The Federal Parliament has passed the amended Sex and Age Discrimination Legislation Amendment Bill 2010 which amongst other things establishes an Age Discrimination Commissioner in the Australian Human Rights Commission to specifically address issues facing mature aged workers. The other most significant change is the addition of grounds for both direct and indirect sexual harassment for breastfeeding of a child.
The key driver of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 ('Sex Discrimination Act') changes have been the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the International Labour Organisation ('ILO') Convention concerning Equal Remuneration for Men and Women Workers for Work of Equal Value, the ILO Convention concerning Equal Opportunities and Equal Treatment for Men and Women Workers: Workers with Family Responsibilities, and the ILO Convention concerning Termination of Employment at the Initiative of the Employer.
The amended Sex Discrimination Act extends the grounds for sexual harassment by staff or students of an educational institution to include sexual harassment against other staff or students of another educational institution. Further amendments include grounds for:
- Protection from discrimination on family responsibilities for both men and women in all areas of work
- Sexual harassment by customers against staff of a vendor
- Prohibition of sexual harassment using a postal, telegraphic, telephonic or other like service to combat cyber-bullying
- An exclusion that allows a state or territory to refuse to change a persons' sex on an official registry if the person is currently married.
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