Removing barriers to Aboriginal employment

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Removing barriers to Aboriginal employment

RMIT University partnered with Woor-Dungin and other Aboriginal organisations to remove barriers to Aboriginal employment. The ongoing collaborations included advocacy to remove the damaging effects of criminal record discrimination in Victoria, leading to significant legislative reform.

SDGs

Criminal record discrimination Aboriginal justice employment barriers spent convictions legislation

Key points

RMIT researchers and Woor-Dungin led efforts to ensure that old and irrelevant criminal history was not used unfairly against Aboriginal job seekers.
The collaborative work and advocacy resulted in significant legislative reform including the introduction of Victoria’s Spent Conviction Scheme for certain criminal offences to be removed from an individual’s criminal record.
Further work has focused on educating employers and job seekers about their rights and obligations in disclosing criminal history.

Criminal Record Discrimination Project

A unique collaboration between RMIT researchers and Woor-Dungin achieved positive legislative change for those with historic criminal records in Victoria.

The Criminal Record Discrimination Project was an Aboriginal-led collaboration between community and legal organisations that sought to reduce the negative impacts Aboriginal Victorians faced because of the unregulated disclosure of, and inappropriate reliance on, old and irrelevant criminal history.

RMIT’s involvement emerged from a strong partnership between Professor Bronwyn Naylor in the Graduate School of Business and Law and Professor Georgina Heydon in the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies and Woor-Dungin. Stan Winford from RMIT’s Centre of Innovative Justice also collaborated with the team.

The need to remove discriminatory barriers to employment in Victoria

The group called for the introduction of a legislated spent conviction scheme, and equal opportunity laws to ensure that old and irrelevant criminal history was not used unfairly against job seekers. Prior to 2021, Victoria was the only Australian state or territory that did not have a legislated spent convictions scheme.

This meant that even trivial offences from decades ago could still appear on police checks of a person’s permanent file. There was also no prohibition under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic) against discrimination in employment based on an irrelevant criminal record.

The group’s research identified that Aboriginal children taken from their parents were given criminal records despite not having committed any crime. The Victorian Children’s Court didn’t differentiate between the child protection and criminal cases it handled until the early 1990s, meaning care and protection orders were recorded on a child’s criminal history.

golden lady justice holding scales

Prior to 2021, Victoria was the only Australian state or territory that did not have a legislated spent convictions scheme.

Criminal record information released was at the discretion of police, which often created uncertainty for Aboriginal community members and limited their job prospects, ability to be kinship carers and engage with their communities.

Criminal records can provide further barriers to employment, social and economic exclusion and poor justice and health outcomes. This disproportionately affects Aboriginal Victorians, who are over-represented in the criminal justice system and under-represented in the state’s work force.

Criminal Record Discrimination Project research outputs and impact

The team’s four-year campaign to advocate for legislation regulating the disclosure of old and irrelevant criminal history in Victoria had a significant impact.

In 2018, the Victorian Government introduced new laws to stop historical care and protection orders being treated as convictions or findings of guilt and require police to remove them from their records.

The Victorian Government announced its intention to establish a spent convictions scheme in February 2020.

In March 2021, the Spent Convictions Act 2021 (Vic) came into effect. The Act brought Victoria in line with other Australian states and territories by introducing a scheme for certain criminal offences to be removed from an individual’s criminal record.

Award-winning project

In 2018, the team was recognised with an Australian Philanthropy Award for its Criminal Record Discrimination Project.

Winford said the award recognised the team effort behind the project, which began in 2015.

The project represents best practice work in this space in terms of respectful relationships, working with the community and responding to their priorities, Winford said. Woor-Dungin members highlighted the impact criminal records had on Aboriginal employment, and RMIT’s CIJ and College of Business provided advice, strategy, research and guidance.

Rethinking Criminal Records Project

Building on the success of their previous work, the team’s Rethinking Criminal Records project, led by Naylor, aimed to improve employment opportunities for Aboriginal people, and to support employers in recruiting them. This included educating employers and job seekers about their rights and obligations in disclosing criminal history.

The RMIT team partnered with three Aboriginal-led organisations on the project: Woor-Dungin; Winda Mara Aboriginal Corporation, and VACCHO (Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation).

The project involved working with employers in the private and public sectors to identify existing good practice in managing risk and supporting opportunities for Aboriginal employment, and to communicate these practices to jobseekers and employers in ways that could be readily adopted.

Naylor said there were many employers who wanted to do the right thing but weren’t sure how.

Naomi Murphy, Georgina Heydon, Bronwyn Naylor, Christa Momot, Michael Bell, Stan Winford, Sue-Anne Hunter

L-R: Team members Naomi Murphy, Georgina Heydon, Bronwyn Naylor, Christa Momot, Michael Bell, Stan Winford with Sue-Anne Hunter

“They may want to give people a second chance, and they may be trying to increase the diversity of their workforce, but then run into obstacles,” Naylor said.

“For example, guidelines in government grants, or restrictions from insurance companies, can deter people from hiring those with criminal records even if the records are not relevant to the role.”

Criminal record checks have also been shown to limit other opportunities for Aboriginal Victorians to contribute to their communities, such as by becoming kinship carers or youth mentors.

Winford said the project would provide practical resources for organisations wanting to hire Aboriginal people, and those with a criminal history looking for work.

“The figures around Aboriginal unemployment and labour force participation are really shocking,” Winford said.

“For those with a criminal record, it’s a double disadvantage – not only might they face discrimination from potential employers, it can also discourage job seekers from applying for a job in the first place, in anticipation that they won’t get the position because of their criminal history.”

The project is funded by the Victorian Legal Services Board.

Research output and impacts

The project has been extended into 2025 due to the impacts of COVID, the Victorian Treaty negotiations and the Voice referendum on partners’ availability and capacity. Engagement with Aboriginal organisations continues to be strong and the final outputs (resources for Aboriginal job applicants and employers) are expected to be practical, Aboriginal-led initiatives.

Key contacts

Professor Georgina Heydon
Criminology and Justice Studies
School of Global, Urban and Social Studies
College of Design and Social Context

Stan Winford
Associate Director, Research, Innovation and Reform
Centre for Innovative Justice
College of Business and Law

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