Officeworks managing director says incident ‘not acceptable’
'We want to be part of the community in which we live and work, and we are going to use this as a moment to continue to improve education around antisemitism and discrimination'
Officeworks managing director Sarah Hunter has apologised to the Jewish community over the incident in which a visibly Jewish man was refused service.
But the customer at the centre of the controversy has rejected the apology, saying he is still going ahead with action against the company at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).
The incident in March saw a staff member decline a request to laminate an article in the Australian Jewish News because she was “pro-Palestine”.
Hunter on Friday directly addressed the Jewish community, telling The AJN, “I’m sorry that this happened in our store, I want you to feel safe. We want to be part of the community in which we live and work, and we are going to use this as a moment to continue to improve education around antisemitism and discrimination. It is not acceptable in our store.”
She rejected the idea that the company didn’t take the incident seriously at the time.
“When we received the letter and the customer complaint in March, we investigated it all within 48 hours and responded back with an apology to the customer, as well as addressing the other concerns that they had raised in their letter,” she said.
Hunter said the staff member was given a final warning and transferred to another store, and also visited the Melbourne Holocaust Museum.
“And as a result of that, did a complete 180 in their understanding of the impact that they had had, the impact on the Jewish community, and how disrespectful and inappropriate that their behaviour was and how wrong it was,” she said.
Hunter has been in contact with Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin and they are going to work together to create a training session for company leaders to educate them around antisemitism and discrimination.
She said there has been a lot of feedback from customers, and she feels “the anguish and the disappointment and the hurt and the anger”.
“I’m devastated by it. It shouldn’t have happened. I’m sorry it happened. But I hope together we can move through it … the way we make this better in the long term is with education and moving past antisemitism and discrimination,” Hunter said.
Ryvchin said, “It was made clear to me that Officeworks viewed the conduct as discriminatory and totally unacceptable. It is profoundly disturbing that a young Australian was conditioned to view a visibly Jewish man as her enemy and felt entitled to engage in plainly discriminatory conduct on the basis of being ‘pro-Palestine’.”
He believes this sort of behaviour cannot become normalised in our society.
“Too many young people have been manipulated with lies and misinformation. There is much work to do,” Ryvchin said.
But the customer who was refused service – who wishes to remain anonymous – says the response isn’t enough.
He said his VCAT proceeding doesn’t seek the dismissal of the employee in question, but an acknowledgment by Officeworks that her conduct was and therefore it is a legal issue not just customer service or feedback issue.
“So far in their initial correspondence and in their media releases, Officeworks has suggested that they have apologised to me in respect of the incident. At no stage has Officeworks accepted that their employee’s conduct is discrimination,” he said.
The man said Hunter’s discussion of anti-discrimination training in her interview with The AJN was the first time any form of training concerning antisemitism has been raised.
“I’m disappointed that it has required intense media pressure for this obvious step to occur, which I’ve been calling for on Officeworks since the incident happened. It’s obvious that nothing would have happened if not for the public outcry,” he said.
Meanwhile, Caulfield MP David Southwick is seeking an urgent meeting with Officeworks over the incident. In a letter to Hunter ,he said he doesn’t believe the company’s actions are sufficient to address the level of hurt and concern this incident has caused the community.
“Already, I have had Jewish constituents say they no longer feel safe or welcome – particularly in a store that is in the heart of Melbourne’s Jewish community,” he said.
“So many businesses in the local area understand the cultural sensitivities of operating in this community, and Officeworks must now demonstrate to locals that it will change its policies to do the same.”
Michael Chaitow, Executive Director of the left-leaning New Israel Fund said, “As all sides of politics have emphasised, Israel’s war with Hamas is a sensitive issue, one that affects people deeply and personally. However, discrimination based on religion or political views does not have a place in our society.”
He believes what happened at Officeworks is not consistent with the progressive Australian values on which Australia’s multicultural democracy was built. “Actions prejudicing commerce, social interaction or civic participation based on religious belief have no place here in Australia,” Chaitow said.
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