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"When I said I'm really keen on being in a permanent role in leadership. And the manager said, 'well I only see you ever doing that in Western Sydney.' Well why would I only do that in Western Sydney? Why would I not be able to represent clients, quite frankly, anywhere? Or when someone couldn't tell me and another woman of colour apart, when they were telling me that I didn't get an interview. They literally went and told that feedback to another woman of colour not myself, because they couldn't tell us apart. I don't know why, we look very different."
That's Sarah Ibrahim of the Racial Justice Centre, a not-for-profit legal service representing victims of racial discrimination.
Those were just a couple of instances of broader workplace discrimination the Egyptian-born lawyer experienced at a former employer, which she says motivated her to establish the Racial Justice Centre to help those in similar positions.
"I guess that's the whole point of the Racial Justice Centre, is to say, 'well, if I'm, if I'm a lawyer, and even I felt unsupported, then you can imagine how other people, not as privileged or as resourced as myself, are going to feel.”
48 years ago on October 31, 1975, Gough Whitlam's Labor government passed the Racial Discrimination Act to address this sort of race-based prejudice.
The act aimed to give Australians equal opportunities no matter their background.
But how effective has that legislation been and why does racial discrimination persist?
Australian Human Rights Commission President and Acting Race Discrimination Commissioner, Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher says the legislation was a significant first step at tackling structural racism.
"The Racial Discrimination Act is important, because it was the first piece of federal anti-discrimination law. And it was the framework around which the Australian Human Rights Commission was later built. The first stage was to make it unlawful to treat anyone unfairly because of race, colour, descent, national or ethnic origin, or immigration status."
The Racial Discrimination Act was updated in 1995 to add a clause making it unlawful to offend, insult or humiliate a person based on their cultural background or the colour of their skin.
The act provides an avenue for victims of racism to complain to the Australian Human Rights Commission which attempts to resolve the issue before it reaches a court proceeding.
Professor Croucher says the AHRC gets 15,000 inquiries per year, with around 2,000 of those being complaints that are addressed by their mediation team.
She says it's a voluntary process but mediators do their best to find justice for the victim.
"The processes is one of conciliation, no one is forced to conciliate. It's a voluntary process. So sometimes you hear about people being dragged before the Human Rights Commission, that's utter poppycock. It is not like that at all. It's a conciliation process, you do not have to participate. But participation has genuine results. It's only a handful, but there sometimes is a financial element of that settlement. But the power of apology is a pretty potent thing as well, whether it's an apology that's public, or an apology that is made genuinely to the person involved."
Despite laws like the RDA prohibiting explicit discrimination from workplaces and institutions, there has been a large - and in some cases growing - number of reports of discrimination both at work and in recruitment processes.
A study spanning over two years from Monash University released in July showed that ethnic minorities received 57 per cent fewer callbacks from recruiters than applicants with English names for leadership positions.
For non-leadership positions, ethnic minorities received 45 per cent fewer callbacks.
And Diversity Council Australia's 2023 Inclusion at Work Index showed a 9 per cent increase in workplace discrimination or harassment towards First Nations Australians from 2021 to 2023.
Lisa Annese is the CEO of Diversity Council Australia.
She says their research shows that this anti-Indigenous racism often comes in different forms.
"We did a piece of work with the UTS Jumbunna Centre on the experience of First Nations peoples and 60 per cent of them described experiencing racism at work, and that ranged from explicit racial slurs - so that still happens - to more subtle forms of racism. So, for example, telling someone who's First Nations that, 'Oh, you don't look Aboriginal' or 'Congratulations on getting through university.' There's a spectrum of harm."
Ms Annese says there needs to be better efforts to inform people of race-related issues, so people don't unconsciously perpetuate harm.
"Also understanding that it's not always the intention of people to be racist, and I would think it's unusual, especially in workplaces, for people to intentionally want to harm people on the basis of their race. It does happen, don't get me wrong, there are very racist people out there. But for most people who might perpetuate it, it's unconscious. It's not understanding how racism manifests. It's not understanding that making someone overly visible because of their race or resorting to stereotypes or telling someone who's First Nations 'you don't look Aboriginal'. It's low-level stuff, which over time builds up."
Last month, a United Nations working group released a report assessing the experiences of people of African descent in Australia, with the group claiming many were - as they put it - living "under siege of racism."
Noël Zihabamwe is the founder of the African Australian Advocacy Centre, which worked in close collaboration with the UN working group on their visit to Australia.
He says discrimination against African Australians can often look a little different to racism towards other communities.
"For example, Africans often face racial profiling by law enforcement. The other form of discrimination is employment discrimination, for example, many people from African background may encounter difficulties when accessing employment opportunities or experience workplace discrimination. Other forms of discrimination is for example, media representation. For example, we already see negative or biased media portrayals that can perpetrate stereotypes and contributes to discrimination against people of African descent."
The UN report also found that stigmatisation against people of African descent has led to negative mental health effects and higher suicide rates in young people.
Orygen mental health researchers found in 2020 that young people who have immigrated to Australia from Africa are up to 10 times more likely to develop mental health issues than their Australian-born counterparts.
Mr Zihabamwe says the UN and African Australian Advocacy Centre want stronger legal protections to ensure better outcomes for ethnic minorities.
"Some of those recommendations include anti-discrimination legislation. Meaning strengthening and enforcing anti- discrimination legislation to provide comprehensive protection against racial discrimination and harassment, with specific attention to addressing systemic racism. Second, improve data collection on racial and ethnic identity to better understand and address disparities in employment and criminal justice. Third, educational programs. Develop educational programmes that promote cultural diversity and inclusivity in schools to foster a greater appreciation of different cultures."
Ms Ibrahim of the Racial Justice Centre agrees with calls for better education to improve the public's understanding of racial discrimination.
She says people in Australia need to recognise racial discrimination as uniquely different from other forms of discrimination.
"So, people might just think, 'oh, you're a woman. So, you're just having a woman's experience of gender discrimination.' But I'm saying being a culturally diverse or racially marginalised woman and if you use that, and you combine that with the gender, it's a different lens again. And that's what the data is showing, there's a different experience. We do need collective action. It can't just be one person, it can't just be one organisation, we need a whole movement that comes behind us and says, yes, we want a racially just Australia."
