Inquiry into Racism

May 2026

Submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs

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This submission draws on eight years of Wiyi Yani U Thangani engagements with thousands of women, girls and gender-diverse people across this continent and its surrounding islands. The foundational Wiyi Yani U Thangani (Women’s Voices): Securing Our Rights, Securing Our Future Report 2020 (the 2020 Report) captured the voices of 2,294 women and girls across 50 locations in every state and territory, including the Torres Strait, informed by 106 community engagements, over 100 submissions and 300 survey responses. A survey conducted in April 2026, prior to the Women Deliver 2026 conference in Narrm/Melbourne, to which the Institute brought a delegation of 150 women,girls, Sistergirls and gender-diverse people (including women from all states and territories), reaffirms many of the findings from that time. What women told us in 2018 they are still telling us in 2026. The structural conditions that produce harm remain entrenched. In several dimensions, the situation has worsened.

Systemic racism was named as a serious concern across every engagement. This submission draws on that evidence in response to the terms of reference.

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