Racial Discrimination in Australian Workplaces: An Empirical Study

This report investigates the pervasive issue of workplace racial discrimination in Australia, focusing on the disparities between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. It highlights the historical context of racism in Australia and its impact on employment opportunities, promotions, salaries, and overall treatment in the workplace. The study employs qualitative media analysis to examine how racism manifests in various sectors, drawing upon newspaper articles, social media, news reports, and other sources. The findings reveal significant underrepresentation of indigenous Australians in many industries, along with instances of lower pay, poorer working conditions, and discriminatory practices. The report concludes that racism limits the potential of both indigenous and non-indigenous people and hampers business success by stifling idea exchange. It emphasizes the need for Australian industries to embrace diversity, treat all employees equitably, and eradicate racism to foster a more inclusive and productive work environment. The study references several relevant academic sources to support its findings and recommendations.

AN EXPLORATION OF WORKPLACE RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AMONGST
INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS AND NON-INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS.
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Introduction
Racism has been a national issue in Australia for an extended period which has
significantly interfered with the process of national development. Racism is based on the non-
indigenous Australians, and the indigenous Australians commonly referred to as the
Aboriginals. The indigenous Australians are exposed to racism merely because they are
termed not to be natives. Studies have reported indigenous Australians to have been
experiencing discrimination in almost all sectors from accessing social services to practicing
their democratic rights. The discrimination between Indigenous Australians and non-
indigenous Australians has been referred to be amongst the most adverse globally (Daldy,
Poot & Roskruge, 2013. Racism is highly evident in workplaces as the Aboriginals are
discriminated against when it comes to accessing jobs, promotions and giving salaries as well
as allowances. This paper, therefore, introduces the issues of racism in the workplace
amongst the indigenous Australians and non-indigenous Australians and conducts an
empirical study to investigate the issue. Previous studies concerning the aspect are reviewed
to determine the existing gaps. To investigate the issue of racism in the workplace in
Australia media analysis is employed and the findings outlined while making the necessary
conclusion.
Literature Review
The Australian job market is highly discriminative when it comes to dealing with
indigenous Australians and non-indigenous Australians. Non-indigenous people consider
themselves natives of the country and have taken the initiative of discriminating the
aboriginals (Barak, 2016). Approximately thirty-eight percent of indigenous Australians
experience discrimination or harassment in their workplaces. Although the indigenous people
contribute up to 2.8% of the entire Australian population, they have been reported to

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experience higher levels of disadvantages compared to their non-indigenous counterparts
(Daldy, Poot & Roskruge, 2013). Although the government has worked tirelessly and
employed many resources in reducing racism an insignificant milestone has been achieved.
For the indigenous people to land a job in Australia, it has been quite tricky. The only
aboriginals who have been lucky to find a job are those bearing a name sounding Italian and
those residing in Melbourne. The non-indigenous Australians have not fully accepted the
aboriginals in the workplace a factor which has contributed significantly to the increased
racism (Forrest & Dunn 2013, p.5). The country has been reluctant to adopt diversity in the
workplace. Majority of the graduate aboriginals are jobless, and most of them have reported
not to be seeking jobs in Australia due to harassment (Habtegiorgis, Paradies & Dunn 2014,
p.178). The indigenous job seekers usually shy off from attending job interviews to what they
have termed as discriminative questions from the bosses. Currently, a significant number of
graduates are venturing into entrepreneurship despite establishing market name being
difficult due to racism and the fact that the aboriginals form a small percentage of the entire
population (Kosny, Santos & Reid, 2017).
The review of the salaries and allowances offered by Australian employers have also
indicated discrimination based on races. The non-indigenous Australians have been reported
to earn handsomely compared to the aboriginals despite having similar job qualification and
experience (Daldy, Poot & Roskruge, 2013). In most cases, the indigenous employees do not
receive promotion although airing complains regularly. The indigenous employees are
usually accorded to the most challenging jobs where they undergo much intimidation. The
aboriginals in most cases work for more extended hours under maximum supervision (Barak,
2016). The bosses usually harass them and work under many threats. The fact that the
majority of employers are non-indigenous indicates that the level of racism in Australian
workplace might not decline anytime soon (Biddle, Howlett & Paradies 2013, p.91).

