Consider overall reform, QLS urges

Queensland Law Society called on the Government to introduce the new Anti-Discrimination Bill, at Friday’s public hearing on the Respect at Work and Other Matters Amendment Bill 2024.

QLS, represented by Senior Policy Solicitor Bridget Cook and Principal Policy Solicitor Kate Brodnik, addressed the Community Safety and Legal Affairs Committee at Parliament House.

The Respect at Work and Other Matters Amendment Bill was introduced to Parliament on 14 June 2024 by Yvette D’Ath, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence.

It aims to amend the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991, the Corrective Services Act 2006, the Criminal Code, the District Court of Queensland Act 1967, the Human Rights Act 2019, the Magistrates Act 1991, the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992, the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 and the Youth Justice Act 1992 for particular purposes.

QLS said there was a need for comprehensive reform, which was advocated by the Queensland Human Rights Commission (QHRC) in its 2022 report Building Belonging: Our review of Queensland’s Anti-Discrimination Act, and to which the Government committed last year.

“We call for the introduction of the new Anti-Discrimination Bill that was consulted on earlier this year. A number of the amendments in this current Bill should be considered in the context of other proposed amendments to ensure their functionality and avoid unintended consequences,” the Society said.

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QLS also pushed for:

• intersectionality of attributes to be recognised in the Bill;
• detailed consideration of what material should be published by the QHRC, especially where there have been no adverse findings;
• the application of new extended timeframes to all attributes and in relation to all settings; and
• removal of the amendment to the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 because the considerations were already addressed by the courts.

The committee is due to table its report on 2 August 2024.

Read the submission here.