Cape Town - The world's media was abuzz on Wednesday over a
racist job advertisement a contractor of Australia's second-largest supermarket
chain Coles published on the Gumtree website.
The ad, which was posted on Sunday, bars Indians or Asians
from applying. It read: "Store requires no Indians or Asians please. Must
speak English (sic)".
The ad was looking for cleaners for a supermarket at
Eastlands Shopping Centre in Hobart, according to reports on CNN, BBCNews, in the Indian
media and local Australian news websites.
The ad also triggered outrage on social media sites, with
people calling for a boycott of the store.
According to local Australian newspaper The Mercury, the ad
was later removed from the site.
BBCNews reported on Wednesday that a Coles spokesperson admitted
the ad was posted by a contract company responsible for cleaning its Rosny
store.
"The ad was placed without Coles' knowledge and we were
extremely concerned to learn of the ad and its contents," spokesperson Jim
Cooper said.
Tasmania's anti-discrimination commissioner Robin Banks was
quoted as saying that she wanted to track down the cleaning contractor to
pursue possible legal action.
"It's unlawful to blanket preclude a person because of
their race," she said.
She said both the company offering the position and the
publisher of the advert could be subject to legal action.
"Gumtree is probably in breach (of the law) as well
because the act says you can't publish or display... material that is
discriminatory," The Economic Times in India quoted Banks as saying.
* Follow Fin24 on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.