Racism Register launches a national online platform to empower anonymous reporting to uncover, confront and dismantle racism in workplaces, schools, healthcare and other public spaces.
Australia has a powerful new tool in the fight against racism with the launch of the Racism Register, a groundbreaking national platform that empowers people to safely and anonymously report racist incidents they experience or witness.
Racism often goes unreported because of fear, stigma or a belief that speaking up won’t lead to change. This silence has meant that institutions underestimate both the prevalence and the impact of racism. The Racism Register disrupts this cycle by creating a safe, anonymous pathway for people to share their experiences. In doing so, it not only validates those voices but also generates a body of evidence that makes racism visible to policymakers, educators, employers and the wider public.
Founded in 2025 by Elizabeth Lang and Elizabeth Tekanyo, two migrant mothers and long-time anti-racism advocates, the Racism Register transforms individual stories into collective evidence, creating a clearer picture of racism across the country and pushing for accountability at every level.
“For too long, the stories of those who experience racism have been dismissed or minimised,” said co-founder Elizabeth Lang. “The Racism Register ensures these voices are not only heard but turned into actionable data that can’t be ignored.”
Built on the belief that ‘real change starts with evidence’, the platform aggregates incident reports to reveal patterns of discrimination across workplaces, schools, healthcare, policing and public spaces. This data not only validates lived experiences but also fuels advocacy, media reporting and policy reforms, ensuring institutions are held accountable for addressing structural inequality.
“We want to equip communities, advocates and decision-makers with evidence that leads to tangible systemic change,” added co-founder Elizabeth Tekanyo. “This platform is about visibility, empowerment and, ultimately, justice.”
To strengthen this mission, the Racism Register has partnered with the Racial Justice Centre, Australia’s first and only community legal service dedicated to addressing racial justice and discrimination. The partnership ensures that individual stories of racism don’t just remain as accounts of pain but are also transformed into catalysts for systemic reform. It provides a pathway to channel lived experiences into collective action, advocacy and lasting change.
“The partnership with Racism Register is very important because the hardest part about people sharing their stories, and this has been true even till this point, is what do you do with these stories? How can you use the accounts of racism to help inform and drive systemic change?” explained Racial Justice Centre Founder & Executive Director Sarah Ibrahim. “The Racial Justice Centre is born out of my own lived experience, and that of many others. What we do with the pain of experiencing direct discrimination is sometimes we use it in service to others.”
Since its soft launch, the Racism Register has already gathered over 2000 users, over 600 partially completed reports and has received its 50th comprehensive report, highlighting the urgency and scale of the problem.
Findings from the reports on the Racism Register reveal that 41% of incidents happened in the workplace, followed by 27% in public spaces. The most common forms were racial slurs (57%), microaggressions (50%), and discrimination and racial bias in schools, services or jobs (50%). Other forms included being left out or ignored (25%), colourism (13.6%), physical harm (13.6%) and discrimination related to hair or facial features (4.5%).
More than half of respondents (55.3%) said the racism came from someone in a position of power, and almost half (46.7%) reported the racist incidents happened multiple times. Seventy-five per cent indicated they had personally experienced racism, compared to 25% who reported witnessing it. The data shows racism is not confined to one setting but spans everyday environments where people live, learn and work.
Every number in the register reflects a real person’s story, such as a child pushed out in the classroom, a patient ignored in a clinic or a worker held back in their job. Racism isn’t just a few ugly words or one-off incidents; it’s a pattern that takes away people’s safety, chances and dignity. By collecting these stories together, the Racism Register is building the evidence Australia needs to face the reality of racism.
The Racism Register is open to anyone in Australia who has experienced or witnessed racism. Submissions are anonymous, ensuring safety for those reporting, while aggregated data is made available for advocacy campaigns, journalists, researchers and policymakers.
To learn more or make a report, visit the Racism Register website.
Read also: AHRC: racism concerns in AU universities urge reform
Geraldine is currently the Content Producer for Third Sector, an Akolade channel. Throughout her career, she has written for various industries and international audiences. Her love for writing extends beyond the corporate world, as she also works as a volunteer writer at her local church. Aside from writing, she is also fond of joining fun runs and watching musicals.
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