Stronger laws will help tackle systemic discrimination
Victorian Equal Opportunity & Human Rights Commission
Plans for equal opportunity law reform aimed at reducing systemic discrimination have been welcomed by Victoria's Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner, Dr Helen Szoke.
"This is great news for the people of Victoria," said Dr Szoke. "Strengthening Victorian discrimination law to specifically address systemic issues is a positive step toward the elimination of discriminatory practices that prevent people participating fully and equally in public life."
Attorney-General Rob Hulls announced that a new Equal Opportunity Bill, to be introduced into Parliament this week, would give the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission the ability to investigate persistent and systemic discrimination.
"The proposed reforms put the emphasis on prevention and the ‘human responsibilities' that go hand in hand with our human rights," Dr Szoke said.
"In addition to dealing with individual complaints, the reforms will place a greater focus on addressing the discrimination that is entrenched in policies, practices, attitudes and behaviours. These can't be addressed through individual complaints alone because it is about the way we build our buildings, the way we organise public transport, make decisions about who gets a job, who has access to services or rented accommodation."
Under the proposed reform, the Commission will have a greater range of options to work with both the private and public sectors including:
- early responsibility to develop guidelines to assist business, government and the community to understand and address discriminatory practices
- provide advice to business, government and the community about the development of action plans which address discriminatory practices
- ability to conduct public inquiries into broad systemic issues.
Dr Szoke believes that the progressive elimination of discrimination is possible if it can be tackled through a range of mechanisms and the proposed reforms provide those options while ensuring the Commission continues to have a responsibility to educate the community, business and government about their rights and responsibilities.
For more information go to http://www.humanrightscommission.vic.gov.au
a fast, free and voluntary dispute resolution service to deal with disputes
