ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ

Complaint statistics 2010/2011

Complaint Information Service

Table 1: Website enquiries

Complaint Handling Section webpage views	326 516

Table 2: Telephone, TTY, Email, in-person and written enquiries received

Enquiry type	Total
Telephone	14 479
TTY	13
Email	3 336
In-person	118
Written	724
Total	18 670

Table 3: Enquiries received by issue

Issue	Total
Total*	23 521
Race	1 979
Race – racial hatred	619
Sex – direct	890
Sexual harassment	1 003
Sex – marital status, family responsibilities, parental status, carers responsibilities, breast feeding	368
Sex – pregnancy	510
Sexual preference, transgender, homosexuality, lawful sexual activity	218
Disability – impairment	2 628
Disability – HIV/AIDS/Hepatitis	48
Disability – workers compensation	164
Disability – mental health	581
Disability – intellectual/learning disability	293
Disability – maltreatment/negligence	30
Disability – physical feature	550
Age – too young	157
Age – too old	562
Age – compulsory retirement	5
Criminal record/conviction	364
Political opinion	17
Religion/religious organisations	213
Employment – personality conflicts/favouritism	143
Employment – union/industrial activity	60
Employment – unfair dismissal/other industrial issues	2 020
Employment – workplace bullying	1 564
Human rights – children	80
Human rights – civil, political, economic, social	772
Immigration – detention centres	491
Immigration – visas	334
Prisons/prisoners	202
Police	279
Court – family court	193
Court – other law matters	249
Privacy – data protection	44
Neighbourhood disputes	80
Advertising	23
Local government – administration	77
State government – administration	739
Federal government – administration	716
Other	4 256

* One enquiry may have multiple issues

Table 4: Enquiries received by State/Territory of origin

State of origin	Total	Percentage
Total	18 670	100
New South Wales	4 908	26
Victoria	2 731	15
South Australia	1 306	7
Western Australia	1 104	6
Queensland	2 384	13
Australian Capital Territory	326	2
Tasmania	212	1
Northern Territory	243	1
Unknown/overseas	5 456	29

Complaints overview

Table 5: Complaints received and finalised over the past five years

	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10
Received	1 779	2 077	2 253	2 517	2 152
Finalised	1 656	1 883	2 354	2 426	2 266

Table 6: Outcomes of complaints finalised over the past five years

	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10
Terminated/declined	48	39	34	32	35
Conciliated	38	48	48	50	47
Withdrawn	14	13	18	13	11
Discontinued*	—	—	—	5	6
Reported (AHRCA only)	1	—	—	—	1

* Complaints finalised under new statutory provision – 46 PF(5)(a) – Satisfied that complainant does not want inquiry to continue.

Table 7: Complaints received by State/Territory of complainant

State of origin	Total	Percentage
Total	2 152	100
New South Wales	827	38
Victoria	438	20
South Australia	150	7
Western Australia	191	9
Queensland	386	18
Australian Capital Territory	65	3
Tasmania	19	1
Northern Territory	41	2
Unknown/overseas	35	2

Table 8: Complaints received and finalised by Act

Act	Received	Finalised
Total	2 152	2 266
Racial Discrimination Act (RDA)	422	472
Sex Discrimination Act (SDA)	459	448
Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)	823	961
Age Discrimination Act (ADA)	175	181
ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Act (AHRCA)	273	204

Table 9: Complaints received by Act over the past five years

	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10
Total	1 779	2 077	2 253	2 517	2 152
Racial Discrimination Act	250	376	396	550	422
Sex Discrimination Act	472	438	547	532	459
Disability Discrimination Act	802	988	980	1 057	823
Age Discrimination Act	106	126	151	174	175
ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Act	149	149	179	204	273

Table 10: Country of birth – complainants

	RDA	SDA	DDA	ADA	AHRCA (%)	Total
Born in Australia	47	55	61	59	35	55
Born outside of Australia	44	14	13	22	45	23
Unknown/unspecified	9	31	26	19	20	22

