You don’t have to put up with being treated unfairly because you’re young. There are laws to protect you against discrimination, harassment and bullying. These laws apply right across Australia. If you have a complaint, the Australian Human Rights Commission can look into it. We will talk to the people involved and help you work out a solution. Our aim is to help you deal with your complaint quickly and with the minimum of fuss. Our complaint handling service is free of charge.

Understanding and preparing for conciliation

• Understanding and preparing for conciliation

  - Unlawful discrimination

• Understanding and preparing for conciliation

  - Human rights and ILO

 

Information for people and organisations responding to complaints

The Australian Human Rights Commission (the Commission) has three areas of complaints we can investigate and resolve. They are:

Claims of unlawful discrimination

This includes complaints of discrimination, harassment and bullying based on a person’s:

Learn how the Age Discrimination Act makes it illegal to treat a person unfairly due to their age, including younger people and older people.

Learn about the Racial Discrimination Act, which makes it illegal to treat people unfairly due to their race, colour, ethnic origin or immigrant status.

Disability discrimination happens when a person with a disability is treated less favourably than a person without the disability in the same or similar circumstances. For example, it would be ‘direct disability discrimination’ if a nightclub or restaurant refused a person entry because they are blind and have a guide dog.

The Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) (the SDA) makes it against the law to treat you unfairly because of your: sex; gender identity; intersex status; sexual orientation; marital or relationship status (including same-sex de facto couples); family responsibilities; because you are pregnant or might become pregnant; because you are breastfeeding.

One of the Commission's main roles is to try to resolve complaints made under federal human rights and discrimination law through a process called 'conciliation'

The Australian Human Rights Commission is an independent third party which investigates complaints about discrimination and human rights breaches. It does not act as an advocate or legal representative for a party to a complaint. The complaint process is simple, free and flexible. Please click on the links below to view the outline of each one of them.