Page 1470 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 1 June 2022
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
go to zero emissions. Here are our time lines and here’s how we are going to get there.”
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Discrimination Amendment Bill 2022—consultation draft
Ministerial statement
MS CHEYNE (Ginninderra-Assistant Minister for Economic Development, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Business and Better Regulation, Minister for Human Rights and Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (11.55): I am pleased this morning to table a consultation draft of the Discrimination Amendment Bill 2022.
As part of the implementation of the capital of equality strategy 2019-2023 and reflected in the parliamentary and governing agreement, the government committed to reviewing the Discrimination Act. Our Discrimination Act is a cornerstone of our human rights framework. It is important that the act is modern and best promotes equal opportunity, respect and inclusion.
The ACT government has been progressing recommendations from the ACT Law Reform Advisory Council’s 2015 final report into the review of the Discrimination Act 1991 over the past several years. Members will know that many of the recommendations from LRAC’s report have been implemented.
This consultation bill progresses some of the outstanding recommendations to expand the coverage of the Discrimination Act, refine the existing exceptions and introduce a positive duty to prevent discrimination.
In October 2021, a public consultation was launched via the YourSay website together with a discussion paper and eight short consultation guides. The government listened to feedback about how to make the submission process as accessible as possible, and individuals and organisations were able to make submissions by sending an email, leaving a voice message or completing a short survey.
There was a good level of response from the community about these proposals and government received 25 submissions and 17 survey responses. Officials facilitated three community roundtables, including one with religious bodies, and provided 14 tailored briefings to government and non-government organisations.
The feedback was from a diverse range of individuals and organisations, including people from peak bodies, government advisory groups, community legal centres, academics, advocacy groups and members of the community.
On 7 April this year I presented a listening report to the Assembly that summarised the feedback we received during the consultation. This included real-life examples of how discrimination continues to affect the community, practical suggestions for how to improve protections against discrimination and some creative ideas for reform.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video