‘Straight-up racist’: Tax officers furious at online course
AUSTRALIA'S tax officers are being told they are "unconsciously" racist and are subjected to tests designed to measure their levels of prejudice and reveal which political parties they vote for.
Australian Taxation Office accountants and auditors have started attending "unconscious bias" training which involves a test which flashes photos of caucasian and Aboriginal Australians on the screen and forces the user to make a split-second decision about whether they are "good" or "bad".
It also throws words like "laughter" and "agony" in between the photos to establish whether they have negative views of a particular race.
Staff need to reveal their political affiliation and views on indigenous policies as part of the test.
Introduced in July, the course uses the data to determine which ethnicity the person is racist towards and also warns that everyone suffers from unconscious bias.
ATO officers have furiously labelled the course "straight-up racist".
Staff are even warned before starting the test that the results could make them "uncomfortable" or "trigger unexpected emotional reactions".
"If this is a concern, you can complete it privately from any quiet room where an ATO net machine is installed," the course document said.
An ATO spokesman said staff could choose to not do the training but backed the principles of the training as "essential to building a diverse and inclusive workforce".
"The training does not ask about political opinions or suggest that people are racist, however it does recognise that unconscious bias can lead people to make assumptions based on stereotypes rather than facts.
"This course fulfils our commitment to ensuring employees understand their responsibilities to maintain a workplace free from unrecognised biases."
The ATO said the government did not store any data results from individuals taking the course.
The contentious concept of unconscious bias originated in US universities in the late 1990s and has since infiltrated major corporations, including Google and Starbucks.
The ATO training also informed auditors that they suffered from "confirmation bias" and recommended they listen to "all" taxpayer explanations about tax errors, "no matter how farfetched they may seem".
The hour-long anti-racism course, which was obtained by The Daily Telegraph, requires staff to reveal which political party they vote for and answer questions on indigenous policies.
They are asked if they "consider society to be unfair to Aboriginal Australians" or if they would be "bothered" if indigenous families moved into their neighbourhood and changed the "ethnic composition".
Centre of Independent Studies director Dr Jeremy Sammut said the course was dangerous and divisive.
"This is actually really socially destructive in a culture like Australia which is multicultural because if you tell people they are all racist and they can't stop it they will stay in their own little groups," he said.
