broader economic pressures could intensify racial tensions. He said he expects an escalation in “the racism that accompanies” such narratives over the next two years, describing it as a “significant issue” for his work
Mr Taylor rejected the characterisation, saying migration remains important to Australia while arguing current settings are unsustainable.
“We think migration is incredibly important to this country. It always has been and it always will be,” he said.
“But the numbers have been too high and standards to low. The numbers got up to 550,000 in a year and housing construction was going backwards.”
He said housing affordability pressures were linked to population growth outpacing supply.
“It’s no wonder young Australians can’t get into a home,” Mr Taylor said.
The exchange reflects a broader shift in the migration debate, where housing, infrastructure and cost of living pressures are increasingly being linked to population policy.
Mr Sivaraman said addressing those concerns required a different approach.
“The only way we’ll actually deal with that – I think that racism, effectively – is to build class solidarity … between black, brown, and white people,” he said.
“Because until you can convince a white worker that it’s in their interest to combat racism – that racism is actually one of the causes of their inequity – you’re not going to build solidarity”.
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