The ABC’s managing director, David Anderson, has apologised to ABC staff who experienced racism at the public broadcaster after “disturbing” details of their treatment were revealed by a review into racism.
Anderson has committed the ABC to accept in principle all 15 recommendations made in the Listen Loudly, Act Strongly review, led by Indigenous lawyer Dr Terri Janke, a Wuthathi, Yadhaighana and Meriam woman.
“On behalf of everyone at the ABC, I am sorry for any and all racist behaviour and past harms experienced by our Indigenous and Cald [Culturally and Linguistically Diverse] employees, either currently or formerly employed,” the outgoing managing director said.
“We all need to do better for our colleagues on our commitment to zero tolerance for racism in our workplace.
“We all need to do better for our colleagues by preventing or acting on behaviour that seeks to discriminate against, bully or demean them.
“We all need to do better for our colleagues by remaining vigilant against racism or discrimination of any kind in our workplace.”
Janke’s team spoke to 120 participants comprising current and former ABC staff to hear their experiences of racism at work. Only one participant said they had not personally experienced racism within the ABC.
The review was sparked in part by the treatment of broadcaster Stan Grant who faced racist attacks on social media fuelled by a “relentless campaign” against the ABC’s coronation broadcast from News Corp.
The ABC was criticised for hosting a panel discussion with Grant about the impact of colonialism on Indigenous Australians and the relevance of the monarchy in 2023.
Grant targeted ABC management itself for a lack of support and accused the rightwing media of telling lies and distorting his words about the coronation.
The ABC’s news director, Justin Stevens, said last year he regretted not defending Grant earlier.
The report details anonymised examples of overt and covert racism. Overt examples include racial slurs; offensive comments about a person’s appearance; excluding staff from workplace opportunities and mistaking someone for a more junior person based on their racial appearance.
Some of the covert examples include stereotyping, assumptions and unconscious bias; a lack of opportunity and reporters not being considered to be impartial in reporting on a cultural group because they were perceived to be from that cultural group.
“It is important that the lens of lived experience be valued in story-telling – seen as a strength, not a deficit, and that people of all backgrounds feel safe to tell stories at the ABC,” the report said.
Many First Nations and culturally diverse current and former staff said senior management had failed to back them in the same way as they had supported Anglo staff.
“Many participants described being targeted by other media organisations or individuals on their social media accounts,” the report said.
“Such attacks included racial commentary, and was often used to bring the objectivity or impartiality of the staff member into question.”
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A common complaint was that non-Anglo staff were referred to as “diversity hires”.
“We emphasise that the majority of participants expressed significant hurt, helplessness and exhaustion around their experiences in the workplace,” the report said.
“These experiences present barriers to staff for career progression. Cumulatively, these experiences have a profound impact on the self-esteem, and sense of self-worth for participants. This impacts entire lives – not just in the workplace.”
Janke found the broadcaster had introduced measures to address racism in the workplace in recent years, but the implementation of these strategies has been inconsistent.
Among the recommendations made by Janke is that the ABC improve its responses to public attacks, whether they come from external media, individuals or on social media.
The corporation has also been asked to enhance its understanding of how lived experience shapes story-telling and to improve representation of people who are First Nations and Cald on the board and senior leadership team.
Cultural, linguistic and socio-economic diversity could be improved if the ABC establishes voice coaching protocols to ensure staff feel safe using their authentic voices.
Some participants reported that having a “non-Australian” voice was career limiting but they had been denied voice coaching by management. They were told, or it was implied, they could not be on air with a “non-Australian” accent, which had a significant impact on their self esteem.
Senator Mehreen Faruqi, the Greens spokesperson on racism, welcomed the recommendation the ABC improve diverse representation in management and leadership, which she has long been calling for.
“The board must reflect the diversity in the community if it is to be considered a true national broadcaster,” Faruqi said. “People of colour working at the ABC have been suffering racism for far too long. They deserve so much better from our public broadcaster.”
The former race discrimination commissioner Chin Tan has been engaged by the ABC to work on the implementation of the recommendations and the ABC has created the new role of director of First Nations strategy, reporting directly to the managing director.
