Anti-discrimination laws in Australia have been enacted at both federal and state/territory levels to outlaw discrimination and harassment in a range of areas of public life. Federal law operate concurrently with state/territory laws, so both sets of laws must be followed.

Federal law

The

Parliament of Australia The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislature, legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the ...

has enacted a number of anti-discrimination laws relying on the

external affairs power Section 51(xxix) of the Australian Constitution is a subsection of Section 51 of the Australian Constitution that gives the Commonwealth Parliament of Australia the right to legislate with respect to "external affairs". In recent years, most att ...

of the Australian Constitution. These include: *''

Age Discrimination Act 2004 The Age Discrimination Act 2004 is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that prohibits age discrimination in many areas including employment, education, accommodation and the provision of goods and services. Persons of any age can be discrim ...

'' *''

Disability Discrimination Act 1992 The ''Disability Discrimination Act 1992'' (Cth) is an Act passed by the Parliament of Australia in which prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, education, publicly available premises, provision of goods and se ...

'' *''

Racial Discrimination Act 1975 The ''Racial Discrimination Act 1975'' (Cth). is an Act of the Australian Parliament, which was enacted on 11 June 1975 and passed by the Whitlam government. The Act makes racial discrimination in certain contexts unlawful in Australia, and al ...

'' *''

Sex Discrimination Act 1984 The ''Sex Discrimination Act 1984'' is an Act of the Parliament of Australia which prohibits discrimination on the basis of mainly sexism, homophobia, transphobia and biphobia, but also sex, marital or relationship status, actual or potential ...

'' Complaints for unlawful discrimination under one of the federal laws can be made to the

Australian Human Rights Commission The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body funded by, but opera ...

under the ''Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986''.{{cite book , title=Federal discrimination law , date=2016 , publisher=Australian Human Rights Commission , isbn=978-1-921449-80-2 , url=https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/legal/publications/federal-discrimination-law-2016 , accessdate=14 October 2018

State and territory laws

Each state and territory has its own anti-discrimination law which operates alongside the federal laws: *Australian Capital Territory – ''Discrimination Act 1991'' *New South Wales – ''

Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 The New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 is an Act of the NSW Parliament, relating to discrimination in employment, the public education system, delivery of goods and services, and other services such as banking, health care, property ...

'' *Northern Territory – ''Anti-Discrimination Act'' *Queensland – '' Anti-Discrimination Act 1991'' *South Australia – ''Equal Opportunity Act 1984'' *Tasmania – ''Anti-Discrimination Act 1998'' *Victoria – ''Equal Opportunity Act 2010'' and '' Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001'' *Western Australia – ''Equal Opportunity Act 1984''

References

Law of Australia Discrimination in Australia *