Lack of Aboriginal people in advertising target for new pathways program
Peter Kirk
The University of Sydney’s Wingara Mura Centre is asking advertising agencies to partner with it on a program to address the lack of Aboriginal people working in the industry.
Peter Kirk, founder of agency Integrated Space, and half-Aboriginal himself, approached the university and the Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander contact centre, to set up the program after being “disgusted” by the lack of indigenous people represented in the industry.
“I think the ad industry needs it. The ad industry needs to reach out to different cultures and different points-of-view and different visions. My goal is to enhance the ad agencies and the work that is being put out,” he told Mumbrella.
It could be argued there’s a lack of Aboriginal people everywhere – TV, radio, politics, journalism, entertainment etc. Why pick on the advertising industry?
Peter has noticed a glaring inequity in the industry in which he works and he’s got enough initiative to do something positive about it. He should be congratulated. The “everyone else is doing it, so don’t pick on us” comment is representative of the attitudes that lead to such a sad state of affairs in the first place.
Give yourself an uppercut, Anon.
When GenerationOne first launched a few years ago, I reflected that in over 15 years in this industry, I had never seen or worked with an Aboriginal person. I suggested to the owners of my agency that we hire and Aboriginal intern as part of the GenerationOne push. The response was an abhorrent racist joke from one of the Partners. Glad to say I don’t work there anymore.
Peter, I’ll be looking further into your program and hope that I can get involved.
Well done Kirky, a great thing to get behind mate. I agree with Rady above.
Keen to hear more and to see what I could do to support it too. I’ll be in touch.
What Anon should should of said is “…there’s a lack of Indigenous Australians in the media industry therefore I think the advertising industry should stand up and lead by example the benefits of employing, mentoring, teaching and working together with young Indigenous Australians…”
Except he didn’t, he points out that it “could be argued” as if they’re playing devil’s advocate therefore he is one step removed from his comment which is also what’s wrong with this thought.
I wonder if Annon has the same attitude when it comes to change in society. I wonder if President Kennedy thought to himself “nobody else is supporting racial integration and civil rights so why should we” or majority of Australians thought to themselves “majority of the world hasn’t had a female leader so why should we elect a female Prime Minister”….
Start thinking about what you can do rather than what other people are not doing… you might actually find yourself a lot happier and proud of the industry you work in.
Cheers Peter for contributing to improving not only other people’s lives but improving the advertising industry as a whole.
Indigenous Australia’s unemployment rate is 4 times that of the National average and their participation rate is lower than the entire population so they clearly need help in addressing and correcting these figures….
BUT we need to be careful that it doesn’t turn into a quota-system. How many Indigenous Australia’s are actually unemployed in real numbers and looking for work… let alone looking for work in the media industry?
Perhaps it’s naive but are there really Indigenous Australia’s being turned down for Media roles?
You know what quotas do? All they do is force you to make an effort instead of hiring the guy that reminds you most of yourself. I say ‘guy’ deliberately. Everyone says they want workplace diversity, but unfortunately their behaviour isn’t reflective of that, until their hand is forced. Now Peter isn’t suggesting we move to quotas, but if he was, I’d be supportive.
Role models and opportunity play a huge role in breaking down these barriers. If you build it, they will come. Throwing your hands up and saying ‘well do they really want these jobs anyway’ is a furphy and part of the systemic failure of business to understand the issue.
I’m against quotas. It should always be the best person for the job regardless of skin colour or what’s between your legs. Quotas reinforce discrimination – it forces employers to employ someone because of a physical trait first, not what they can do which becomes secondary.
@employee it would be nice if ‘best person for the job’ was a reality but glance over our industry sometime and it won’t take long to realise that merit is a fallacious argument.