ABC head David Anderson forced to apologise after internal review finds staff subject to widespread racism

Culturally diverse and Indigenous staff at the ABC have been subject to racial slurs, offensive comments about their appearance, excluded from social events and overlooked for work opportunities because of their background, a damning internal review has found.

The review — led by Indigenous lawyer Terri Janke — started in May 2023 after calls by Indigenous staff for an independent, external process to respond to allegations and public discussion about racist behaviour at the ABC.

Dr Janke found Indigenous and culturally diverse employees had been subject to overt and covert racism both from people within the broadcaster and those outside it.

This included racial slurs, repeatedly being labelled “diversity hires”, derogatory and offensive comments about their appearance or cultural practices and being excluded from social events and workplace opportunities.

It also found staff were missing out on mentoring, people assuming they had only been hired to meet diversity criteria and not valuing their skills and being mistaken for someone more junior based on their racial appearance.

In interviews with 120 current and former staff, only one told Dr Janke’s team they had not personally experienced racism.

“This response overwhelmingly indicates that racism exists within the ABC workplace, and that ABC staff are subjected to racism from external individuals and organisations in connection with their work,” the review stated.

“To break this cycle, the ABC leadership must commit to long-term systemic change.”

Journalist Dan Bourchier, who leads the ABC’s Bonner committee that advises its managing director on Indigenous matters, said the report should be a turning point for the broadcaster.

“It’s a line in the sand — we need to do better,” he said.

The review found there was a lack of trust in complaints systems and that Indigenous and culturally diverse staff were stymied professionally.

Many said their “non-Australian” or “non-Anglo” accents meant they were held back from workplace opportunities, and some who sought voice coaching to address this said they were denied.

“There is an absolutely undeniable racist culture at the ABC,” one person told the review.

Many participants said they felt that the ABC promoting itself as a champion of diversity and inclusion was actually a barrier to the broadcaster doing better.

Staff also experienced external attacks, particularly on online platforms, and many were left feeling “abandoned and vulnerable” by the lack of consistent support from the organisation.

They reported that people sent racist messages via radio station text lines, abusive callers were put through by the switchboard because they asked for a staff member by name, and one person recounted being racially abused on the street while reporting a story.

ABC managing director David Anderson apologised to staff on Tuesday, saying the testimonies from current and former employees were disturbing and unacceptable.

“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 employees, either currently or formerly employed,” he said.

“As an organisation and as an industry we must learn from the experiences in the report and commit to work together to do better and rebuild the trust that has been eroded by the actions of some people.

“For anyone who thinks it is OK to display or practise racist behaviour, or who thinks they can make people feel belittled based on their identity, we will call you out and remove you from this organisation.

“You are not welcome here. We are a workplace that values respect, and we expect it.”

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said Australians “quite rightly have high expectations of the national broadcaster” and commissioning Dr Janke’s review was the right step.

“It is incumbent on all organisations to address racism ensuring staff are safe at work and the ABC acknowledges it must confront uncomfortable truths if they want real change,” she said.

“This is an important piece of work for the organisation and I expect Dr Janke’s recommendations will contribute to a more diverse and inclusive national broadcaster.”

The media union said it was shameful that so many ABC staff had felt abandoned by their employer but that their experiences were not unique to the national broadcaster.

“All Australian media organisations are now on notice that they can no longer ignore these issues of inclusion, access and diversity,” acting director of MEAA’s media division Michelle Rae said.

“The ABC’s experience shows that even the best of intentions will be tokenistic if accountability, transparency and clear process and training are not implemented.”