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Chapter 1 - Introduction
1.1
On 24 March
2004, the Senate referred the provisions of the Civil Aviation
Amendment (Relationship with Anti-Discrimination Legislation) Bill 2004 (the Bill)
to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee for inquiry and
report by 30 June 2004.
Key provisions of the Bill
1.2
The Bill amends the Civil Aviation Act 1988 to:
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empower the Governor-General to make regulations
that may be inconsistent with current Commonwealth anti-discrimination
legislation, provided the inconsistency is necessary for aviation safety; and
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validate existing regulations and past actions
based on those regulations in accordance with safety regulations and standards,
which may appear to be inconsistent with anti-discrimination laws.
1.3
The objective of the Bill
is to enable Australia
to comply with its international obligations to meet safety standards and
practices set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). The Explanatory
Memorandum to the Bill states that 'as a member
state, Australia
is obliged to implement ICAO standards in its aviation regulations.'[1]
Conduct of the inquiry
1.4
The Committee advertised the inquiry in the Australian
newspaper on 7 April, 21 April and 5
May 2004, and wrote to over 80 individuals and organisations
inviting submissions. The Committee received 13 submissions and one
supplementary submission; these are listed at Appendix 1.
1.5
The Committee held a public hearing in Canberra
on 16 June 2004. A list of
witnesses who appeared at the hearing is at Appendix 2 and copies of the
Hansard transcript are available through the internet at:
http://aph.gov.au/hansard.
Acknowledgment
1.6
The Committee thanks those organisations and
individuals who made submissions and gave evidence at the public hearing.
Notes on references
1.7
References in this report are to individual submissions
as received by the Committee, not to a bound volume. References to the
Committee Hansard are to the proof Hansard: page numbers may vary between the
proof and the official Hansard transcript.
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