Reference no: EM132609986

In the lunchroom at your workplace, a colleague is reading the paper. After reading an article about increases in funding for health and housing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, they make a comment about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 'expecting Government handouts' and say that they 'should stop living in the past'. The person always prefaces these comments with "I'm not racist, but..."

You know that this is an opinion that this person has expressed before and that it seems to be deeply ingrained. Nobody else seems to mind this behaviour, and you are also aware that a number of other colleagues also think this way to some degree even if they do not come out and say it very often. Sometimes, the lunchroom discussions get quite heated, with people using derogatory terms when making comments about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

You are working in a situation where you and your colleagues are frequently dealing with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Indeed, there are some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people working with you. You notice that another colleague, whom you know to be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, becomes upset and leaves the room.

• How does this impact the way you carry out your work, both in working with your colleagues and in dealing with your customers? Have any laws been broken?
• What are some of the issues affecting this situation, and what are you able to tell the non-indigenous workers about issues affecting Indigenous Australians?
• How would you respond to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person who left?