S.A. DEMOCRATS TO INTRODUCE NEW EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES BILL

A new Bill guaranteeing South Australians equal opportunity is being finalised at Parliament House.
Fifty invited guests, all specialists in the field of equal opportunity, last week examined the South Australian Democrats’ draft new Equal Opportunity Bill.

“Our State was once the national leader in Equal Opportunity Legislation. The rest of the country has long overtaken us, and we’re lagging behind,” Democrats MLC Kate Reynolds said.

“The Labor Government knows this, of course, which is why it made an election promise to overhaul outdated equal opportunity laws – a promise it’s callously broken.

“We had to write a new Bill.

“The South Australian Democrats are still keeping the bastards honest. We won’t let the community down.

“21 years after the Act was proclaimed, 10 years after the deficiencies were first identified, 5 years after committing to update it, more than 3 years after being elected, 1 year after receiving thousands of public submissions on the matter, the Labor Cabinet has quietly shelved the update.

“People with disabilities or mental illnesses who fall outside the definitions contained in the existing Act are at the sharp end of the Labor Government’s latest deception,” Ms Reynolds said.

The Equal Opportunity Commissioner, Linda Matthews, the Dean of the faculty of Law at the University of Sydney, Professor Ronald McCallum, and a reader in law at Adelaide University, Rosemary Owens, attended the forum.