Arabic version: تحقيق هوبارت يستمع إلى مخاوف بشأن العنصرية والهوية

According to ABC News, a federal parliamentary inquiry into racism, hate and violence directed at First Nations people heard evidence in Hobart from Tasmanian Aboriginal organisations and elders. The hearings will move to Melbourne tomorrow, with evidence to inform a final report to federal parliament.

Tasmanian Regional Aboriginal Communities Alliance chairman Nick Cameron told the inquiry that racist comments followed a Facebook post by the Tebrakunna Rangers after a site visit in the Central Highlands. He said comments targeted the rangers’ skin colour and Aboriginal identity, prompting the group to disable comments. Mr Cameron said his organisation had observed a significant escalation in racism since the Voice referendum.

First Peoples Tasmania Aboriginal Corporation chairman Peter Rowe said he was targeted after a social-media image showed him and other Aboriginal elders at the Mannalargenna Day festival. He told the committee that Aboriginal people in Tasmania could be publicly labelled as fake Aboriginals or denied their identity, describing this as racialised gatekeeping and lateral violence.

Mr Rowe named the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre as the main group he believed contributed to the climate he described, while Mr Cameron said the centre played an important role but that division harmed collaboration on Closing the Gap targets. The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre was not asked during the inquiry to respond to the criticisms.

Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre campaign coordinator Nala Mansell told the inquiry that governments asserted authority over Aboriginal identity and controlled Aboriginal heritage. She said racism was about power and who held or was denied it. Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bridget Archer acknowledged governments’ role in systemic racism and cited the myth of extinction, forced removals, and the over-representation of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care and youth justice facilities.