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This report covers my fourth year as the Acting Race Discrimination Commissioner at HREOC, a position I occupy in addition to my position as the aboriginal and torres Strait islander Social Justice Commissioner. During the period on which I report, Australia elected a new government, ending almost 12 years of a coalition government.

Dr William Jonas commenced duty as acting Race Discrimination Commissioner in September 1999 in addition to his duties as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner.

Over the past year increasing trends of prejudice and harassment of particular groups in our community has continued to be an area of significant concern for me. As noted in the 2002-03 annual report, I launched the Isma project in March 2003 in response to increasing concerns expressed by Arab and Muslim organisations about the rise in anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice in Australia.

The complainant is employed to undertake packing duties with the respondent retail food company. The complainant alleged she was sexually harassed by her manager. She claimed the manager’s behaviour included sending her inappropriate text messages, sending her a pornographic video and making comments of a sexual nature.

Current federal anti-discrimination laws would generally apply to cyberspace to the extent that discriminatory behaviour (or harassment) online relates to a protected attribute, and could be said to have occurred in one of the stipulated areas of ‘public’ life. This is particularly clear in relation to the prohibition on sexual harassment under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) (SDA), as…

2.1 Scope of international obligations During Australia’s review, the Government made a commitment to improving Australia’s monitoring of its international human rights obligations. Australia is a party to seven of the core human rights treaties and maintains a number of reservations under these. The Australian Government made a commitment to conduct a comprehensive review of such…

The Racial Hatred Act reinforces media standards, promoting impartiality and accuracy in reporting on race issues.

The Unlocking Doors Project was a series of forums, workshops and consultations conducted by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission throughout 2006, which brought Muslim peoples and communities in New South Wales and Victoria into a dialogue with Police. This dialogue sought to strengthen Muslim peoples’ relationship with law enforcement agencies and build on the capacity of the…

The Commission has been working closely with the Attorney-General’s Department on all aspects of the Framework. In particular, we have provided input into the development of a National Human Rights Action Plan, human rights education initiatives, improved human rights protections including greater parliamentary scrutiny, and consolidation of federal discrimination laws.

3.1 Equality before the law and non-discrimination A prominent theme throughout Australia’s UPR was the unacceptable level of disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, with 50 of the countries that spoke during the interactive dialogue referring to issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. [15] Since its appearance the Australian…