Page 3098 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 12 September 1990
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that until the law is changed the deliberations of the Administration and Procedures Committee have no authority in this chamber.
Mr Berry: Mr Speaker, this member has wilfully ignored your ruling.
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Berry! I will allow the Leader of the Opposition to present the Bill as proposed. However, I would ask: in deference to the objections raised by the members of the Government, is it possible to amend or delete that particular objectionable area? It can be debated on the floor at a later stage.
MS FOLLETT: Mr Speaker, my understanding is that you have allowed introduction of the Bill and, if members opposite are not happy with that, then they must move dissent from your ruling and put it on notice, as you have suggested. But I will continue. I had outlined the anti-discrimination Acts that still applied in the ACT under Commonwealth legislation and I was going on to add to that a reiteration of the Bill that I currently propose.
As members opposite in the Assembly know, there is no ACT office of the Commonwealth Human Rights Commission and that means that it is very difficult indeed for Canberra people to take action under those Commonwealth laws which exist. The Bill which I present today tackles those problems. This Bill will outlaw discrimination on a number of defined grounds in relation to various areas of community activity.
Part III of the Bill prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sex, sexuality, marital status or pregnancy. I do not think that it is necessary for me to enter into a lengthy justification of why discrimination on these grounds should be illegal. Discrimination on the basis of a person's sex is an area where individuals and groups have been fighting for many generations to overturn prejudices and illogical practices. I think that there is now a broad community consensus about this issue. In seeking to prohibit discrimination on the grounds of sexuality, the Act extends protection to an area not covered by the current Commonwealth legislation. Similar provisions do exist in legislation in New South Wales and in South Australia.
Part IV of the Bill prohibits discrimination on the grounds of race. We are fortunate that Canberra is, by and large, a successful multicultural community. We are lucky indeed not to have the same kind of racial hatred and vilification which has been stirred up in some parts of Australia.
Mr Speaker, may I draw your attention to the interruptions? We have a caucus meeting going on over there.
MR SPEAKER: Order!
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