Racial Discrimination - Your Rights and Responsibilities

RACE

index
What is race discrimination? When is race discrimination against the law? What about when it isn't so clear? What else is against the law? When isn't race discrimination against the law? Who is responsible? What can I do about it? What else do I need to know? Other Information?

What is race discrimination?

Race discrimination means that you are treated less favourably, because of your race. Sometimes, this unfair treatment can be against the law. Under the Queensland Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 race has a broad meaning, and includes colour, descent or national or ethnic origin.

You may have been discriminated against on the basis of your race if - you didn't get a job because you were told you wouldn't ‘fit in’ to the workplace because of your race, you've been refused service or treated unfairly in a shop or hotel, or you've been singled out for ‘dirty jobs’ because of your race. If you believe you have been the subject of race discrimination, you can make a complaint to the Anti-Discrimination Commission.

When is race discrimination against the law?

The Act says that it is against the law to treat you unfairly because of your race when you:

apply for a job or a course
work (if you're full-time, part-time, casual, temporary or voluntary)
go to school or other places of education
buy things in shops, hotels, cafes or other places
try to, or use trade or other business services
rent a house, flat, caravan, shop or motel room
buy land
apply for credit or a loan
deal with banks or insurance companies
try to, or use state or local government services.

If you want to make a complaint to the Commission, you need to show that you were treated unfairly because of your race, in one of the above areas.

What about when it isn't so clear?

Sometimes discrimination occurs in a less direct way. Sometimes treating everyone the same means that some people are treated unfairly. An example of this might be a rule that to get a certain job, you have to be a certain height. While this might seem OK because it's treating everyone equally, the result could be that people of Asian origin, for example, have less chance of getting the job, simply because of the rule. If this rule is a sound one and done for a good reason, that's fine, but if not, it could be discrimination on the basis of race.

What else is against the law?

The Act also makes racial vilification against the law. Vilification is best described as a public act of racial hatred. It can include hate-speech, graffiti, websites and other offensive writing.

When isn't race discrimination against the law?

Not all race discrimination is against the law. The Act is clear about this, and says that sometimes, while something might seem to be unfair, it's not unlawful in this case.

The Act allows a range of exemptions which can be argued. Some of these include taking actions to help ‘level the playing field’. This means that it might not be against the law, for example, to offer a course or a job only to Indigenous people.

Who is responsible?

Anyone who breaches the Act is responsible for it. The law also says that employers can be held liable for the actions of their workers, and that they need to protect their staff from discrimination and sexual harassment and vilification). This is called vicarious liability in the Act and means that if a complaint is made against a worker in a company, both the worker and the employer can be held liable.

If this happens, employers can argue that they took reasonable steps to stop or reduce the discrimination. These steps may include:

having a policy (so the company can clearly show they will not put up with discrimination, sexual harassment or vilification in the workplace)
establishing a complaint system (so that there's a way to deal with it if it happens)
training (for everyone, but especially for managers and supervisors)

What can I do about it?

Starting from the point that you have the right to be treated fairly, you have a few choices about what you can do if you believe you have been discriminated against on the basis of your race.

you might like to deal with it yourself, by speaking to the person involved, telling them what it was like for you, and how you'd prefer them to behave. Often this works well if you want to deal with it quickly and informally
you could decide to lodge a complaint about the discrimination with your employer (if it happened at work, and if your work has a process for dealing with complaints)
you can lodge a complaint with this Commission. If you decide to go this way, keep in mind that:
- you can get more information by calling one of our offices
- we need the complaint in writing, but don't worry if English isn't your first language - we'll use translators if we need to
- the complaint needs to be lodged within a year of the discrimination happening
- we need details about you and the other person or people, what was said or done, who else was there, the effect on you, and any other information that you think would be useful. You also need to sign and date the complaint

What else do I need to know?

Lodging a complaint with the Commission is free, but if you decide to get some legal or other advice, there might be a cost.

Our job is to help resolve the complaint. This means that we provide trained staff to assess the complaint, handle letters, set up and run meetings, advise people about parts of the Act, and generally make sure the process runs smoothly.

The complaint might be resolved at any point along the way, and you can withdraw your complaint at any time. We might ask you to come to a meeting, so that you and the other person (people) can talk through the issues. Many complaints are sorted out this way, but if this isn't the case, you might decide you want your complaint to go further. If you do, it will be sent to the Queensland Anti-Discrimination Tribunal, where a decision will be made about it.

Other information:

There is also federal law on race discrimination. You can call the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission on 1300 656 419 for more information.

The Commission has brochures on other discrimination issues which are available from all our offices or from this website.

We also run training and information sessions about the Act. If you're interested in this, call your local office.

This information is intended as a guide only. It is not a substitute for legal advice. For more information contact the Commission on 1300 130 670 statewide or Teletypewriter 1300 130 680 statewide.