Table 11: Indigenous status – complainants

	RDA	SDA	DDA	ADA	AHRCA	Total
Aboriginal	34	2	2	1	2	9
Torres Strait Islander	—	—	—	—	1	—
None of the above	66	98	98	99	97	91

Table 12: Time from receipt to finalisation for finalised complaints

	RDA	SDA	DDA	ADA	AHRCA	Cumulative Total (%)
0–6 months	74	60	47	60	47	56
6–9 months	90	84	76	88	73	81
9–12 months	96	95	84	98	89.5	94
More than 12 months	100	100	100	100	100	100

Racial Discrimination Act

Table 13: Racial Discrimination Act – complaints received and finalised

	Total
Received	422
Finalised	472

Table 14: Racial Discrimination Act – complaints received by ground

Racial Discrimination Act	Total	Percentage
Total*	826	100
Colour	74	9
National origin/extraction	41	5
Ethnic origin	102	12
Descent	9	1
Race	445	54
Victimisation	9	1
Racial hatred	121	15
Aids, permits or instructs	-	-
Association	2	-
Immigrant	23	3

* One complaint may have multiple grounds

Table 15: Racial Discrimination Act – complaints received by area

Racial Discrimination Act	Total	Percentage
Total*	826	100
Rights to equality before the law	—
Access to places and facilities	1	-
Land, housing, other accommodation	8	1
Provision of goods and services	227	27
Right to join trade unions	—	—
Employment	290	36
Advertisements	—	—
Education	7	1
Incitement to unlawful acts	—	—
Other – section 9	165	20
Racial hatred	128	16

*An area is recorded for each ground, so one complaint may have multiple and different areas.

Table 16: Racial hatred complaints received by sub-area

Racial Discrimination Act	Total	Percentage
Total	113	100
Media – press/TV/radio	19	17
Disputes between neighbours	6	5
Personal conflict	15	13
Employment	29	26
Racist propaganda	1	1
Internet – e-mail/webpage/chat room	26	23
Entertainment	—	—
Sport	2	2
Public debate	—	—
Provision of goods and services	10	9
Other	5	4

Table 17: Racial Discrimination Act – outcomes of finalised complaints

Racial Discrimination Act	Total
Total	472
Terminated	158
At complainants request – s.46PE	—
Not unlawful	—
More than 12 months old	7
Trivial, vexatious, frivolous, misconceived, lacking in substance	23
Adequately dealt with already	—
More appropriate remedy available	—
Subject matter of public importance	—
No reasonable prospect of conciliation	128
Discontinued*	40
Withdrawn	43
Conciliated	208
Administrative closure**	23

* Finalised under new statutory provision – 46 PF(5)(a) – Satisfied that complainant does not want inquiry to continue.

** Not an aggrieved party, state complaint previously lodged.</>

Sex Discrimination Act

Table 18: Sex Discrimination Act – complaints received and finalised

Sex Discrimination Act	Total
Received	459
Finalised	448

Table 19: Sex Discrimination Act – complaints received by sex of complainant

Sex Discrimination Act	Total	Percentages
Total	459	100
Female	378	82
Male	78	17
Other category*	3	1

* Includes intersex, sex not specified, joint/multiple and individual/organisation on behalf of other.

Table 20: Sex Discrimination Act – complaints received by ground

Sex Discrimination Act	Total	Percentages
Total*	874	100
Sex discrimination	324	37
Marital status	18	2
Pregnancy	165	19
Sexual harassment	265	30
Parental status/ family responsibility	43	5
Victimisation	50	6
Aids, permits, instructs	9	1

* One complaint may have multiple grounds.

Table 21: Sex Discrimination Act – complaints received by area

Sex Discrimination Act	Total	Percentage
Total*	874	100
Employment	770	88
Goods, services and facilities	72	8
Land	—	—
Accommodation	2	0.5
Superannuation, insurance	—	—
Education	10	1
Clubs	—	—
Administration of Commonwealth laws and programs	18	2
Application forms etc	—	—
Trade unions, accrediting bodies	2	0.5

* An area is recorded for each ground, so one complaint may have multiple and different areas.

