Membership Form - North Queensland Women's Legal Service

What is Discrimination?

All people have the right to equal opportunities in their lives. This means that people have the right to live their lives free from discrimination.

Discrimination occurs when a person, who is in a similar situation to others, is treated less favourably.

Someone is treated less favourably when they are disadvantaged and do not have the same opportunities or choices as someone else.

What type of discrimination is against the law?

There are many types of discrimination which are against the law. For example, it is against the law for someone to discriminate against another person because of their race, sex or because of a disability.

In Queensland the law about discrimination is contained in the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991("The Anti-Discrimination Act").

The Commonwealth also has written laws about discrimination. These laws are found in the:

Racial Discrimination Act 1975.
Sex Discrimination Act 1984.
Disability Discrimination Act 1992.
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Act 1986.

All of these Acts deal with discrimination in different circumstances. In this part of the Community Legal Education Kit (CLE) we explain how each Act works.

The Anti-Discrimination Act

The Anti-Discrimination Act is a state law. It operates in Queensland only.

What types of discrimination are unlawful?

It is against the law to discriminate against someone because they are:

A woman or a man.
Single, married or widowed.
Pregnant.
A parent; or
Breastfeeding.

Other types of discrimination include discrimination on the basis of :

Age.
Race.
Disability or illness.
Religion or religious beliefs.
Political beliefs or activities.
Trade union membership.

It is also against the law for a person to discriminate against someone else because they associate with someone who has any of the characteristics described above.

A person associates with another person when they socialise, work with, live with or are related to a person.

For further enquiries regarding training and use of their CLE Kit please phone the Indigenous Women's Unit (Townsville 0747725400 or Cairns 0740410066).