Express Travel Group has terminated its partnership with Mildura Travel & Cruise after the owner of the agency Karen Ridge, was identified as being at the centre of a racist tirade against her indigenous neighbour in Mildura.
Deputy Chair of the First Peoples of Millewa-Mallee Robby Wirramanda Knight filmed his neighbours Robert Vigors and Karen Ridge trying to remove an Aboriginal flag from the front of his home.
When Karen failed to pull the flag down herself she went on to say “get this shit down”. They then told their neighbour that he wasn’t a “true Aboriginal”.
The shocking video which you can watch below was uploaded to social media has since gone viral.
WTF!!!! THIS HAPPENED TO MY PARENTS JUST LAST NIGHT pic.twitter.com/MqFfXgmV3z
— Beautifuldeadly Decolonisation (@toostrong4karen) December 13, 2019
Express Travel Group said it was “deeply disappointed by the comments made by the owners of Mildura Travel and Cruise, who are an independently-owned travel business and also hold a membership within the Express Travel Group”.
“In light of these events, membership of Mildura Travel and Cruise has been terminated.”
Express Travel Group
Express Travel Group went on to say that they employ over 80 staff nationally with diverse backgrounds and cultures, all working within their company values of diversity and inclusiveness.
Karen Ridge has told the ABC that due to receiving death threats she did not feel safe commenting “at this time”.
However, she did add that there were “always two sides to every story” and alleged, “there was a great deal of harassment before this event”.
Robert Vigors who was also involved in the racist rant has had his employer, McDonalds, part ways with him. He was the franchisee of two local stores.
State MP for Mildura District Ali Cupper has since placed an Aboriginal flag on the gate to her electorate office, with the incident making reassess her own understanding of everyday racism.