The ABC has welcomed Bidjara and Birri-Gubba Juru woman Professor Jackie Huggins AM as its inaugural Elder-in-residence in response to an internally commissioned report which found many staff at the public broadcaster had experienced racism.

The decision, which was welcomed by SBS' own Elder-in-residence, Widjabal Wiyabal Bundjalung woman Rhoda Roberts AO, came after last year's Listen Loudly, Act Strongly report found staff at the ABC had been subjected to racial slurs and passed up for career opportunities because of their backgrounds.

Professor Huggins, whose role is a two-year term, will support First Nations employees at the public broadcaster and provide cultural guidance to the management and leadership teams to implement the recommendations of the report, the ABC says.

She said the position was "one of my highest badges of honour" and called the report a blueprint for other organisations to follow.

"My new role is something that I never imagined I would do when I started my employment at the ABC when I was 16 years of age," she said.

"I have been a long-time audience member and contributor to the ABC. I look forward to deepening that connection through taking up the position of the ABC's inaugural Elder-in-Residence and to meeting and yarning with people across the divisions and offices of our national broadcaster.".

One of the recommendations in the report was that the "ABC Leadership should look at systemic approaches to improve cultural safety, such as establishing a First Nations Elder-in-residence program."

Led by lawyer and Wuthathi, Yadhaigana and Meriam woman, Terri Janke, Listen Loudly, Act Strongly spoke to 120 current and former ABC staff to hear their experiences of racism at work.

Only one participant in the report said they had not personally experienced racism at the ABC.

Speaking on ABC Breakfast on Thursday, host and Dja Dja Wurrung and Yorta Yorta woman Bridget Brennan, said racism was "unfortunately, something I and other First Nations members have experienced, and we've been able to be quite honest and frank about that, especially since the release of the Listen Loudly, Act Strongly report".

Professor Huggins said there needed to be more understanding of the "colonial load" for Indigenous employees at largely non-Indigenous organisations.

"If you don't have the mass, it can be much more difficult. If there's one or three people working there, you carry that, you carry your history of your people and the circumstances by which you know all this disparity happens in our communities," she said.

"The colonial load is something that Indigenous employees in mainstream and other institutions will suffer from at some time in their life, and I guess you need that armour to have that support and look after one another."

Businessman Nyunggai Warren Mundine AO says the position is a "waste of time" which won't "really help Aboriginal people".

Mr Mundine, a leading 'No' campaigner during the Voice referendum and former Labor Party president, told the News Corp papers that whilst he deplored racism, "a lot of this stuff is overblown".

"A lot of these positions just push ideological stuff which doesn't really help Aboriginal people out at all," Mr Mundine, a friend of Professor Huggins, said.

"We just go overboard with these things. I think Aboriginal people could stand on their own and do a great job, and the record proves that—you just see it around the country."

The Bundjalung, Gumbaynggirr, Yuin and Irish man, who recently lost pre-selection for the Liberal Party in the seat of Bradfield, told News Corp Professor Huggins was a "great academic" and a lovely person who had a long, strong history working for the Aboriginal community, with his comments not a reflection on her, but the "strange" position.

"I do emphasise it is the position, it's not Jackie. It could be anyone," he said.

"The ABC is running around at the moment, crying poor. Maybe if they actually got some of their programming right, and people would be actually watching it."

However, Ms Roberts, who has been the Elder-in-residence at SBS since 2021, said: "You've got to have the other mob and their point of view."

"To have her as ABC Elder-in-residence with not only her academic qualifications but her passion for our people, particularly women, being able to write and look at our activism and unpack it and then talk to you without judging you, I mean, it's a certain style of leadership that I would always call our kinship leadership," Ms Roberts told the ABC.

Professor Huggins also commented on the state of Indigenous truth-telling in Australia, commending the Yoorrook Justice Commission in Victoria, but called Queensland's decision to discontinue their process after the referendum "disingenuous".

"Truth-telling has to happen right across this country," she said. Because we will never be at peace with one another if we don't get together to have those very deep, very unpalatable conversations about our brutal history."

"We do really need to continue these processes and support one another."