News
Age Discrimination
International Day of Older Persons
The International Day of Older Persons is an opportunity to consider the contribution made by older Australian workers and the importance of creating age friendly workplaces. The percentage of Australians aged 65 and over in the labour force doubled between 2000 and 2015 - and 20% of people over 70...
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
Maranguka Education, Employment and Training Community Summit
Acknowledgements Jalangurru lanygu balangarri. Yaningi warangira ngindaji yuwa muwayi ingirranggu, Ngemba yani U. Yaningi miya ngindaji Muwayi ingga winyira ngarragi thangani. Yathawarra, wilalawarra jalangurru ngarri guda. Good day everyone. I acknowledge the traditional owners, the Ngemba peoples...
Commission - General
Royal Commission Commencement Welcomed
The ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ welcomes the commencement of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of people with disability. The Commission also welcomes the appointment of Disability Discrimination Commissioner Alastair McEwin to the Royal Commission. The...
Age Discrimination
Too old to work at 50: Survey
A new survey on attitudes to employing older workers has found that up to 30 per cent of Australian employers are still reluctant to hire workers over a certain age, and for more than two thirds of this group, that age was over 50. The survey of more than 900 human resource professionals was...
Commission - General
Finalists for 2018 Government Award revealed
Four finalists have been selected from a diverse range of nominations for the 2018 Human Rights Awards’ Government Award. This year marks the first time our Awards recognise Government as a stand-alone category. “There are many Government groups and individuals helping others overcome discrimination...
Disability Rights
25 years of the Disability Discrimination Act
It was 25 years ago this month that the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) (the ‘DDA’) commenced operation. On 1 March 1993, Australians with a dis¬ability had a national law that was designed to provide them with equality in many areas of life. Over the past quarter of a cen¬tury, the DDA...
Race Discrimination
Forty years of the Racial Discrimination Act
In October 1975, at a ceremony for the proclamation of the Racial Discrimination Act, then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam described the legislation as ‘a historic measure’, which aimed to ‘entrench new attitudes of tolerance and understanding in the hearts and minds of the people’.(1) The Act was...
Rights and Freedoms
Free speech, the public service and civilising behaviour
Before anyone screams "free speech", they should actually know what they are talking about. Earlier this week the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet released new social media protocols. The protocols limit the capacity of public servants to make statements that are "harsh or extreme in their...
Rights and Freedoms
Free speech is best medicine for the bigotry disease
THE proposed amendments to the Racial Discrimination Act provide the basis for correcting the legal limits of free speech, Âpromoting pluralism, opposing reprehensible racism and highlighting the importance of Âresponsibility. Arguably the most important change is assessing an 18C violation based on...
Disability Rights
Opening the door to the employment of more people with disabilities
Allow me to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Bidjigal clan of the Eora people. I also acknowledge Bryan Woodford, ACROD President; Ken Baker, ACROD Chief Executive, my fellow speakers and participants.
Commission - General
H R Law Masterclass: Federal Anti-discrimination Law in an Employment Context: recent developments, likely future directions and the lessons from the past
To some of you the role of The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) in the industrial relations scene in Australia will be well known, others of you may be wondering why a representative of a human rights body would be speaking on this occasion. I propose therefore to briefly summarise HREOC's role in the administration of federal anti-discrimination law, including its complaint handling function, and to give some recent statistics.
Rights and Freedoms
Queer Rights At Work
I also want to thank the conference organisers for the opportunity to speak today. conferences such as this are great opportunities to discuss some of the pressing human rights issues in Australia. I'm particularly pleased to be talking about queer rights in the workplace, as fair employment conditions are some of the most fundamental of all human rights. Trade unions have a long history of fighting for justice in the workplace, and I encourage the unions here today to continue that fight for gay, lesbian, transsexual and intersex workers.
Pagination
Follow us on social media
We engage in social media to promote discussion and debate on human rights issues.
Media centre
Visit our media centre for up to date contact details for all media enquiries.