Qld anti-discrimination laws may be rewritten to strengthen protections

Discrimination against female trade apprentices has been held up as one example of why Queensland needs tougher anti-discrimination laws.

Anti-discrimination laws should be rewritten to better protect criminals, domestic violence victims, female workers, the homeless and sexually and gender-diverse people, the Queensland Human Rights Commission has been told.

More than 100 submissions have been made to the commission’s review of 30-year-old laws the State Government is considering overhauling to guard against unfair treatment from employers, landlords, sporting clubs and others.

A raft of them have argued for laws to create a new requirement for employers to take positive measures to eliminate workplace sexual discrimination and harassment before it happens, with the Queensland Council of Unions arguing the requirement should go further to prevent all discrimination.

Such a flip would put the onus on employers from taking a more preventive approach, rather than waiting for a complaint to consider changes to their practices.

Assistant secretary Jacqueline King said the Act should contain a positive obligation to make reasonable accommodation for an employee with caring or family responsibilities to “help remove systemic disadvantages against women”.

The law should also be rewritten to make it clear sexual statements must not be made in the presence of a person, not just to them and that a workplace must not be hostile, Ms King said.

The union provided the case of an employer who recruited female trade apprentices but allowed a culture in which they were bullied and made to use a “stainless-steel flip-top lid that sat atop a urinal” because there were no female toilets.

Tenants Queensland want people experiencing homelessness better protected, arguing their rental applications are being ignored because the tight market has meant they haven’t been able to find a place and now have no fixed address.

They are also among those arguing for victims of domestic violence to be protected under the law, with various submitters outlining cases in which women have been fired, denied housing or had leases terminated because partners or ex-partners were viewed as a safety risk to others.

The Queensland Law Society backs a wider push to protect people with irrelevant criminal or medical histories who might be denied accommodation, a job or life insurance based on a past that isn’t relevant to the circumstances.

Queensland Unions say direct discrimination against people with criminal records continues systemic disadvantages without an opportunity to demonstrate rehabilitation, although it argues there should be an exemption for those applying to work with children or vulnerable people.

Vision Australia argues for a change in the burden of proof when making a case for recruitment discrimination, suggesting there be a presumption of discrimination and the onus be on the potential employer to prove a job application was rejected for some other reason.

And the Queensland Council for LGBTI Health wants more diverse sexuality and gender identities protected as they described transphobic doctors, and sexuality-based abuse from neighbours, daycare providers and at university.