Canberra's minority communities are increasingly dealing with "awful" social media comments, verbal abuse and offensive paraphernalia, as the number of racism complaints made to the ACT government rises.
The ACT Human Rights Commission has reported an increase in the number of racial vilification and discrimination complaints, receiving more than 90 reports in 2025-26 compared to 75 the previous financial year.
Commissioner Karen Toohey said current social narratives about minority communities in Australia, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and Indian immigrants, were enabling racist behaviour.
She acknowledged a growing tendency to report incidents was part of the increase in complaints, but noted some reports involved "quite serious vilification".
"For example, this morning I got an email with four stickers attached to it which were anti-immigration, anti-Indian," Ms Toohey said. "We got a report a couple of weeks ago of some [similar] stickers out at a Kippax bus stop."
"We've got a number of racial vilification claims last year from Aboriginal people, which we don't often see ... both in public spaces, neighbourhood disputes, and also in the workplace."
Canberra Indian Council chair and former ACT member Deepak-Raj Gupta said there was a growing portion of Canberra and Australian society that was anti-immigration and anti-Indian.
He said Canberra's Indian community were often yelled or honked at when celebrating festivals or conducting ritual processions in public. During his time as the first Indian-born person in the ACT Legislative Assembly, Mr Gupta said people would tell his staff, "I don't like the colour of his skin".
"When you call a place a home, and then you feel that you're not getting the respect or not being recognised as someone who belongs here, it does disturb you," Mr Gupta said.
"Indians are not tolerated here - they are foundational. From our hospitals and universities to local cafes, public servants and community groups, the diaspora is a powerhouse of contribution."
Data from a question taken on notice in the Assembly shows the number of complaints have been trending upwards, particularly racial vilification reports which have increased from 42 in 2022-23 to 72 in 2025-26.
Ms Toohey said racial vilification complaints commonly related to employment, public spaces such as sport and online settings, or between neighbours.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body chair Maurice Walker said racial abuse against his community had become more common since the 2023 Voice to Parliament referendum.
He said some ACT Indigenous organisations had been forced to hire moderators for their social media pages after they were "inundated" with "awful comments".
"Whereas [abuse] has been covert, now it's out in the open, and we're really worried about the level of escalation of comments to and against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people," Mr Walker said.
"We've got some issues around young people who are coming out late at night and being attacked by different people.
"Our social media is just blown out of proportion ... it's very disturbing."
When a complaint is made to the ACT Human Rights Commission, the commissioner may work with police, a workplace, or the eSafety Commissioner to investigate the incident. Websites or QR codes can be taken down, or the commissioner may write to an individual personally.
"Traditionally people used to let [racial incidents] slide a bit on the basis that you were giving it air, whereas now I think we understand that from a community wellbeing perspective, it's actually really important that the rest of the community say, 'We don't accept these behaviours, this is not the community we want to be'," Ms Toohey said.
