Government introduces bill to extend sex discrimination protections 25 June 2010 1:27pm The Federal Government's amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act - introduced into Parliament yesterday - establish breastfeeding as a separate ground of discrimination and extend the existing protections from discrimination on family responsibility grounds. The Sex Discrimination Amendment Bill 2010 - introduced into the House of Representatives by Attorney General Robert McLelland - also protects students and workers from sexual harassment and ensures women and men are equally protected from sex discrimination. McLelland flagged the amendments in May, (see Related Article), saying they were to give effect to recommendations of the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constructional Affairs report on the effectiveness of the Sex Discrimination Act in eliminating and promoting gender equality. According to the bill's explanatory memorandum, the amendments will: extend protection from discrimination on family responsibilities to both women and men in all areas of work; provide greater protection from sexual harassment for workers and students; ensure that protections from sex discrimination apply equally to women and men; and establish breastfeeding as a separate ground of discrimination. The Attorney General in his second reading speech yesterday said the bill broadened the constitutional basis of the Sex Discrimination Act to ensure that it provided equal coverage to women and men. On family responsibilities, he said that by referring to a broader range of international conventions, the Act would provide equal protection from discrimination to men and women. "Currently, as the Senate committee identified, the Sex Discrimination Act provides only limited protections for workers against discrimination on the grounds of their family responsibility. For example, the Act provides that it is only unlawful to discriminate on the ground of family responsibility where an employee is dismissed," McLelland said. "This bill will broaden the prohibition on discrimination on the ground of family responsibilities to provide protection from discrimination in all areas of work, and will also prohibit indirect discrimination for both men and women." He continued that it would also harmonise protection for workers with family responsibilities by bringing the Sex Discrimination Act into line with the Fair Work Act's anti-discrimination protections. On breastfeeding, McClelland said the bill established it as a separate and distinct ground of discrimination - emphasising that "breastfeeding is a protected attribute". The changes would also ensure that special measures could be taken to accommodate the needs of breastfeeding women in the workplace and other areas of public life. On sexual harassment, McLelland said the bill made amendments to address "gaps and uncertainties" in the Act. For example, it clarified the test for sexual harassment to provide that the person making the claim need only show that a reasonable person had anticipated the possibility that the unwelcome sexual conduct would offend, humiliate or intimidate. McLelland continued that a list of circumstances that could be relevant to assessing this would be inserted to guide the courts and make it easier for businesses to develop effective prevention policies. It would include factors such as race, age, sex and disability but would not be exhaustive. McLelland said that another amendment protected students of any age from sexual harassment, providing them with another option to redress cyber-bullying and harassment by electronic means. And, he said, for the first time at the Commonwealth level, workers would be protected from sexual harassment by customers and clients, as well as by colleagues from other organisations they interacted with through work. McLelland said the Government would consider other recommendations in the Senate committee report that had wider implications for anti-discrimination laws as part of its review under Australia's Human Rights Framework. Sex Discrimination Amendment Bill 2010 Explanatory Memorandum