Table 22: Sex Discrimination Act – outcomes of finalised complaints

Sex Discrimination Act	Total
Total	448
Terminated	142
At complainants request – s.46PE	—
Not unlawful	—
More than 12 months old	10
Trivial, vexatious, frivolous, misconceived, lacking in substance	15
Adequately dealt with already	—
More appropriate remedy available	1
Subject matter of public importance	—
No reasonable prospect of conciliation	116
Discontinued*	38
Withdrawn	49
Conciliated	185
Administrative closure**	34

* Finalised under new statutory provision – 46 PF(5)(a) – Satisfied that complainant does not want inquiry to continue.

** Not an aggrieved party, state complaint previously lodged.

Disability Discrimination Act

Table 23: Disability Discrimination Act – complaints received and finalised

Disability Discrimination Act	Total
Received	823
Finalised	961

Table 24: Nature of complainant’s disability

Disability Discrimination Act	Total	Percentage
Total*	1 097	100
Physical disability	172	16
A mobility aid is used (e.g. walking frame or wheelchair)	116	11
Physical disfigurement	21	2
Presence in the body of organisms causing disease (e.g. HIV/AIDS)	11	1
Presence in the body of organisms causing disease (other)	16	1
Psychiatric disability	160	15
Neurological disability (e.g. epilepsy)	68	6
Intellectual disability	45	4
Learning disability	27	3
Sensory disability (hearing impaired)	47	4
Sensory disability (deaf)	80	7
Sensory disability (vision impaired)	60	6
Sensory disability (blind)	15	1
Work-related injury	68	6
Medical condition (e.g. diabetes)	88	8
Other	103	9

* One complainant may have multiple disabilities.

Table 25: Disability Discrimination Act – complaints received by ground

Disability Discrimination Act	Total	Percentage
Total*	2 176	100
Disability of person(s) aggrieved	1 968	91
Associate	91	4
Disability – person assisted by trained animal	43	2
Disability – accompanied by assistant	7	—
Disability – use of appliance	16	1
Harassment	8	—
Victimisation	31	1
Aids, permits or instructs	12	1

* One complaint may have multiple grounds.

Table 26: Disability Discrimination Act – complaints received by area

Disability Discrimination Act	Total	Percentage
Total*	2 176	100
Employment	672	31
Goods, services and facilities	769	35
Access to premises	131	6
Land	—	—
Accommodation	60	3
Incitement to unlawful acts or offences	—	—
Advertisements	—	—
Superannuation, insurance	8	—
Education	188	9
Clubs, incorporated associations	38	2
Administration of Commonwealth laws and programs	67	3
Sport	2	—
Application forms, requests for information	—	—
Trade unions, registered organisations	—	—
Unlawful to contravene Disability Standard	241	11

* An area is recorded for each ground, so one complaint may have multiple and different areas.

Table 27: Disability Discrimination Act – outcomes of finalised complaints

Disability Discrimination Act	Total
Total	961
Terminated	334
At complainants request – s.46PE	—
Not unlawful	5
More than 12 months old	14
Trivial, vexatious, frivolous, misconceived, lacking in substance	37
Adequately dealt with already	7
More appropriate remedy available	5
Subject matter of public importance	—
No reasonable prospect of conciliation	266
Discontinued*	35
Withdrawn	110
Conciliated	465
Administrative closure**	17

* Finalised under new statutory provision – 46 PF(5)(a) – Satisfied that complainant does not want inquiry to continue.

** Not an aggrieved party, state complaint previously

Age Discrimination Act

Table 28: Age Discrimination Act – complaints received and finalised

Age Discrimination Act	Total
Received	175
Finalised	181

Table 29: Age Discrimination Act – age group of complainant

Age Discrimination Act	Total	Percentage
Total	175	100
0 – 14 years	3	2
15 – 24 years	23	13
25 – 34 years	10	6
35 – 44 years	12	7
45 – 54 years	44	25
55 – 64 years	39	22
> 65 years	34	19
Unknown	10	6

Table 30: Age Discrimination Act – complaints received by area

Age Discrimination Act	Total	Percentage
Total*	297	100
Employment	195	66
Goods, services and facilities	79	26
Access to premises	—	—
Land	—	—
Accommodation	8	3
Incitement to unlawful acts or offences	—	—
Advertisements	—	—
Superannuation, insurance	4	1
Education	1	—
Clubs, incorporated associations	—	—
Administration of Commonwealth laws and programs	8	3
Sport	—	—
Application forms, requests for information	—	—
Trade unions, registered organisations	2	1

* One complaint may have multiple and different areas.

