Australia’s race discrimination commissioner, Giridharan Sivaraman, has accused social media companies of allowing racist and antisemitic hate to flow “unchecked”, warning of an imminent outbreak of racially motivated violence following the Bondi beach terror attack.
Speaking at a Queensland Council of Unions meeting on International Migrants Day, Sivaraman said more could have been done to address antisemitism had the government adopted the Australian Human Rights Commission’s national anti-racism framework, which he has advocated for over a year. He reserved his harshest criticism for social media platforms, stating they have deliberately chosen to make factcheckers redundant, allowing misinformation to spread.
Sivaraman expressed deep concern about the weeks leading up to and after 26 January, noting messages circulating online promoting a “Cronulla 2.0” – a reference to the 2005 race riots – calling for people to gather in Cronulla to attack individuals of Middle Eastern origin. He said the failure to adopt the anti-racism framework has hindered efforts to combat antisemitism and other forms of racism.
The commissioner, visibly tired and emotional, said his heart went out to the Jewish community and welcomed measures to address antisemitism, but urged broader action. He warned that racially motivated violence is likely to worsen before improving, and called for urgent implementation of the framework’s 63 recommendations, including legal protections against online hate and a taskforce to tackle racism.
