Finger pointed at social media amid racism 'public health emergency'

First Nations people warn social media racism is hurting communities in 'public health emergency' Thu 30 Jul 2026 at 4:25pm In short: Indigenous leaders say social media is essential to tell the world about their culture, but racist comments are affecting mental health. They have addressed their concerns to a Cairns sitting of a federal government inquiry into racism, hate, and violence against First Nations people. What's next? The inquiry travels to the Torres Strait before hearings in Hobart and Melbourne. Indigenous leaders have warned online racism is damaging young generations and called on all social media users and publishers to take responsibility for hurtful comments. It comes as the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners called racism a "public health emergency" at the Cairns hearing of the federal government's Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs inquiry into racism, hate, and violence directed at First Nations people. Merissa Nona, from Cairns Indigenous social organisation Deadly Inspiring Youth Doing Good (DIYDG), said racism was causing future leaders to take their lives and that averse social media comments were playing a part. "We're seeing really strong community members getting hit from all corners and then taking their life as a result of external pressures," she told the ABC. "I've got a few more years in building up resilience and understanding where those comments are coming from. But I know hurt people go on to hurt people." Call for more regulation Ms Nona's colleague, Stacee Kethcell, said social media was an important tool for sharing First Nations culture with the world, but the fear of racist reactions played a significant role in their publishing decisions. "NAIDOC is one week that we have to share with everybody and to celebrate us, and we still cop it," Ms Ketchell said. "It's an attack on their identity, who they are as people, and they've been judged because someone has a belief or an attitude towards our people." She said more accountability and regulation was needed. When asked by the inquiry about Meta's submission that it was unaware of any First Nations people being employed as content moderators, she responded that the company's approach to dealing with racism was not enough. "It needs to be informed by people who have … experienced racism," Ms Ketchell said. "Racism is constant. It causes young people to doubt themselves and their self-worth." The fight for 'a better world' Nicole Huxley, an elder in the tiny remote community of Jumbun, 130km south of Cairns, told the enquiry the full extent of the damage caused by social media was unknown. "I can only imagine how somebody younger than me, who's learning about themselves, is feeling as they read something that is written about them without people knowing them," she said. "We should not have our children seeing racism because we don't raise our children with racism." Ms Huxley said a recent social media video of children dancing during NAIDOC Week celebrations in Charters Towers attracted hateful commentary. "It's so hard to be able to get our children to be able to participate in the wider society and be proud of their culture, let alone trying to do it in the middle of the street and then have people be very racist against what they were doing," she said. "We're a human race and, if we raise our children without racism, we're going to have a better world." She called on the community, as well as publishers and government agencies, to take responsibility for racist comments. "With the current climate of racism in this country, I think it needs to be put on a higher agenda in a lot of the service providers when they're posting on social media about Indigenous affairs," she said. Ms Huxley said she continued to invest much of her time fighting against racists online. "I'll never win that fight because you can never change someone's mindset unless they really want it to be changed," she said. "It drains all of your goodness." The inquiry travels to the Torres Strait tomorrow, before visiting Hobart and Melbourne next month.