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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Inclusion in the Workplace: Challenging racist policy and practice
Book chapter

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Inclusion in the Workplace: Challenging racist policy and practice

Sharlene Leroy-Dyer and Kelly Menzel
The Routledge Handbook of Australian Indigenous Peoples and Futures, pp.81-102
Routledge, 1
2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003271802-8

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Abstract

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are currently the most disadvantaged group in the Australian community, in education and employment, and policies to redress this disadvantage, such as the Closing the Gap Strategy (CTG), have done little to address the disadvantage. This can partly be attributed to the government ignoring the dominant political philosophy of self-determination held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the racist policies and practices that still exist within colonial structures, systems and workplaces. The future of work for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples—where employment equity is achieved—involves comprehensive labour market policies and programmes, implemented by both governments and organisations, that are Indigenous-centric, proposed and implemented by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (and not imposed on us), and that enhance the economic, social and cultural rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This chapter focuses on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment in the higher education sector, exploring what life is like in the academy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, both within Indigenous centres and within faculties. The chapter unpacks power and privilege in the academy by applying critical race theory (CRT) (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017) and Indigenous feminist theory (Moreton-Robinson, 2013) with the goal to dramatically shift the nature and scope of relations, aimed at critiquing and questioning higher education processes of inclusion and exclusion. We then suggest ways in which the academy can be more inclusive, delivering a workplace where Indigenous knowledges are accepted, embedded, valued and celebrated.

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