Shelley Ware is a proud Yankunytatjara and Wirangu woman from Adelaide.

In Australia, racism is illegal. It has been since the Racial Discrimination Act of 1975 and online since the Online Safety Act of 2021.

And yet, for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait families, racism is still something we are forced to live with every day, not because the laws don’t exist, but because they are rarely enforced and people aren’t fearful of the consequences to themselves.

Unresolved racism costs this country close to $40 billion a year. If everyone didn’t do it, why is this bill so extraordinary?

One of the hardest things as an Aboriginal person is not just experiencing racism yourself. It is watching it happen to the people you love – your children, your family and your community.

It is watching racism unfold in front of you and knowing that even when you report it and follow the process that is meant to protect you, be it for, examples sake, at a school, workplace or sporting club, there is a very real chance that nothing will happen.

Recently we saw this play out again in the Northern Football and Netball League in Narrm/Melbourne involving the Fitzroy Stars Football and Netball Club. The case has gained wider attention thanks to the advocacy of Clothing The Gaps, who brought the issue into public view and highlighted the broader problems surrounding it.

At the centre of the matter is something Aboriginal people know all too well: the burden of proof.

Too often when racism is reported, the response is not immediate support, or often we never see a serious investigation. Instead, the victim is asked to prove that it happened.

In the case of the young girl from the Fitzroy Stars Netball team, she was asked to reenact it at the tribunal hearing to show how the Kilmore player allegedly made ape sounds and actions towards her on the court.

We need to call for an immediate stop to all reenacting of racism.

For Aboriginal people, that is not just uncomfortable, it is culturally unsafe. It forces individuals to relive humiliation and trauma simply to satisfy a process that should be protecting them, just to be believed.

Too often the perpetrator denies their racism, for many reasons, but mainly Australians don’t like to be called a racist and they are avoiding the consequences, so cases collapse. Tribunals stall and investigations go nowhere.

From all reports there was enough evidence to appeal the “not guilty” tribunal decision, but the rules in the Northern Football and Netball League don’t allow an appeal. How ridiculous is that?

The feelings of anger will sit with families, communities and our young people who watch closely and see that when they stand up against racism, the system struggles to deliver consequences. It tells Aboriginal people that the harm done to us can simply be denied away.

We also need to stop avoiding consequences and start having honest conversations about the biases we carry. Many of the things people say come from what they have heard growing up, from stereotypes repeated over time, not always from who they believe themselves to be as a person. But that does not remove responsibility.

Instead of the immediate denial driven by the fear of being called racist, we need the courage to acknowledge when something said or done was racist, even if the intention was not. Owning that moment, learning from it and committing to change creates space for real conversations.

A call to action: check your rules and policies – are they good enough? Set up an advisory panel with people who have lived experience and go through the rules and policies with a fine-tooth comb. How can they be changed to do what is right and not what has been accepted over and over? Cultural safety must be paramount.

Around the world we see examples of stronger responses. Recently, social media has circulated stories from Brazil where racism is illegal and laws are enforced immediately and charges laid. Consequences were swift and real. In Brazil you can be arrested immediately. Imagine if that happened here, how different life would be for our community.

In Australia, the law is already clear. Racism is illegal. What is missing is the consistent willingness to enforce those laws and ensure that the processes meant to address racism are safe, fair and effective.

We should not be asking victims to relive racist abuse in order to prove their case. We should not be allowing denial to become the end of accountability and we should not accept unresolved racism as normal.

We have to change this rinse-and-repeat pattern. Please no more ‘enough is enough’ statements. Ask yourself as an Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander or ally, what your role is in ending the unresolved racism in your community using your sphere of influence?