The ABC has released the\u00a0Independent Review into ABC Systems and Processes in Support of Staff who Experience Racism and announced the next steps to improve those processes.<\/p>\n
The Independent Review was announced by ABC Managing Director David Anderson in May 2023 and is informed by interviews with 120 current and former ABC staff. Led by Indigenous lawyer Dr Terri Janke, a\u00a0Wuthathi, Yadhaighana and Meriam woman, the\u00a0Listen Loudly, Act Strongly<\/em>\u00a0review has made 15 recommendations to improve the ABC\u2019s systems and processes.<\/p>\n Mr Anderson has issued an apology to any current or former employee who has experienced racism and has committed the ABC to accept in principle all 15 recommendations. Mr Anderson also announced former Australian Race Discrimination Commissioner Chin Tan has been engaged to continue this work.<\/p>\n Mr Anderson told staff the testimonies provided to Dr Janke were disturbing and the details of racist behaviour were unacceptable to the ABC.<\/p>\n \u201cOn 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,\u201d Mr Anderson told staff today.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all need to do better for our colleagues on our commitment to zero tolerance for racism in our workplace.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all need to do better for our colleagues by preventing or acting on behaviour that seeks to discriminate against, bully or demean them.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all need to do better for our colleagues by remaining vigilant against racism or discrimination of any kind in our workplace.\u201d<\/p>\n The Review is available\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0and the 15 recommendations and the ABC\u2019s response\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0The ABC has also developed a list of Action Items, available\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Review was announced following public discussion and comments about racist behaviour at the ABC and how the organisation responds to acts of racism from within and outside the organisation.<\/p>\n The ABC commissioned the Review in response to calls for an independent and external process by senior ABC Indigenous staff and the ABC Bonner Committee (which advises the Managing Director on Indigenous matters). The Review also followed conversations with the ABC Indigenous, Diversity & Inclusion team.<\/p>\n The ABC will launch an internal campaign to raise awareness of racism and discrimination and to make it easier for staff to report instances of racism and\u00a0discrimination. In addition to current anti-bullying and harassment training, and inclusion training, the ABC will begin specific anti-racism training with staff.<\/p>\n The ABC has also created a new role to lead this work, Director First Nations Strategy, to join the ABC\u2019s Leadership Team reporting directly to the Managing Director, developing the plan to implement actions in response to the recommendations set out in the report. The ABC\u2019s current Head of Indigenous, Diversity and Inclusion Kelly Williams has been asked to step into this role until a new Managing Director can initiate a recruitment process. However, the role will be ongoing.<\/p>\n The Review has acknowledged the work done by the ABC executive under Mr Anderson\u2019s leadership to improve the ABC culture and the way the ABC manages and addresses racism within the organisation.<\/p>\n \u201cAs 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,\u201d Mr Anderson said.<\/p>\n \u201cFor 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Chair of the ABC Bonner Committee Dan Bouchier said: \u00a0\u201cThank you to David Anderson for the courage to listen deeply and launch this review, and releasing\u00a0Listen Loudly, Act Strongly<\/em>\u00a0today, and thanks to David and the Board for committing to implementing all recommendations.<\/p>\n \u201cDr Terri Janke and her team took great care in conducting this review – thank you.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are especially grateful to everyone who bravely shared their experiences, as well as what they saw as solutions to make the ABC stronger.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m inspired to see Kelly Williams as the inaugural Director First Nations Strategy – and fully support her. We all back Kelly in the important work ahead, as she continues to build on the significant change she has already\u00a0accomplished.<\/p>\n \u201cI asked David to call for this review because it was clear there were big challenges. This report is a turning point and seeks to strengthen and reform the ABC.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a line in the sand – we need to do better.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ABC\u2019s First Nations and CALD staff need this to be acted on across the organisation, and the Australian people expect more from the ABC, to ensure it remains the important institution it is.<\/p>\n \u201cThis review exposes the depth of the problems. To achieve the crucial work of\u00a0Listen Loudly, Act Strongly<\/em>\u00a0will require the entire ABC to work to embed meaningful change.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The ABC has released the\u00a0Independent Review into ABC Systems and Processes in Support of Staff who Experience Racism and announced the next steps to improve those processes. The Independent Review was announced by ABC Managing Director David Anderson in May 2023 and is informed by interviews with 120 current and former ABC staff. Led by … Continue reading “Independent Review into ABC Systems and Processes in Support of Staff who Experience Racism”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/radioindustrynews.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/radioindustrynews.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/radioindustrynews.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/radioindustrynews.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/radioindustrynews.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/radioindustrynews.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/radioindustrynews.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/radioindustrynews.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/radioindustrynews.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}