Page 3891 - Week 13 - Thursday, 17 October 1991
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One of the most significant changes made to the Bill is in the definition of what constitutes discrimination. The traditional definition which is used in all other State legislation has proved difficult and often unworkable in the courts. The definition in this Bill is a clear statement of what we mean by discrimination, without the unnecessary tests and conditions which unduly complicate the matter in other jurisdictions.
Part III of the Bill will make discrimination on the stated grounds unlawful in the following areas of activity: Employment; education; access to premises; the provision of goods, services and facilities; the provision of accommodation; and club membership. The protection offered by the Bill extends right back to the beginning of the selection process for jobs and the application process for educational institutions, clubs and accommodation. We have also extended the coverage of the employment provisions to unpaid workers.
In the area of access to premises - and the term "premises" is intended to include all sorts of places, buildings, open spaces and vehicles - it will be unlawful to refuse someone access, but it will also be unlawful to discriminate in the manner in which access to premises is provided. This clause is designed to ensure that there are adequate means of access for disabled people in particular.
Equal opportunity legislation is always a matter of balancing rights, and Part IV of the Bill, which deals with exceptions to unlawful discrimination, provides that balance. Some of the areas that are exempted from the operation of the Bill are employment and the provision of accommodation in the domestic sphere; voluntary and religious bodies and institutions; clubs for members of one sex or one particular race; competitive sporting events for one sex or people with particular impairments; and the situation in which being of a particular race or sex or having a particular impairment is genuinely necessary to do a particular job. A good example of this is where the job is in the welfare area - a rape crisis centre, for example - and the job can be done most effectively by someone of the same sex as clients.
The Bill also contains a limited exemption for acts done under laws of the ACT. This exemption is intended to be only temporary and it will cease to have effect once we have completed a review of ACT laws to ensure that they are consistent with the terms of the legislation. In relation to the general exemptions covering educational institutions established for religious purposes, voluntary bodies, sport, and acts done under statutory authority, the Commonwealth Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission is currently conducting a review of similar exemptions in the Federal Sex Discrimination Act. We will, of course, be examining our own exemptions in the light of the results of that review when they become available.
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