Anti-Racism Symposium

ECCV held our inaugural Anti-Racism Symposium on Wednesday, 1 June 2022 at the Queen Victoria Women’s Centre.

Australian Race Discrimination Commissioner, Chin Tan, opened the event as keynote speaker by highlighting the crucial role diversity and inclusion practices play in fostering fairer and more productive workplaces. Mr Tan emphasised the importance for organisations to critically examine their workplace culture and evaluate the workplace’s mechanisms for accountability, especially at the leadership level. He said workplaces must prioritise the equality and wellbeing of their staff as the first step to addressing racism. You can read a transcript of Mr Tan’s speech here.

During he symposium, ECCV launched our Evidence Review on anti-racism and diversity and inclusion, written by Dr Mario Peucker  and Thomas J. Fisher from the Institute for Sustainable Industries and Liveable Cities (ISILC) at Victoria University. The Evidence Review formed the basis of the Practice Guide, a practical manual for implementing diversity and inclusion in organisational settings, that was also provided to Ambassadors at the Symposium.

The event brought together over 40 delegates from 23 of our All One Together ambassador organisations, including Football Victoria, Multicultural Arts Victoria, and Settlement Services International.

The Symposium also featured a panel discussion and two workshops. The first workshop, run by Dr Peucker and ECCV Advocacy Lead Denisse Sandoval, focused on a closer reading of the Practice Guide and how to build diversity and inclusion literacy. The second workshop, presented by the Australian Human Rights Commission, centered on the importance of organisational policies in tackling both implicit and explicit bias in the workplace.

A particular highlight of the Symposium was the panel discussion between Shannan Owen, Director of The Grove Children’s Centre, Aleem Ali, CEO of Welcoming Australia and Suzanne Hayes, Wellbeing and Diversity Advisor, Parks Victoria. The panel engaged in thought-provoking discussions on the benefits and challenges of implementing diversity and inclusion measures in the workplace as well as the need to avoid tokenism and ensure First Nations people are not excluded from the design and implementation of anti-racism strategies.

Thank you to all our Ambassadors and to the Centre for Multicultural Program Evaluation.

Symposium Snapshots