In 2020, the General Social Survey (GSS) found that 13.3% of people aged 18 years and over experienced some form of discrimination in the previous 12 months.
Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 (AHRC Act) prohibits discrimination in public and private sector employment. The AHRC Act includes a broad range of grounds of discrimination in addition to those in federal discrimination laws.
Australia is home to the world's oldest continuous culture as well as non-Indigenous Australians who identify with over 300 different ancestries. Migration to Australia is not a new phenomenon. In fact, Australia has a rich history of migration and trade pre-dating British colonisation.
Over the past 10 years, racist incidents have been reported in all aspects of Australian society, from everyday settings such as public transport, to essential institutions such as education and healthcare. While legislation protects against discrimination based on race, many people experience racism daily.
“As we see over and over in the media, violence against women is shockingly common. It affects two in five women from the age of 15. And workplace sexual harassment has impacted one in three people in the last five years .
The Federal Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) provides protection for everyone in Australia against discrimination based on disability. It also aims to promote equal opportunity and access for people with disability.
What does the Age Discrimination Act do? The ADA protects you from discrimination in many areas of public life, including: Employment – getting a job, terms and conditions of a job, training, promotion, being dismissed. Education – enrolling or studying in a course at a private or public school, college or university.
The Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (RDA) makes it unlawful to discriminate against a person because of his or her race, colour, descent, national origin or ethnic origin, or immigrant status.