A federal parliamentary inquiry is currently asking a difficult question: what is driving racism, hate and violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and what role does the internet play?

The inquiry follows several violent incidents, including the attack on Camp Sovereignty in Melbourne in August 2025 (and importantly, a new attack on August 2 2026), and the alleged attempted bombing of an Invasion Day rally in Perth.

At public hearings around the country, First Nations people and organisations have described racism in workplaces, schools, public institutions and online. They have also warned racist abuse is becoming more open, more organised and easier to spread.

New research helps explain the patterns behind those experiences. By understanding how this online hate works, we can better stop it.

Researchers at the Tackling Hate Lab analysed more than three million posts and news items about the 2023 Voice referendum, Anzac Day 2025 (when a group of men were charged for heckling during a Welcome to Country) and the so-called March for Australia rallies in 2025. The data came from X, news media, Reddit, YouTube, Facebook, forums and other online platforms.

The study used captured hateful language using Google’s Perspective API, an artificial intelligence (AI) model.

We also used a bespoke AI model trained using judgements from First Nations community annotators to identify anti-First Nations hate. This matters because deciding what counts as racism cannot be separated from the experiences of the people being targeted.

Hate changes with the conversation

Political events reshape how hate targeting First Nations is expressed. Public debates and media moments make it louder and change the dominating narratives.

During the Voice campaign, anti-First Nations hate increased in........

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