Tribute to Roslyn Atkinson - Outgoing President of the Tribunal

During 1997 Ms Roslyn Atkinson completed her term as President of the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal. Ms Atkinson was the inaugural Member of the Tribunal and was appointed in 1993 to a four year term. Ms Atkinson oversaw the growth in complaints referred to the Tribunal from 9 cases in its first year of operation in 1993 to 158 matters by 1996. She was the major influence in developing the processes and procedures which presently exist in the Tribunal.

A number of major decisions were delivered by Ms Atkinson during her term as President of the Tribunal. Amongst these were the decision of Cocks v. State of Queensland involving people with mobility impairment accessing the Convention Centre: Flannery v. Qld Police Service involving the physical criteria and in particular visual ability required for recruitment of officers into the Queensland Police Service: a number of significant cases concerning sexual harassment; and Hopper v. Mt Isa Mines, a case involving sex discrimination and sexual harassment of a female apprentice diesel fitter mechanic working underground at Mt Isa (this case is presently on appeal).

The Commission pays tribute to Ms Atkinson for both her dedication and fairness in running the Tribunal, and to her fine legal reasoning in the matters and cases she considered while President of the Tribunal.

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