Changes to Discrimination Laws

Changes to the Racial Discrimination Act propose to replace multiple sections of the act with a single section that makes it unlawful to do an act “otherwise than in private “ that is reasonably likely to “vilify” or “intimidate” another person’s race or colour.


Whether an act is reasonably likely to vilify or intimidate someone is to be determined “by the standards of a reasonable member of the Australian community”, for example, whether Aboriginal people had been vilified or intimidated would be determined not by whether members of that community believed they had been, but whether the overall Australian community judged that they had been.


Currently it is unlawful to “offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate” another person or group of people. So “offend”, “insult” and “humiliate” will be replaced by “vilify”.



It seems that someone will be able to insult or offend someone else based on the other person’s ethnicity, but if a “reasonable member of the Australian community” would not regard that conduct as severe enough to be considered vilification, the provisions in the Exposure Draft will not be breached.



Despite of the outcome of the Exposure Draft, all workplaces and employers will be covered by other conditions of the Racial Discrimination Act and other anti-discrimination laws.



Exploitation of an employee for a reason that included their race would be unlawful discrimination in employment on the ground of race, but would be dealt with under other sections of the Racial Discrimination Act.
 


The Proposed changes to the Racial Discrimination Act may lead to workers to seeking out more complicated and expensive legal routes to address prejudice in the workplace the Diversity Council of Australia believes.


The proposal to weaken sections of The Racial Discrimination act regarding “hurt feelings” could lead to more complaints under defamation laws.


 Research indicates that non – Australian born residents are far more likely to experience racial discrimination in the workplace. Indigenous Australians are also more at risk to experience improper behaviour.


The current Racial Discrimination Act Framework relies on conciliation to resolve problems. The current proposals may encourage complaints under defamation laws instead which is far more costly and time consuming as well as being bad for business and staff morale.


To save your business any possible litigation you should make sure that your policies on racial discrimination are clear and your employees are well trained in them.