Page 4430 - Week 14 - Thursday, 9 December 1993
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The Government has not taken this matter lightly and recognises that some changes flowing from this Bill will have important repercussions, particularly for employers, including, of course, the Government. We recognise that some fundamental employment practices such as retirement are based on age and, with this Bill, the Government will be asking employers to adopt non-discriminatory policies and practices. I believe that these requirements are consistent with sound business practice, but, at the same time, they introduce standards of fairness that the community now expects.
Madam Speaker, it has been necessary to include in the Bill a number of exceptions to the general prohibition of age discrimination. While exceptions to anti-discrimination law should generally be regarded as undesirable, the Government did not want to affect justifiable and fair practices based on age, and has drafted the Bill accordingly. For example, the Bill includes an exception for concessions based on age. The existing exception in the Discrimination Act for equal opportunity measures, or measures that meet the special needs of particular groups, will also apply to the age ground. It is intended that measures such as special training schemes for younger workers, or special housing for elderly citizens, would be permitted by this existing exception. The greater part of the Bill and community comments have focused around these exceptions, but we should not forget that the main thrust of this Bill is to prohibit age discrimination, and the exceptions cover quite specific circumstances. The impact of the Bill will be to ensure that people will be judged on their merits and abilities and not on inaccurate stereotypes about age. The Bill serves as a statement about standards in employment, service delivery and other areas of public life, and provides the means to enforce those standards.
Two aspects of the Bill were subject to particular comments. These were youth wages and compulsory age based retirement. As was explained in the discussion paper, where youth wages are permitted by Federal awards the payment of that rate cannot be excluded by an ACT law. The exception in the Bill recognises this but also permits an employer to advertise for and recruit a person who is eligible for the endorsed youth wage. By leaving out this second part of the exception, the Government could have restricted the ability of employers to recruit juniors. We believe that this is neither constructive nor workable, given that the basic award structure is federally entrenched, and experience in other States has shown that prohibiting the employment of junior staff can lead to unpredictable and unproductive confusion. We received submissions from community groups in Canberra pointing out the inequity and unfairness of youth wages. While I am sympathetic to these views, the Government is restricted in the extent to which change could be triggered by this legislation. One effect of the Bill is that it will be unlawful to dismiss a person because they are no longer eligible for a youth wage. Complaints about this issue and their outcomes will be a very important monitor about the effectiveness of the law, and I will ask the Human Rights Office to keep me informed.
The other main area of comment was about age based retirement. The Bill delays commencement of the retirement provisions for two years. After this, it will be unlawful to force a person to retire simply because of their age. The Government recognises that this raises some difficult issues. Compulsory retirement based on age introduces an element of certainty into the complex question of when a person should end their working life. However, this
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