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Racial and Religious Tolerance
Amendment Bill 2019
Introduction Print
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
Clause Notes
Clause 1 sets out the purposes of the Bill.
The Bill will amend the Racial and Religious Tolerance
Act 2001 to extend the application of that Act to include
protection from vilification based on certain protected attributes.
Clause 2 provides for the commencement of the Bill on 1 January 2020.
Clause 3 provides that for the purpose of the Bill, the Racial and
Religious Tolerance Act 2001 is the Principal Act.
Clause 4 renames the Principal Act as the Elimination of Vilification
Act 2001 to reflect the broadened purposes achieved by the Bill.
Clause 5 extends the preamble of the Bill to include reference to the
further attributes protected by the Bill.
Clause 6 expands the purposes of the Principal Act to add the protected
attributes of gender, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity
and sex characteristics.
Clause 7 inserts definitions of the following terms into section 3 of the
Principal Act--
gender identity;
protected attribute;
sex characteristics;
sexual orientation.
591PM60 1 BILL LC INTRODUCTION 27/8/2019
The definitions of gender identity as defined in the Sex
Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth), and sex characteristics as
defined in the Justice and Related Legislation (Marriage and
Gender Amendments) Act 2019 (Tas), have been preferred as
modern best practice definitions to those contained in the Equal
Opportunity Act 2010.
Clause 8 inserts new section 3A into the Principal Act, that, for the
purposes of the Act, extends the attributes protected by the Act to
the following--
race;
religious belief or activity;
gender;
disability;
sexual orientation;
gender identity;
sex characteristics.
Clause 9 extends the objects of the Principal Act to include the protected
attributes inserted by the Bill.
Clause 10 amends section 7 of the Principal Act to extend its application to
all of the protected attributes under the Act; and amends section 7
so that it is consistent with section 24 by ensuring that the
threshold test for vilification does not exceed that for serious
vilification.
Clause 11 repeals section 8 of the Principal Act as "religious belief or
activity" is included as a protected attribute in section 7.
Clause 12 consequentially amends section 9 of the Principal Act.
Clause 13 consequentially amends section 10 of the Principal Act.
Clause 14 amends the public conduct exception pertaining to a religious
purpose.
Clause 15 consequentially amends section 12 of the Principal Act as a result
of the repeal of section 8.
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Clause 16 inserts new section 22(3) into the Principal Act which provides
the Commission with the power to request information,
principally for the purpose of assisting the Commission to
identify a respondent to a dispute.
Clause 17 inserts new sections 22A to 22E regarding provision of
information to the Commission for dispute resolution.
Clause 18 amends section 24 of the Principal Act to extend its application to
all of the protected attributes under the Act and amends the fault
element for serious vilification to "intentionally or recklessly" for
consistency with other Australian jurisdictions. It replaces the
subjective test of "offender knows" with an objective test and
repeals the requirement under section 24(4) of the Principal Act
that the Director of Public Prosecutions consent to each
prosecution as that provision acts as a bar to prosecution.
Clause 19 repeals section 25 of the Principal Act, as "religious belief or
activity" is included as a protected attribute in section 24.
Clause 20 consequentially amends of section 26 of the Principal Act.
Clause 21 consequentially amends of section 28 of the Principal Act.
Clause 22 inserts transitional provisions in a new Part 6 of the Principal Act
including providing for references to the changed title of the Act.
Clause 23 provides for the automatic repeal of this amending Act on
1 January 2021. The repeal does not affect the continuing
operation of the amendments made by this Act (see section 15(1)
of the Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984).
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