The Department of Corrections in Australia is ‘urgently pulling’ recruitment ads from buses after they were deemed racist and offensive, reports The New Zealand Herald, Job candidates were urged to ‘become the change for our Waikato whanau (extended family in Māori)’ in the advertisement, which was displayed on buses in Waikato and Bay of Plenty. ‘Join today, change tomorrow’ is written on the sign, which depicts a Māori woman wearing a prison officer uniform.

In a statement, the Department of Corrections deputy chief executive Māori, Topia Rameka, said he received the complaints last Friday, saying he had not been made aware of the advertisement before the complaints. The campaign aimed to recruit staff for Spring Hill Corrections Facility and the new 500-bed facility at Waikeria Prison, both in Waikato. Rameka said amendments to the sign-out process for ads were also in the works.

The Department has previously come under fire amid complaints over racism. Earlier this year a Corrections ad was ordered off the air after complaints of racial stereotyping. It showed a Māori boy whose imprisoned father was ‘saved’ by a white Corrections officer. The Advertising Standards Authority said in its decision that there were “three complaints about this advertisement [that] were concerned about negative stereotyping of Māori and Pacifica people as criminals and said it portrays the idea of a ‘white saviour’ and reinforces an unequal power dynamic”.