Chelsea Watego's claim that Queensland Police discriminated against her on the basis of race after arresting her and taking her to the Brisbane watch house in 2018 has been dismissed by the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
For the author and academic, came at a personal, financial and psychological price.
But she's determined to not let the decision of her case discourage others who experience racism from standing up.
"I think there is a far greater price to be paid for our silence around racial violence," she told NITV News.
"It is important that we turn up and to continue to tell the truth of this place even when they deny our experiences of it."
Chelsea Watego says she wants her case to encourage others to take action if they feel they've experienced discrimination Source: NITV / NITV
The tribunal determination
In 2018, Ms Watego was arrested on charges of obstructing police and refusing to leave a licensed premise.
"When I received the decision, I didn't really feel anything, to be honest, I wasn't surprised," she said.
"But it was having to review how the commissioner arrived at the decision that was really quite challenging because it took me back to the events of that morning."
The tribunal findings say Professor Watego was forcibly removed from The Beat nightclub in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley at closing time in 2018.
The findings also say Professor Watego was "berating" the security guards who had removed her when a man who was standing nearby got involved.
There was then an argument between Professor Watego and the man with security guards keeping them apart until the police arrived.
On their arrival, the tribunal papers say the security guard alerted police that it was Professor Watego who needed their attention and told them what had happened.
After briefly talking to Professor Watego, she was arrested and taken to the Brisbane watch house.
The tribunal examined whether Professor Watego's treatment by police was unlawful and whether she was treated less favourably on the basis of race.
"Notwithstanding all the submissions that Chelsea made and the evidence she presented, the tribunal member felt that there wasn't enough evidence to convince him that the decisions that the police made were on the basis of race," said Solicitor George Newhouse, who worked on the case.
Professor Watego, a race scholar, claimed she left the Brisbane watch house with bruises on her body and that she asked for CCTV from the watch house to be saved and tended to as evidence but was told by police that it was no longer available.
She also claimed the white man who became involved and was arguing with her was also behaving in an aggressive manner and being restrained by security.
The tribunal decided the white man would not be considered a "comparator" which is a standard for comparison of their treatment on the basis of race, because he wasn't asked to leave the venue.
Australian race laws need to have a comparator to examine whether, for example, an Indigenous person was treated differently than a non-indigenous person.
Professor Watego was arrested outside of Brisbane's The Beat nightclub in 2018. Source: Supplied
'Never designed with systemic discrimination in mind'
National Justice Project Principal Solicitor, George Newhouse said the laws that govern racial discrimination in Australia are not designed to address systemic racism.
"There are two problems with bringing race discrimination cases in Australia. Firstly, there's the structure of the race discrimination laws. They were designed in the 1970s, so they were never designed with systemic discrimination in mind," he said.
More overt forms of racism are more likely to win, under the current laws.
"If there's a sign on a pub that says 'We don't serve Aboriginal people here' or 'No Chinese people in this bar' you can use the race discrimination act definition of racism to succeed," Mr Newhouse said.
He also added, addressing systemic racism in Australia is extremely difficult in the current legal environment.
"It's virtually impossible to convince someone of a systemic race problem and that's where it's going on, on a day-to-day level," he said.
Solicitor George Newhouse said Australian laws can't address systemic racism because they are outdated. Source: NITV / NITV
"Unless there is an overt sign in their face, someone's burning a cross, they can't necessarily see systemic racism. Nothing to see here," he said.
"If we had more people with lived experiences of racism, making these decisions perhaps they might come to a different conclusion."
The National Justice Project says racial discrimination legislation in Australia is outdated and problematic.
The group says that while the law was created in 1975 and can address overt racism, it does not have the scope to take action on systemic racism.
They also recommend anyone who feels they've experienced racial discrimination, to go to the Human Rights Commission, instead of most state-based tribunals.
