James Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

The government welcomes the Australian Human Rights Commission's inquiry report Willing to work: national inquiry into employment discrimination against older Australians and Australians with disability2016. I would like to thank the Hon. Susan Ryan AO and her team at the commission for their fantastic work on this important workplace issue.

The inquiry was commissioned by this government in April 2015 to investigate employment discrimination against people with disability, and older Australians. All Australians deserve fair and equitable treatment in the workplace. Organisations with greater diversity have greater productivity and performance and their employees are happier. They understand that investing in a diverse workforce is an investment in their future.

While I am on my feet, it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge that this has been a particularly productive use of the commission's time, and this stands in stark contrast to some of the commission's other activities. I am referring, in particular, to the commission's decision to host an inquiry into children in detention, not under the former government, when those numbers were on the increase and reached their peak of 2,000 children in detention, but under this government, when those numbers were decreasing and ultimately reduced to zero.

It also stands in contrast to the Human Rights Commission's utter failure in the recent Queensland University of Technology students case. The handling of that complaint by the commission has been an utter disgrace. The students in that case have been treated appallingly by the commission. The President of the Human Rights Commission, Gillian Triggs, and her delegates have demonstrated that the Human Rights Commission is in dire need of reform as a result of the handling of that case. There are two key issues in the handling of that case. The first is the commission's extraordinary decision to sit on the complaints from the applicant for a period of 14 months before informing the students who were subject to the complaint. They only decided it was necessary to inform the students three days before a compulsory conciliation which they were ordered to attend. That meant, as a result, that a number of the students were unable to attend and were unable to arrange representation—

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Brown, on a point of order?

Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I may be confused, but I thought we were talking about the Willing to Work report.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, we are, but I note that Senator Paterson has in fact made a significant link to that report that we are discussing and contrasting it to other reports. I think he is in order.

James Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The first issue is their utter failure to notify the students in the appropriate way. That resulted in some of those students being unable to attend the conciliation and some of those students being unable to arrange for legal representation at the conciliation. That was an extraordinary failure. The second extraordinary failure of the commission in this case was to not immediately dismiss it, as it has the power to do under the Human Rights Act, as a vexatious case or a case without merit. This case should never have gone to court. It should never have taken up 3½ years of the lives of the students in question. The commission had the power to alleviate that, and what they did is extraordinary and disappointing. It was particularly disappointing, after the successful resolution of this case when the Federal Court comprehensively dismissed the complaint, that Ms Triggs went on 7.30 on the ABC and, when asked by the host, Leigh Sales, why she did not dismiss this case, said it was because she thought it had merit. That is an extremely disappointing thing.

While I am talking about the QUT case, I think it is relevant to point out some appalling comments that were made on the Q&A program last night by the member for Griffith, Terri Butler. She smeared the students involved in this case by linking them to comments which have been found by the court to be utterly false. One of the students was alleged to have used the 'n' word in a Facebook post. No evidence was provided to the court that he had done so. He has asserted, since the beginning of the case, that he did not have a Facebook account at the time, that it was a prank and that someone else had done it in his name. The applicant in this case and their lawyers provided no evidence to contest that, and the judge comprehensively dismissed the complaint against this student because there was no evidence for it. So for a Labor member of parliament, on a national television program with hundreds of thousands of viewers, to imply that this student had in fact made this comment, when there is no evidence to find that he did and the court has comprehensively dismissed the complaint against him, is a disgrace.

In my view Calum Thwaites, Alex Wood, Jackson Powell and also Kyran Findlater, the students in the case who we know the most about from public media reporting, have done an exemplary thing for their fellow Australians. They have stood up to extraordinary bullying and inappropriate use of law, and for free speech. If they had not had the courage to do so, we would not know how badly this law is functioning, how direly reform is necessary to fix this law. I think that rather than attacking them and smearing their reputations in the national media, all of us should be grateful for what they have done and should be thanking them for what they have done and for their courage. It was not an easy thing to stand up to this—many students who were accused chose not to, and I understand why they did—but we owe them our grateful thanks.

Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Australian Human Rights Commission report Willing to work: national inquiry into employment discrimination against older Australians and Australians with disability. In doing so I congratulate Commissioner Susan Ryan on this significant report. I would also like to say that I am quite disappointed in the contribution by Senator Paterson, where he spoke for about 30 seconds on the report that is before the Senate today. It was a pretence—going on to other issues, which is the real reason he is here.

I would like to start off by thanking the Attorney-General, senator George Brandis, for having referred what is a critical issue to the Australian Human Rights Commission for an inquiry. This report is informed by 120 public consultations held in all state and territory capital cities and some regional locations. Through this consultation process the commission met with over 1,100 people, including older Australians, Australians with disabilities, carers, advocates, community organisations, employers, businesses, trade unions, peak bodies and academics. The inquiry received 342 submissions. In her foreword Commissioner Ryan states:

The Inquiry is grounded in the voices of individuals affected by discrimination, the experiences and perspectives of employers of all sizes and across all sectors, extensive research and the ideas and expertise of advocates, legal practitioners, policy experts, industry representatives and unions.

