Australian Human Rights Commission Investigates Racial Discrimination Complaint Against NSW Government

The Australian Human Rights Commission is investigating a complaint against the New South Wales multiculturalism minister and his department over allegations of racial discrimination against organisations representing south Asian Muslims and caste-oppressed Hindu communities.

According to an email seen by Guardian Australia, the Human Rights Commission last month accepted the complaint, against Steve Kamper and his department, for investigation. The complaint, lodged in December by the Alliance Against Islamophobia and Periyar Ambedkar Thoughts Circle of Australia (Patca), alleges Kamper and Multicultural NSW racially discriminated against the groups on a number of grounds. This includes an alleged failure to investigate the groups’ allegations about the Hindu Council of Australia. It was also alleged that both minimised concerns raised by Muslim and caste-oppressed communities in a separate complaint, now before the Human Rights Commission, the Alliance Against Islamophobia also alleged the Hindu Council of Australia had engaged in repeated instances of Islamophobia in social media posts.

A spokesperson for Kamper said the minister was aware a complaint had been lodged with the Human Rights Commission, claiming that the NSW government is committed to ensuring that all communities feel respected and supported, and discrimination of any kind is forbidden. Community leaders have also raised fears about divisions within the Indian-Australian community, with some Hindu nationalists using Facebook and WhatsApp groups to spread divisive rhetoric targeting minority groups including Sikhs and Muslims.