Equality and Discrimination Law in Australia: An Introduction

Beth Gaze is a Professor in the Law School at the University of Melbourne. She has researched and taught Australian anti-discrimination law for over twenty years, and contributes regularly to the media on anti-discrimination law issues. She has been involved in anti-discrimination law reform processes at both state and federal level, including acting as an expert adviser to the Review of Exceptions and Exemptions in the Equal Opportunity Act by the Victorian Parliament in 2009. She has held several major research grants to conduct empirical research into the operation of anti-discrimination law in Australia, including a project that is analysing the impact of provisions in the Fair Work Act that appear to make a discrimination type claim available in the Australian federal labour law system for the first time. Beth also teaches administrative law and has been a member of several state and federal tribunals. Belinda Smith researches primarily in the areas of anti-discrimination law, gender equality, and work-family integration. After working at the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, and a major Australian law firm, Belinda completed her doctoral degree in law at Columbia Law School in New York. She joined Sydney Law School in 2002. In articles and chapters published in Australia, the United States and Japan, she has explored alternative regulatory tools and frameworks for promoting equality. She has worked extensively on promoting reform of Australian anti-discrimination laws, served on the board of the Disability Discrimination Law Centre and is a member of the editorial boards of the Australian Journal of Labour Law and the Anti-Discrimination Law Review.

Part I: 1. Equality, discrimination, and law; 2. Historical background to anti-discrimination law; 3. Basic framework of legislation; Part II. Anti-Discrimination Legislation: 4. The attributes; 5. Prohibited conduct; 6. Areas; 7. Making rights effective: institutions, procedures and remedies; Part III: 8. Positive action; 9. Employment discrimination and the Fair Work Act; 10. Government action to advance equality: human rights and positive measures; 11. Equality rights into the future.