Human Rights Commission finds executive diversity still lacking

An Australian Human Rights Commission report has found people of Anglo-Celtic or European background hold 95 per cent of the country's chief-executive and senior-management jobs.

Race Discrimination Commissioner Dr Tim Soutphommasane attends Senate Estimates at Parliament House in Canberra Source: AAP

The Australian Human Rights Commission report is a review of 2016's Leading for Change initiative aimed at boosting cultural diversity in high-ranking leadership positions.

 

The report finds Anglo-Celtic Australians and those of European background continue to fill the ranks of Australian chief executives at a rate as high as 97 per cent.

 

It finds cultural diversity improves only slightly at the senior-management level, with 95 per cent of more than 2,400 senior leaders having an Anglo-Celtic or European background.

 

While people of non-European or Indigenous background make up about 24 per cent of the Australian population, they account for just 5 per cent of the senior-leadership positions.

 

Please listen to the full report here.