Understanding hate and responses to hate in Australia

By Matteo Vergani

Introduction 

Hate can have different forms and different target groups. It ranges from episodes of extreme violence, such as the Christchurch terrorist attack, to day-to-day forms of discrimination, such as name calling and exclusion. Victims of hate can also vary, in terms of being from different ethnic, racial and religious groups or LGBTIQ+ communities, or people living with disabilities or older people, among others. This module provides an overview of the main forms of hate in contemporary Australia and the responses that different governmental and non-governmental organizations are currently developing. The content of this module is primarily tailored to Victorian stakeholders but provides important data and discussions that are relevant at the Australian level.

A snapshot of perceived discrimination in Victoria

Recent research examined perceptions of discrimination and hatred in a large sample of the Victorian population (please note this research is very recent and is not peer reviewed: the Tackling Hate team will update the link to this project). Between 7 and 26 November 2019, 4,019 questionnaires were collected from a representative sample of the Victorian population.

About 1 in 4 respondents (N = 1,069, 26.6%) reported having experienced discrimination in the last 12 months. However, some groups experienced much higher levels of discrimination. For example, discrimination was experienced by 69.6% of Indigenous people, 36.1% of Muslims (N = 30), 35.9% of Indians (N = 42) and 33.8% of East Asians (N = 54). Most respondents who declared that they had experienced discrimination said that it was motivated by their race and ethnicity, gender, disability or religion. However, as the next figure shows, smaller groups of respondents perceived to have been victimised because of their age, sex, body shape and other intersectional identities.

The next image illustrates the answers to a question about the reasons why respondents experienced discrimination. In the first row, you can find the responses for the whole sample (N= 1,069). The following rows illustrate the responses for specific minority groups. The image shows that members of minority groups experience discrimination because of multiple intersectional identities.

Where does discrimination happen? It usually happens in the workplace, but also at school and in other educational institutions, on public transport, when renting or buying a house, in the health care system and in dealing with police or the court system.

When asked how they had been discriminated against, being treated less respectfully appears to be the most common answer. However, a significant group of respondents indicated that they had been physically assaulted. 

Inside different forms of hatred in Australia

In this section, we present a series of interviews with experts, activists and victims of hatred from different Australian communities. The list is not exhaustive. There are other forms that are not covered here, such as homophobia, ageism and racism against black people. This list does not aim to represent the complete spectrum of communities who can be targets of hate, but rather it wants to provide a nuanced understanding of differences and commonalities among diverse experiences of hate.

Hate against Indigenous Australians

Hate against Indigenous Australians started with colonisation and still persists today in many forms. It ranges from beliefs about Indigenous people being lazy, to discrimination in workplace, health care, educational and criminal justice contexts, to exclusion, insults and physical aggression. Indigenous Australians experience hate from an early age in all these forms, and this lifelong experience of hatred has harsh consequences on their health and wellbeing. Here, you can find  a useful resource that explains the most common forms of discrimination against Indigenous Australians.

Transphobia

Transphobia is one of the manifestations of hatred against LGBTIQ+ communities. Incidents of transphobia are common in Australia. Trans people are often discriminated against in the workplace, denied service in shops and even insulted and attacked because of their appearance. Offenders range from thrill-seeking youths to more ideologically or religiously motivated people. Here, you can find a useful resource about trans and gender diverse people in Victoria, which explains the protection and legal action available to victims of transphobia.

Disablist hate crime

Hate crimes against people living with a disability is the expression of a worldview that defines what is a normal and what is a pathological body. This worldview is called ableism, and characterises persons as defined by their disabilities and as inferior to the non-disabled. Ableism is a transparent worldview that is taken for granted by mainstream society and often justifies bias, prejudice, vilification and violence against people living with a disability. We suggest reading the work of Fiona Kumari Campbell on this topic.

Islamophobia

Islamophobia is anti-Muslim hatred. It can be expressed in many forms, from direct and indirect forms of discrimination, to episodes of extreme violence such as the 2019 Christchurch terrorist attack. To report an Islamophobic Incident in Australia, you use the online reporting tool developed by the Islamophobia Register Australia. The Islamic Council of Victoria provides support for victims of Islamophobia.

Antisemitism

Jewish people have been targets of hostility and discrimination throughout Australian history. Anti-Semitism can take the form of subtle discrimination in day-to-day life, but it can also transform into serious violence motivated by extremist ideologies, such as those of jihadists and neo-Nazis. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry prepares a yearly report on anti-Semitic incidents, published every year in October. You can find the anti-Semitism report here.

Hate against people of Asian appearance

Hatred against people of Asian appearance has been a feature of Australian politics and society since the Gold Rush and still continues today. In certain periods, such as during the Covid-19 pandemic, incidents against people of Asian appearance seem to increase dramatically. People of Asian appearance can include anyone who is perceived as being Asian, including Australians of Asian descent.

When and how can less severe hate incidents be early warnings of more extreme and violent forms of hate crime?

Is there a connection between hate incidents, like name calling, vandalism and isolated incidents of physical aggression, and more serious forms of ideologically motivated violence, such as the Christchurch terrorist attack?

