Where is Australia’s boardroom diversity?

Speaking to BlueNotes on video, Dr Tim Soutphommasane says the fact less than 10 per cent of corporate leadership roles in Australia are filled by people from non-European backgrounds shows Australia’s inherent diversity is not being reflected at board level.

"If we’re not making the most of our diversity, we’re not making the most of our talents."
Dr Tim Soutphommasane, Australian Race Discrimination Commissioner

‘We’re a country where nearly half the population was born overseas or had a parent born overseas, yet none of this appears to be reflected in [our corporate]  leadership,” he said.

‘That is a challenge for us to tackle. If we’re not making the most of our diversity, we’re not making the most of our talents.”

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Soutphommasane said implementing meaningful change in the workplace was difficult but could be done by consciously thinking differently about how challenges are approached.

“Action can start very simply through a conversation, through listening to people’s experience, to listening to people,” he said.

Soutphommasane also spoke about addressing difficult conversations about diversity in the workplace. Watch the video above to find out more.

Anna Green is CEO at ANZ Laos