Table 31: Age Discrimination Act – outcomes of finalised complaints

Age Discrimination Act	Total
Total	181
Terminated	55
At complainants request – s.46PE	—
Not unlawful	3
More than 12 months old	2
Trivial, vexatious, frivolous, misconceived, lacking in substance	9
Adequately dealt with already	1
More appropriate remedy available	—
Subject matter of public importance	—
No reasonable prospect of conciliation	40
Discontinued*	12
Withdrawn	29
Conciliated	78
Administrative closure**	7

* Finalised under new statutory provision – 46 PF(5)(a) – Satisfied that complainant does not want inquiry to continue.

** Not an aggrieved party, state complaint previously lodged

ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Act

Table 32: AHRCA – complaints received and finalised

ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Act	Total
Received	273
Finalised	204

Table 33: AHRCA – complaints received by ground

ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Act	Total	Percentage
Total*	302	100
Race (ILO 111)	—	—
Colour (ILO 111)	—	—
Sex (ILO 111)	—	—
Religion (ILO 111)	14	5
Political opinion (ILO 111)	3	1
National extraction (ILO 111)	1	—
Social origin (ILO 111)	1	—
Age (ILO 111)	1	—
Medical record (ILO 111)	—	—
Criminal record (ILO 111)	68	23
Impairment (including HIV/AIDS status) (ILO 111)	—	—
Marital status (ILO 111)	—	—
Disability (ILO 111)	—	—
Nationality (ILO 111)	—	—
Sexual preference (ILO 111)	17	6
Trade union activity (ILO 111)	12	4
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights	153	51
Declaration on the Rights of the Child	—	—
Declaration on the Rights of Mentally Retarded Persons	—	—
Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons	—	—
Convention on the Rights of the Child	27	9
Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief	1	—
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities	4	1
Not a ground within jurisdiction	—	—
Not a human right as defined by the Act	—	—

*One complaint may have multiple grounds.

Table 34: AHRCA – complaints received by area

ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Act	Total	Percentage
Total*	302	100
Acts or practices of the Commonwealth	188	62
Employment	113	38
Not act or practice of the Commonwealth (not employment cases)	1	—

* An area is recorded for each ground, so one complaint may have multiple and different areas.

Table 35: AHRCA – non-employment complaints received by sub-area

ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Act	Total	Percentage
Total	189	100
Prisons, prisoner	3	1.5
Religious institutions	—	—
Family court matters	—	—
Other law court matters	1	0.5
Immigration	172	91
Law enforcement agency	—	—
State agency	1	0.5
Other service provider (private sector)	—	—
Local government	—	—
Education systems	—	—
Welfare systems	1	0.5
Personal or neighbourhood conflict	—	—
Health system	—	—
Other	11	6

Table 36: AHRCA – Outcomes of finalised complaints

ºÚÁÏÇ鱨վ Act	Total
Total	204
Declined	102
Does not constitute discrimination	9
Human rights breach, not inconsistent or contrary to any human right	6
More than 12 months old	2
Trivial, vexatious, frivolous, misconceived, lacking in substance	37
Adequately dealt with already	11
More appropriate remedy available	5
Withdrawn, does not wish to pursue, advised the Commission	13
Withdrawn, does not wish to pursue, settled outside the Commission	1
Withdrawn or lost contact	18
Conciliated	82
Referred for reporting*	18
Administrative closure**	2

*Complaints in this category were not conciliable and therefore transferred from the Commission’s Complaint Handling Section to the Legal Section for further inquiry and possible reporting.

**Not an aggrieved party, state complaint previously lodged.