The Australian Reconciliation Barometer (ARB) aims to identify the attitudes Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians hold about each other, and about reconciliation in this country. It also attempts to shed some light on opportunities for moving the relationship forward, towards a greater reconciled, shared unity.

Reconciliation Australia undertook a review of reconciliation in Australia and internationally and, as a result of this work, five critical dimensions that represent a comprehensive picture of reconciliation were identified:

1. Historical Acceptance
2. Race relations
3. Equality and equity
4. Institutional integrity
5. Unity

Key Findings:

• More people in the general community across all states and territories now believe that it’s very important to hold formal truth-telling processes about the past issues of European settlement and government policies experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This is notably higher than in 2018.
• There have been sharp increases regarding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people being racially discriminated against by police in the past twelve months (30%), and local shop owners/staff (24%). 20% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people feel they cannot be true to their culture in their interactions with police or the courts, compared to 12% of the general community. 46% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people believe media portrayal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is usually negative, as does 44% of the general community.
• 94% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and 95% of the general community believe it is important for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have a say in matters that affect them. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and Australians in the general community, believe more must be done by government departments to close the gap in areas of disadvantage.