Racism Keeps Africans Out of Good Jobs in Australia
By Global News Digest
Sidney Morning Herald -- Australia
Posted August 28, 2008
The government of Australia has acknowledged that African migrants in that country have long suffered from
negative discrimination in the hands of prospective employers.
According to a story in the Sidney Morning Herald, racism has kept African migrants from being able to obtain
good jobs in Australia. And the problem is getting worse.
The admission that racism is a big factor in under-employment among African-Australians came during a speech
by Lindsay Tanner, the country's minister of finance, given at the Redmond Barry Lecture in Melbourne on
Wednesday July 30.
The minister noted that "African migrants with professional qualifications from overseas had long found it
hard to get jobs in their chosen fields in Australia." Mr. Tanner acknowledged that there is a new dimension
to the problem. He told his listeners that he is "now encountering African-Australians with high-level
qualifications from Australian universities who can't find jobs."
This is happening "even in the midst of dire skills shortages." African-Australians whose "degrees are from
Melbourne, not Mogadishu" are "finding it just as hard to find employment," the minister said. Mr. Tanner
admits that "racial discrimination is undoubtedly one factor" in the reason why Africans can't find jobs in
Australia.
Mr. Tanner wants to see a change. He has promised to work toward a better deal for African-Australians. He
said he planned to talk to big business to formulate ways to help, and would also raise the issue within
government.
"Our nation won't be socially and culturally open unless we embrace African-Australian migrants in the same
way we've previously embraced people from southern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East," he said.
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