‘No Indians, Asians’ job ad sparks anger
Published August 29, 2012 | 9:57 am
SAANJ NEWS
New Delhi: One of Australia’s largest supermarket chains has come under fire for an online job ad that specified that “no Indians or Asians” should apply. The ad, which sought cleaners at a Coles supermarket near the Tasmanian capital of Hobart, sparked condemnation after it was posted Sunday, according to Australian media reports.
“Store requires no Indians or Asians please. Must speak English (sic)”, read the online ad posted on Sunday.
The ad on the Gumtree website sought cleaners for a supermarket at Eastlands Shopping Centre in Hobart.
It triggered outrage on social media sites, with people calling for a boycott of the store.
A Coles spokesman admitted the ad had been posted by a contract company responsible for cleaning its Rosny store.
Tasmania’s anti-discrimination commissioner Robin Banks was qouted as saying that she wanted to track down the cleaning contractor to pursue possible legal action.
“It’s unlawful to blanket preclude a person because of their race,” she said.
Banks said she often received complaints about job ads that discriminated against particular races.
Indians are calling upon Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to publicly apologize over the underlying racist attitudes in Australia against “others” as exhibited in the recent “no Indians” offensive job ad in Tasmania.
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that it was highly disturbing to note that such racist attitudes still existed in 21st century Australia, a culturally diverse society now. The “others” had contributed greatly to the Australian economy, academia and business despite such apparent “barriers”, he noted.
Zed,who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, stressed that anti-racism initiatives were immediately required in Australia and it needed to do deep introspection of its heart and be kind to immigrants, minorities, indigenous people, and other vulnerable groups. Gillard’s public apology would send astrong message against xenophobia.
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