Unmasking the Racial Contract: Indigenous Voices on Racism in the Australian Public Service

In an era of reconciliation and cultural diversity, Indigenous peoples in Australia still experience everyday and structural racisms in the workplace. Unmasking the Racial Contract is a study of one such workplace: the Australian Public Service. The author shows that despite claims of fairness, inclusion, opportunity, respect, and racial equality for all, Indigenous employees continue to languish on the lower rungs of the Australian Public Service employment ladder. By showing how racism is normalised in white institutions, the author helps us see and understand—and ultimately challenge—racism. This original and innovative book is written from an Indigenous standpoint, and uses race as a key framework to critically examine the discrimination faced by Indigenous employees in an Australian institution. The author provides an insider’s perspective and privileges the voices of other Indigenous employees, and she applies critical race theory to unmask the racial contract that underpins the ‘absent presence’ of racism in the Australian Public Service.

Dr. Debbie Bargallie is a descendent of the Kamilaroi and Wonnarua Aboriginal peoples of the North-West and Upper Hunter Valley regions of New South Wales, Australia. Debbie was born and raised on D’harawal country in Wollongong, New South Wales, where she continues to have strong connections. In 2019 she was awarded the prestigious Stanner Award by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies for her doctoral research on Indigenous employee’s experiences of racism in the Australian Public Service. Debbie is currently a Postdoctoral Senior Research Fellow with the Griffith Institute of Educational Research at Griffith University.