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Although the government is employing various strategies to close the gap, no change has
been witnessed. This is because the majority of the employers have been keen to check the
names before offering employment (Kwok & HQ Lin 2014, p.403). The country seems to be
far away from embracing diversity in the workplace as the non-indigenous Australians seems
to have a negative attitude against the aboriginals.
Method
The method adopted in this study is a qualitative analysis of media and other
documents that were written on the basis of the racial discrimination in the workplace.
Qualitative media analysis method was effective in this study because it brought together
racial discrimination from newspapers articles, social media, news reports, television
programs, tweets, internet sites, blogs films among others. According to Marshall & Rossman
(2014), qualitative method is effective in this paper as it gathers data from numerous sources
ensuring that adequate interpretations and conclusions can be drawn. This research design
provides the researcher with an understanding of underlying opinions and reasons on the
racial discrimination issue among indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. This helps to
formulate the hypothesis and ideas that will lead to successful research. The method is
dependable in collecting information that leads to successful studies because it is
unobstructive implying that the researcher does not have to gather participants and source
data from them (Kaufman, 2017). This alerts the targeted people about the study, and thus
they may end up providing unreliable information to please the researcher. Quantitative
media analysis will make the results of this study highly reliable in that it will get ideas on the
racial discrimination case from a wide range of sources. Information from this sources cover
all discrimination issues that occur across the Australian borders without leaning on any side.

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Findings
After conducting a thorough analysis of the media and other contents, it was clear that
there is a deficient population of indigenous people employed in different sectors of
Australian industries. Non-indigenous people have dominated across all industries. Also, the
non-indigenous Australians were found to working in low paying jobs and poor working
conditions than the natives because they are not termed to part of the country's population.
Despite many countries and businesses embracing diversity at work, the native Australians
don't term this necessary as they prefer the best for themselves. The living conditions of the
non-indigenous Australians are low as well as their health conditions because of the low
earning jobs that earn them meagre incomes.
Discrimination is highly practiced within the Australian workplaces because non-
indigenous people strain a lot to enter the job market despite most of them being qualified.
The act of racism in the work sector limits them from entering the job market, and they opt
not to pursue higher education because they have developed the ideology that they will end
up not securing jobs. Better jobs and working conditions are given to the non-indigenous
Australians. This has made the native Australians extend the same treatment and notion to
non-indigenous Australians in lower ranks. The media and other sources have highlighted the
issue of discrimination extensively with the aim of bringing equity in Australian's working
environments.
Conclusion
Racism is a global issue that has persisted for a long time leaving some people
advantaged than others. The same case exists in the Australian workplaces which are
encroached by native and indigenous Australians. The indigenous also termed to as the
Aboriginals have been highly discriminated making them working in poorly paying jobs and

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unfriendly working environments. From the research conducted, racism has numerous side
effects not only to the indigenous Australian's but also the non-indigenous people as well as
business owners. Racism limits people from mingling as the Aboriginals feel segregated and
thus they are not free in their workplaces. The discrimination makes the indigenous and
native Australians not associate freely with each other therefore they don't share ideas. In a
working environment where the employees are free and equally treated, they exchange ideas
which contribute to continued business success. The Australian industry will progress more if
they eradicate racism and treat the indigenous people the same way as the non-indigenous as
this will increase competition bringing out the best out of the employees. According to Van
Dijk (2015), the press has contributed significantly to bringing racism to an end by
highlighting issues that happen in the workplace.

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References
Barak, M.E.M., 2016. Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. Sage
Publications.
Forrest, J. and Dunn, K., 2013. Cultural diversity, racialisation and the experience of racism
in rural Australia: the South Australian case. Journal of rural studies, 30, pp.1-9.
Biddle, N., Howlett, M., Hunter, B. and Paradies, Y., 2013. Labour market and other
discrimination facing Indigenous Australian. Australian Journal of Labour Economics, 16(1),
p.91.
Daldy, B., Poot, J. and Roskruge, M.J., 2013. Perception of workplace discrimination among
immigrants and native born New Zealanders.
Habtegiorgis, A.E., Paradies, Y.C. and Dunn, K.M., 2014. Are racist attitudes related to
experiences of racial discrimination? Within sample testing utilising nationally representative
survey data. Social science research, 47, pp.178-191.
Kaufman, J.S., 2017. Methods in social epidemiology (Vol. 16). John Wiley &
Sons.sites. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 21(4), pp.403-420.
Kwok Wai Wong, J. and HQ Lin, A., 2014. Construction workplace discrimination:
Experiences of ethnic minority operatives in Hong Kong construction Kosny, A., Santos, I.
and Reid, A., 2017. Employment in a “land of opportunity?” Immigrants’ experiences of
racism and discrimination in the Australian workplace. Journal of International Migration and
Integration, 18(2), pp.483-497.
Marshall, C. and Rossman, G.B., 2014. Designing qualitative research. Sage publications.
Van Dijk, T.A., 2015. Racism and the Press. Routledge.