On the first day of National Reconciliation Week WA Equal Opportunity Commissioner Dr John Byrne said to achieve reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people we needed to address bias and prejudices in employment, education and when providing goods and services.
"Discrimination against Aboriginal people in shopping centres, at school and when seeking employment occurs far too often in Western Australia," he said.
He said race discrimination impeded Aboriginal people from achieving their rightful place in society.
"As an employer, if you are refusing Aboriginal people employment because of their race you may be depriving your organisation of valuable knowledge, if you are a goods and services provider refusing an Aboriginal person because of their race you are depriving your organisation of business.
"On top of these things, you could have a discrimination complaint made against you," Dr Byrne said.
He said reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people would be easier to achieve we all examined our prejudices and found ways of eliminating them from our behaviours, policies and practises.
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