Outgoing ABC boss David Anderson has told current and former staff he is “truly sorry” to those who have experienced racist behaviour and past harms, after a long-awaited review found overwhelming evidence of racism at the public broadcaster.

The Listen Loudly, Act Strongly review, led by Dr Terri Janke was published on Tuesday afternoon, making 15 recommendations to improve the ABC’s systems, processes and support for First National and culturally diverse staff.

Among the recommendations, the review said the ABC must improve its responses to public attacks on staff, diverse representation in its leadership and management, recruitment processes and pathways, and conduct regular pay audits.

The report, informed by interviews with 120 current and former ABC staff, said the review had found overwhelmingly evidence of racism at the ABC, with staff subjected to racism from both external individuals and organisations in connection with their work.

Through its interviews, the review found instances of both overt and covert racism experienced by ABC’s staff, including racial slurs, derogatory and offensive comments, excluding staff from workplace opportunities or social events due to their cultural or linguistic background, as well as mistaking someone for a more junior person based on their racial appearance.

There were also examples of stereotyping, not being considered to be impartial in reporting on a cultural group because staff were perceived to be part of that cultural group, and staff not being offered opportunities because they were considered to have been hired to meet diversity quotas, the report said.

It added that almost all participants who identified as First Nations or CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse) described having experienced racism in the workplace. Only one CALD participant said they had not experienced racism.

“There is an absolutely undeniable racist culture at the ABC,” said one anonymous respondent.

Anderson said the details of the 171-page report were “disturbing”. “On behalf of everyone at the ABC, I am sorry for any and all racist behaviour and past harms experienced by our Indigenous and CALD employees, either currently or formerly employed,” Anderson told staff on Tuesday.

“We all need to do better for our colleagues on our commitment to zero tolerance for racism in our workplace. We all need to do better for our colleagues by preventing or acting on behaviour that seeks to discriminate against, bully or demean them.”

The role of the report was not to investigate or make findings on individual incidents or racism, rather to focus on how the ABC responds to racism and cultural safety in the workplace.

Many respondents said racism is manifested in the systems and policies of the ABC, explicitly noting the presence of structural or system racism and unconscious bias. Many also said the ABC had made significant progress recently to address these issues, however.

As part of its response, the ABC has engaged former Australian Race Discrimination Commissioner Chin Tan to continue this work, has created a new director of First Nations strategy, who will join the ABC’s leadership team and report directly to the managing director.

The current head of Indigenous, diversity and inclusion Kelly Williams is taking up the role in the interim while it looks for a permanent appointment.

Anderson thanked the 120 participants during an appearance on the ABC’s 24-hour News Channel and encouraged all staff to read the report.

He said it is important work needs to begin in the months he has left at the broadcaster to put a framework in place to address the recommendations.

“If anything it’s a reason for me to stay longer, not a reason to leave earlier,” Anderson said.

The review’s publication marks almost 12 months of work and examines staff experiences of racism at the broadcaster and the adequacy of systems and processes to support those who have experienced it.

Janke, a Wuthathi, Yadhaighana and Meriam woman and a lawyer, was picked to lead the review, sparked by the treatment of veteran broadcaster Stan Grant, who has since left the broadcaster. The review team enlisted independent psychological support for ABC staff to help them cope with the report, as reported by this masthead on Friday.

Participants in the review were contacted this week and offered three sessions per person with specialists Psychs for Journalists, funded by the ABC, according to correspondence seen by this masthead. Staff were told they could use the sessions before or after the report’s release.

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