Woke ABC Is Racist – What?!

With all its ostensible progressiveness and wokeness, one would think Australia’s taxpayer-funded broadcaster, the ABC, is a haven for diversity, equity, and inclusion. But as we often see with other groups and individuals who claim the moral high ground, behind closed doors, there’s trouble in paradise. Yes, dear listener, the ABC is racist, or at least, has been accused of being racist by dozens (hundreds?) of its employees!

Basically, an independent review was conducted titled, “Listen Loudly, Act Strongly”, led by Indigenous lawyer Terri Janke, which found lots of anecdotal evidence of racism at the ABC.

In the report, they state, “It is noted that the lawyers on the Review Team are all women. There was one man on the Review Team. While a men-only option for consultations was provided, this was not selected by any of the participants.”

In the Key Themes section, they state, “Almost all participants who identified as First Nations or CALD described experiencing racism in the workplace. Only one CALD participant stated that they did not experience racism in the workplace.” I’d be interested, did anybody actually get called a slur? Was the racism so overt that any reasonable person viewing it would say, “Yes, that’s racism!”? Or was it more, feelings were hurt, and the stated explanation was racism, when perhaps it wasn’t? I don’t know, I’m just asking.

Here are some of the participants’ quotes: “The most racism I have experienced in my life has been at the ABC.” That’s interesting, because the ABC prides itself on being anti-racist. If the ABC is the most racist place in the world, God help the rest of Australia. We must all be a bunch of raving Ku Klux Klan members!

More quotes. “Because of the colour of my skin, I was seen as less than.” Evidence please. Simply feeling it, or saying it, does not make it true. “There is an absolutely undeniable racist culture at the ABC.” Again, proof please. “Structural racism”, “microaggressions”, “Every Indigenous staff member experiences one form or another of [racism] on a daily basis”. Okay, if this is honestly true, this is the worst place in the world to work for! [When asked what they were doing in the building by a colleague] “I’m pretty sure no one else gets asked on that floor – you need 3 security passes to get to that floor and they were worried a Blackfulla was there.” Oh yes, I’ve never been stopped by security before. As a whitefulla, I can walk into any building I want to! Again, they use language like “I’m pretty sure”. It’s not evidence, it’s just one’s feelings.

Of course, money comes into it. The alleged “Pay Gap”. “I am by far significantly underpaid… I see this as ABC’s pattern of underpaying Indigeneity, seeing it as a detractor rather than an asset.” Again, how do you possibly prove this? Unless there’s a policy written down somewhere saying, “We pay Aboriginal people less than white people”, then this is just speculation, is it not?

Despite mostly anecdotal evidence presented in the report, of course the ABC’s head white man, David Anderson, apologised for the horrible racist culture at the ABC stating, “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. We all need to do better for our colleagues by remaining vigilant against racism or discrimination of any kind in our workplace.”

Interestingly, star Indigenous presenter Tony Armstrong, who has since resigned from ABC News Breakfast, was called out by the ABC’s own Media Watch program for moonlighting as an NRMA Insurance voice-over man. Specifically, she said, “There are strict rules around ABC staff doing external work. And the rules get tighter the more famous you are, with the ABC stipulating that any external work by a high profile presenter is very high risk. It’s a shame this moonlighting at the expense of the ABC’s integrity is what we’re talking about in his final week on the News Breakfast couch.”

Personally, I don’t care what the guy does. If he wants to make some extra money on the side, so be it, but obviously, he wasn’t keen on telling his employer about it. Actually, it was completely unapproved what he did. Now is this an example of structural racism? Of course not! He broke the rules, and he’s getting called out for it. Obviously, it’s got nothing to do with race.

Look, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the ABC is a God-forsaken racist hellhole. But from the evidence I’ve seen, a lot of it is just hearsay and anecdotal at best. I’m not saying people aren’t being treated badly over at the ABC, or their feelings aren’t being hurt, but perhaps it’s got nothing to do with race?

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