Page 2355 - Week 07 - Thursday, 4 August 2016
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The definition of disability will be extended to cover disability that a person may have in the future based on an actual or presumed genetic predisposition. In addition, the law will no longer allow discrimination by employers and qualifying bodies on the basis of a disability that a person had in the past but no longer does have.
The bill provides for recognition of reliance on assistance animals, disability aids or support people as a facet of disability, which moves the act towards a more social understanding of disability. This recognises that the barriers to the accommodation of the needs a person has because of a disability can be as debilitating as the disability itself.
There are changes to the definition of religious and political conviction. These changes cover not having these convictions and protect against discrimination on the basis of the cultural heritage and distinct spiritual practices, observances, beliefs and teachings of Indigenous people.
The bill recognises a number of protected attributes, including accommodation status, employment status, genetic information, immigration status, intersex person status, irrelevant criminal record, physical features, records of sex being altered, and subjection to domestic and family violence.
The definition of vilification has been expanded to include conduct that incites revulsion of a person on the basis of the grounds of disability, gender identity, intersex status, HIV/AIDS status, race or sexuality.
Disability will be a new ground to which vilification applies. This will increase awareness of the harm of inciting language aimed at people with a disability. Vilification provisions will apply to any act done other than in private, in order to remove uncertainty about the legal meaning of public acts.
Existing exceptions will remain for fair reporting and reasonable and honest acts done for academic, artistic, scientific or research purposes, or discussion and debate in the public interest.
Protections against victimisation are strengthened by the bill to make sure that people who make complaints or otherwise act in accordance with their rights under the act are fully protected against retaliatory action.
The bill also amends the Australian Human Rights Commission Act, which contains the law and processes for making complaints about unlawful discrimination. Representative bodies or representative people with sufficient interest will now be able to make a complaint about discrimination on behalf of a named complainant with their consent.
The bill also creates a presumption that discrimination has occurred if the complainant demonstrates unfavourable or unfair treatment and makes out a case that the unfavourable treatment was because of a protected attribute of the complainant. This presumption is able to be rebutted by the respondent.
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