Racism
What is racism?
Racism can take many forms, such as jokes or comments that cause offence or hurt, name-calling or verbal abuse, harassment or intimidation, or commentary in the media or online that inflames hostility towards certain racial groups. Racism can also take the form of unfair treatment of people because of their race.
The Racial Discrimination Act
The Racial Discrimination Act makes racism that amounts to discrimination against the law. Racial discrimination is when a person is treated less favourably, or not given the same opportunities, as others in a similar situation, because of their race, the country where they were born, their ethnic origin or their skin colour.
Racism that is racial hatred can also be against the law. Racial hatred is doing or saying something in public, including in the workplace, based on the race, colour, national or ethnic origin of a person or group of people, which is likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate. For example:
- making racist comments on blogs and social networking sites
- displaying racist posters or cartoons in the workplace
- calling people racist names in the workplace.
The Act contains exemptions to protect freedom of speech.
Employer's obligations
Employers have a legal responsibility to take all reasonable steps to prevent racial discrimination.
'Reasonable steps' may include putting in place policies and procedures to create a discrimination-free environment. It could also include procedures to deal with allegations of discrimination and harassment made by employees or customers.
It is against the law to victimise a person for making, or proposing to make, a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission about racial discrimination or racial hatred.
Employers can also be held legally responsible for discrimination or harassment by their employees. For more information, see the fact sheet, vicarious liability.
The Good Practice, Good Business guide provides more information on racial discrimination for employment
- Explore the Workplace Cultural Diversity Tool
- Commit to learning to address racism in a meaningful way on the It Stops With Me website
- Review the Guideline for Employers regarding the targeted recruitment of Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander peoples
- Understand the Australian Human Right's Commission work on Race Discrimination
- Review the Australian Human Rights Commission's Anti-Racism Framework