INTRODUCTION

The law relating to discrimination in South Australia is a mixture of Commonwealth and State law.

Legislation:

The following Acts apply in South Australia

Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (SA)
Whistleblowers' Protection Act 1993 (SA)
Racial Vilification Act 1996 (SA)
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 (Cth)
Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth)
Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth)
Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth)
Age Discrimination Act 2004 (Cth)

Contacts and resources

Australian Human Rights Commission

GPO Box 5218 SYDNEY NSW 2001

Complaints Info line: 1300 656 419 (local call)

TTY: 1800 620 241 (toll free)

Fax: (02) 9284 9611

Email: complaintsinfo@humanrights.gov.au

Website: www.humanrights.gov.au

Online complaints form:

www.humanrights.gov.au/complaints_information/online_form/

Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC)

Level 2, 45 Pirie Street ADELAIDE SA 5000

Phone: 8207 1977

Country callers: 1800 188 163

TTY: 8207 1911

http://www.eoc.sa.gov.au

Disability Discrimination Service
Provides legal advice, advocacy and assistance to people discriminated against because of a disability.

Unit 2/59 Main North Road MEDINDIE GARDENS SA 5081

http://www.ucwesleyadelaide.org.au/ccls/disability_discrimination.htm

Types of discrimination

The combined effect of the South Australian and Commonwealth legislation means that in South Australia it is unlawful to discriminate on the following grounds:

age
disability (physical or intellectual)
marital status
pregnancy (or potential pregnancy or family responsibilities)
race
sex
sexuality
on the basis of having disclosed public interest information to a relevant authority (i.e. whistleblowers) or of having made a complaint of discrimination

Do I have grounds for a complaint?

Whether or not a person has grounds for complaint depends on a variety of factors:

Is the discrimination of which they are complaining a type that is prohibited under State and/or Commonwealth legislation
Did the discrimination occur in an area which has been legislated against
Does the discrimination fall under any exemptions allowed for under the legislation

In the event that a person has grounds for a complaint they also need to consider which agency they should deal with.

What is discrimination?

Discrimination is treating someone unfavourably because of a characteristic they possess (or a characteristic attributed to them) such as race, sex, age, disability or sexuality.

Discrimination can be direct (as in the case of an employer refusing to hire women because they might get pregnant) or indirect, where conditions are imposed to which certain classes of persons cannot comply and there is no reasonable excuse to do so.

Discrimination can be difficult to define, particularly indirect discrimination. Even the High Court has found it difficult to define exactly what indirect discrimination is.

Indirect discrimination

The following is an example of indirect discrimination:

An employer decides to only employ people who are over 190 cm tall, although height is not relevant to effective performance of the work. This excludes women and people of Asian origin, as there are more men of non-Asian origin who can comply with this requirement. Such discrimination is unlawful because the height requirement is unreasonable, there being no genuine occupational reason to justify it.

Source: Queensland Anti-Discrimination Act 1991