Inquiry into the effectiveness of the Commonwealth Sex
Discrimination Act 1984 in eliminating discrimination and promoting
gender equality
Information about the Inquiry
On 26 June 2008, the
Senate referred the following matter to the
Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee for inquiry and report.
The Committee intends to present its final report by Wednesday 3
December 2008.
The effectiveness of the
Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Act 1984 in eliminating discrimination and
promoting gender equality, with particular reference to:
- the scope of the Act, and the
manner in which key terms and concepts are defined;
- the extent to which the Act
implements the non-discrimination obligations of the Convention of the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the
International Labour Organization or under other international instruments,
including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;
- the powers and capacity of
the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and the Sex Discrimination
Commissioner, particularly in initiating inquiries into systemic
discrimination and to monitor progress towards equality;
- consistency of the Act with
other Commonwealth and state and territory discrimination legislation,
including options for harmonisation;
- significant judicial rulings
on the interpretation of the Act and their consequences;
- impact on state and territory
laws;
- preventing discrimination,
including by educative means;
- providing effective remedies,
including the effectiveness, efficiency and fairness of the complaints
process;
- addressing discrimination on
the ground of family responsibilities;
- impact on the economy,
productivity and employment (including recruitment processes);
- sexual harassment;
- effectiveness in addressing
intersecting forms of discrimination;
- any procedural or technical
issues;
- scope of existing exemptions;
and
- other matters relating and
incidental to the Act.
The Committee will invites
written submissions by 1 August 2008. Submissions
should be sent to:
Committee
Secretary
Senate Standing Committees on Legal and Constitutional Affairs
Department of
the Senate
PO Box 6100
Parliament
House
Canberra ACT
2600
Australia
Persons lodging submissions should note that, to be
considered relevant to the inquiry, submissions must address the provisions
of the terms of reference.
The Committee requests that where possible, submissions
should also be provided by email to
legcon.sen@aph.gov.au,
preferably as MS Word or RTF format documents. Notes to assist in preparing
submissions are available from the website
https://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/wit_sub/index.htm or
telephone the Secretariat on 02 6277 3560, fax: 02 6277 5794, or e-mail at
the above address.
Once the Committee accepts your submission, it becomes
a confidential committee document and is protected by Parliamentary
Privilege. You must not release your submission without the
Committee’s permission. If you do, it is not protected by Parliamentary
Privilege. At some stage during the inquiry, the Committee normally makes
submissions public. Please indicate if you want your submission to be kept
confidential.
Inquiries from hearing and speech impaired people
should be directed to the Parliament House TTY number (02 6277 7799). Adobe
also provides tools for the blind and visually impaired to access PDF
documents. These tools are available at:
http://access.adobe.com/. If you
require any special arrangements in order to enable you to participate in a
committee inquiry, please contact the Committee Secretary.
For further information, contact:
Committee Secretary
Senate Standing Committees on Legal and Constitutional Affairs
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia
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