Australia’s largest health service launches anti-racism campaign
Nikita King, Principal Culture, Engagement and Wellbeing Advisor is one of 31 campaign ambassadors signed up to support anti-racism.
Metro North Health has today launched its new anti-racism campaign Stop Racism. It Starts with Me in the lead up to NAIDOC Week celebrations, 6 to 13 July 2025.
The campaign is designed to address unconscious bias and institutionalised racism in healthcare against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
It was co-designed with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, patients and community members as part of truth-telling and focusing on what racism looks like, sounds like and feels like.
Metro North Chief Executive Jackie Hanson said that Australia’s largest health service has a responsibility to ensure that every person — whether patient, carer or staff member — feels safe, respected and valued within the health system.
“Metro North has zero tolerance towards racial discrimination within our hospitals and health services,” said Jackie.
“Racism has no place in health care. Yet we know it exists — in the stories people have shared, and in the inequities, we continue to see, especially for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other racialised communities.
“This work demands more than good intentions. It demands action — from leadership, from systems and from each of us, every day.
“That’s why we’re embedding anti-racism into the way we recruit, train, lead and deliver care. We’re building a culture where cultural safety is expected.”
Principal Culture, Engagement and Wellbeing Advisor Nikita King is one of 31 campaign ambassadors recruited to support the campaign and to accompany the introduction of a new policy outlining the process to report incidents of racism across Metro North Health.
“I actively speak up against racist behaviour and call it out for what it is. I am driving equality by leaning on my colleagues and the Metro North Health Peer Responder network to walk beside us on this journey to close the gap and put a stop to racist behaviour,” said Nikita.
“I feel very grateful to be in a space that allows me to walk as an active ally.”
As part of the campaign, Metro North has also introduced a new policy outlining the process to report incidents of racism across Metro North.