This is one of the critical elements of this report. It is informed by a significant consultation process and reflects the voices and concerns of people in real-life experience.

It should come as no surprise that the inquiry found that many Australians with disability and older Australians who want to work are shut out of the workforce because of assumptions, stereotypes or myths associated with their age or their disability. These viewpoints lead to conscious and unconscious discrimination. This discrimination impacts on people in recruitment, in the workplace and in decisions about training, promotion and retirement, and comes at a cost to individuals, businesses and our economy.

The report notes:

International comparisons by the OECD show Australia lagging behind similar countries in terms of employment of older people and people with disability.

Everyone has a role in addressing this gap and in attacking the systemic discrimination that has created such a significant barrier to workforce participation for too many people in our community.

It is incumbent upon everyone at every level to take action to address the issues identified in this report. As individuals, we all need to work to change attitudes about older employees and employers with disability. Employers and businesses need to build understanding and awareness of discrimination, and the benefits of employing older people and people with disability. And governments need to take action to ensure that policies and programs do not create disincentives to participation, and appropriately encourage businesses to employ older workers or workers with disability.

The report includes a range of practical strategies for change, as well as measures for monitoring progress and outcomes. Critically, the report also recommends introducing a national education campaign to dispel the myths and stereotypes about older people and people with disability that lead to discrimination. It is promising to read some of the examples of best practice that are highlighted in the report and see that with the right information and understanding older Australians and Australians with disability and businesses can all reap the benefits.

I also commend the resource for employers the commission produced, along with the inquiry report. The resource sets out the commission's recommendations to businesses, examples of existing good practice and provides details of available resources. Once again I would like to thank Commissioner Susan Ryan for her work on this report and the incredible job she has done in the dual role of Age Discrimination Commissioner and Disability Discrimination Commissioner.

Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also want to talk, unusually for me, about some of the positive work of the Australian Human Rights Commission. My normal inclination would be to follow my friend and colleague Senator Paterson, but today I do want to join with Senator Brown in congratulating former senator the Hon. Susan Ryan for her work in this area of barriers to employment for people with disability and older people in or remaining in the workforce. I guess before I start I should declare an interest because I am what some might call an older person wishing to remain in the workforce. I might come back to that later.

Susan Ryan did respond to a referral by Senator Brandis to look into this very vexed question, and the inquiry was known as the 'Willing to Work' inquiry. Susan Ryan and the commission produced a quite formidable report, having undertaken an enormous body of work in the last year or more. As Senator Brown said, there were 120 consultations around every capital city and in many regional areas and over 1,000 people contributed to this inquiry. Some 340-odd written submissions were received as well. As a result of all of that work, the commission and Susan Ryan have produced a very significant report.

Amongst the findings of the report, we learn that people aged 55 years and older, although making up roughly a quarter of the population, represent only 16 per cent of the workforce. We learn that 83.2 per cent of people without a disability participate in the workforce, but only 53.4 per cent of people with are participating in the labour force. We also learn, I am sorry to say, some tales of discrimination—27 per cent of people over the age of 50 reported experiencing discrimination in the workplace on account of their age.

I never complain about my lot in life. Nobody forces me to be here and I am okay, but I just make the point that even in this august body every year that I stay in parliament costs me in cash terms $40,000.

An honourable senator interjecting —

I am not after sympathy, but it is a fact that is not well known. People talk about politicians' superannuation. I contribute about $10,000 or $11,000 every year towards my superannuation, but every year I stay here the capital sum of my superannuation reduces by five per cent in cash.

Senator Pratt interjecting—

I am not after your sympathy, Senator Pratt. I am simply saying that here in this parliament, this body and this government that is having inquiries into discrimination against people who want to remain in the workforce, in my case—and I am sure it would happen to others as well—here is a positive discrimination if you want to stay in the workforce over the age of 65, as I am. I am well over that. Once you reach 65 in this place, that is what happens to you. How come the government and this parliament support that sort of proposal while at the same time having Susan Ryan deal with discrimination of those who are older but who want to work? So I appreciate Susan Ryan looking into this. As I say, I am not making a complaint for myself. I will get by; I will be fine. But it is an interesting fact that discrimination against older people occurs even in this building and in this government.

I know that there are many in the Labor Party that would say that they agree with discrimination in this case because they would like to see me go! They would have liked to have seen me go five years ago. But I will be here for another 10 years or so yet, unlike Senator Cameron, who is bailing out. He should have resigned already! But I will be here for a long, long time yet. The money does not worry me, but the discrimination against older people does, and the government should look at it. (Time expired)