One of Australia's most prominent Indigenous television hosts has opened up about discrimination during her career, saying she was racially targeted as recently as two weeks ago by police in the Northern Territory.

Key points: The host of SBS show Living Black says she was stopped by police who treated her like a "grog runner"

The host of SBS show Living Black says she was stopped by police who treated her like a "grog runner" The alleged incident occurred in Alice Springs, where Grant was filming a show

The alleged incident occurred in Alice Springs, where Grant was filming a show She says an officer demanded ID from her but not from a non-Indigenous colleague

Karla Grant — the long-time host of SBS show Living Black — detailed the incident on Friday morning during the Women In Media national conference on the Gold Coast, where she appeared as a guest speaker.

The Adelaide-born media personality also revealed her career stalled early on, and she had to wait several years to get a job in the media after a bad experience.

Grant said she was recently in Alice Springs filming a documentary on a women's choir from Vanuatu, when she was stopped by a police officer who thought she was illegally buying alcohol to re-sell.

Grant said the incident occurred after a long day of filming when she and a non-Indigenous colleague went to get "a bottle of wine and a couple of beers" to have with dinner at a nearby restaurant.

"We walked into this BWS and there was a police officer, a female police officer, right at the entrance," Grant told the ABC.

"She focused in on me and said 'have you got any ID? where are you staying?'

"I was so shocked and she didn't ask for my producer's ID, she just asked me, she really focused in on me."

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Grant said she was left "astounded" and "dumbfounded" by the sequence of events that followed, with the police officer continuing to question her about where she was staying and what she was doing.

"She said 'you know there's penalties for this?' She was implying I was a grog runner, that I was getting alcohol to take to a restricted area," Grant said.

"My producer was fuming. He was like 'oh my God, this is so racist'.

"I happened to run into a friend who was coming into the alcohol store as well and I told him what happened and … he said 'it happens to us all the time'.

"It's totally racist. I think the town has got better in terms of racism but it's still there. It's underlying."

Grant was recently filming a TV documentary on a Vanuatuan women's choir. ( Instagram: karlag28 )

In a statement, Northern Territory Police said it was "not aware" of any complaint in relation to the incident.

"Concerns around the enforcement of legislation at point of sale interventions are raised from time to time," a spokesperson said.

"These concerns are investigated thoroughly with feedback provided to those who raise the concerns."

'A kick in the guts'

Grant said while stringent alcohol laws in the Northern Territory "had positive effects" and had "been good for the town", the officer's actions were "totally out of line" but all too common.

"I live in Sydney and if I'm driving along and I see a police car up ahead, I'll detour," she said.

"I'll go down a different road because I just have that fear — and that's not just me, a lot of Indigenous people have that fear of police."

Grant says the incident occurred at the end of a visit to Alice Springs. ( Instagram: karlag28 )

In a wide-ranging discussion on Friday morning, Grant also described her struggle to secure a job in journalism after being turned down for a cadetship.

"There was a male and a female on the panel and the male basically said to me 'sorry, you've been unsuccessful'," Grant said.

"I wanted to know why of course and he said 'well, we think you're really pretty but would you be able to communicate?'

"I just didn't get it because I was a naive 17-year-old and I was so enthusiastic but that was the response I got … it was a bit of a kick in the guts."