The Sydney Morning Herald reports Optus placed a job ad, listed yesterday afternoon on job classifieds site Seek, seeking applicants for a retail consultant role in Sydney suburb Neutral Bay.

The ad described its ‘preffered’ [sic] candidates as those ‘who are Anglo Saxon and live near to Neutral Bay’.

After being contacted by the Herald, the job ad was removed, with Optus vice-president of human resources Vaughan Paul sending the paper a statement in which he said the telco company “proudly supports diversity and employs staff representing more than 70 nationalities”.

“This error is completely unacceptable and a clear breach of our advertising standards and commitment to equal opportunity employment,” he said. “We have removed the advert, and will be investigating how this occurred with a view to taking disciplinary action against those involved.”

He added the ad was not a reflection of Optus’ values of diversity and inclusion.

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