Research in the USA found that there is a broad association between increases in bias-motivated violence and far-right extremist activity. However, as hate crime data are severely under-reported, and no systematic data on hate incidents and hate crime are collected in most countries (including Australia), the research community is still far from providing a reliable and precise answer to these questions.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that known terrorists engage in lower severity hate incidents before committing acts of extreme violence. We know that the Christchurch terrorist Brenton Tarrant made death threats online on Facebook before committing the 2019 Christchurch attacks, which were reported to Victoria Police. The 2019 Easter Sunday terrorists in Sri Lanka were infamous for their hate speeches on YouTube and for vandalising Buddhist temples and statues and were also reported to the police before they committed the attacks.

Clearly, there are thousands of instances in which death threats on Facebook and the vandalism of religious buildings do not escalate to terrorism. However, systematic data collection regarding these incidents could improve our ability to understand when and how less serious incidents can be early warnings of extreme violence. We might find, for example, other factors that are associated with hate incidents, which might provide important red flags.

Also, tracking less severe incidents of hatred can provide a very relevant baseline for understanding whether societies are resilient to violent extremism. Incidents of hate can be measurable symptoms of a variety of social harms, including the diffusion of violent extremist ideologies, inter-group animosity and conflict, support for violence against out-groups and the dehumanisation of out-groups. All terrorism-justifying ideologies are centred around hatred towards out-groups. If we are able to measure lower severity incidents of hate over time, we are also able to provide a better assessment of the impact of programs aiming at countering violent extremism and hatred programs and policies.

Research has also shown a connection between the online hatred and offline behaviour of extremist groups. In Australia, the Cronulla riots are associated with a change in the content and cohesiveness of far-right extremist language online. The Christchurch terrorist attacks sparked violent and hateful language among far-right communities online. Who are the people who feel empowered by these incidents? Are they “haters”? Does the increase in hateful language reflect an increase in the risk of physical violence in real life? We urgently need more research on this topic.

A whole of society response to hatred: developing collaborations between civil society and government

Different Different approaches can be effective at tackling hate at both individual and institutional levels. It’s interesting to look at the responses to hatred developed by international organisations, such as the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE. The next video provides a brief overview of their activities.

Fighting hate is not just responsibility of government agencies. The civil society, including community organisations and individual citizens, can do a lot to respond to hate. In the next video, Prof Yin Paradies provides a discussion of what should be done to tackle hate against Indigenous Australians. Some aspects, such as the truth telling about colonisation and episodes such as the Stolen Generation, are specific to Indigenous communities. However, many of the ideas apply to other communities and forms of hate, such as educating people to take personal responsibility in fighting racism.

Each governmental and non-governmental organization consistently responds to hatred with its objectives and nature. For example, law enforcement agencies will focus more on security and crime, human rights organizations on discrimination and dispute reconciliation and community organizations on protecting and empowering their own communities.

For example, in 2010, Victoria Police developed the Prejudice Motivated Crime Strategy to deal with hate crime by seeking to increase reporting and building better relationships with targeted communities. The objectives of the strategy are to increase reporting, to reduce harm to individuals and communities and to address gaps in organizational responses.

The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights commission works to promote human rights and address hate in different ways. First, it focuses on education and awareness raising with communities and service providers. Second, the commission looks at complaints and provides dispute resolution when possible. Third, the commission produces research (and uses the data collected through complaints, for example) to underpin advocacy.

Some civil society organizations address hatred in their own communities. An example is the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), which combats anti-Semitism in three main ways: public exposure, education and legal action. By exposing and highlighting anti-Semitism, the ECAJ makes people aware of the problem and is an advocate for changes in society, culture and legislation.

The Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV) fights Islamophobia through advocacy and support for victims of Islamophobic incidents. The ICV engages with government, law enforcement agencies, media, academics and all sectors of society to advocate for Muslims’ rights.

Organic collaborations between government and non-government organisations

Although each organization addresses its aims independently, there are often natural avenues for collaboration. For example, Victoria Police and the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights commission (VEOHRC) are in communication with each other to refer cases to the most appropriate organizations. If the VEOHRC receives a report related to a criminal matter, it diverts the victim to report it to Victoria Police, and vice versa. Moreover, there are established collaborations between governmental organizations and some community organizations, as explained in the following videos.

These examples of organic collaborations between governmental and non-governmental organizations are positive and encouraging. However, there is no established framework to regulate and promote them across a variety of communities. Policy frameworks are needed to promote collaboration between communities and governments and to develop a coordinated whole-of-society approach to tackling hate across different communities.

Tackling hate before violence happens: community reporting of individuals at risk of committing violence

Communities are key to preventing acts of hatred and violent extremism because they are best placed to report their concerns to authorities, so they can intervene before harm is done. However, research on this topic found that the thresholds for community reporting are very high. Also, there are key barriers to reporting individuals at risk of committing acts of violent extremism. Some of these barriers are similar to the barriers to reporting hate crime, such as the lack of trust in police and the government, the lack of information about reporting systems and processes and concern about the consequences of reporting for the person doing the reporting and also for the family and the community of the offender. In the next video, Prof Michele Grossman discusses the findings of multiple research projects that she conducted in Australia and UK and that she is currently running in the USA and Canada on this topic.