Opportunity missed to mark race policy end

Attorney-General George Brandis says it's a shame the 50th anniversary of the start of the abolition of the White Australia policy was not celebrated last year.

The Holt government began the dismantling of the policy in 1966, which Senator Brandis described as the most important year in the process of breaking down racist attitudes in Australia.

"I do think it's a shame that that has somewhat been lost. It would have been a good project for the Human Rights Commission to take up," he told a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday.

"When we talk about racism today we should acknowledge that it is now half a century since Australia has been embarked on this journey led by both sides of politics."