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Victorian Equal Opportunity Reforms a Significant Step Forward

The State Government has introduced a long awaited Bill into the Victorian Parliament that will reform Equal Opportunity legislation with major impact for educators in non-government schools.  

If passed, the Bill will significantly alter the way complaints of discrimination are resolved and give the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission powers to investigate persistent and systemic discrimination, instead of having to rely on an individual filing a complaint.

VIEU has been participating in the Government review and consultation process for the past few years, and sees the changes as a significant step forward. You can see our submission here.

The Bill changes the religious exception that applies in religious schools and introduces an ‘inherent requirements’ test, requiring schools to demonstrate ‘that having a particular attribute, for example being heterosexual or being of a particular faith is an inherent requirement of the particular job,’ said Rob Hulls in a speech to Parliament.

The legislation has previously allowed religious schools to apply a blanket discrimination based on the religion, sexuality or marital status of staff.

The ‘inherent requirements’ test will mean that employees will have an avenue to appeal their school’s decision if they believe they have been unfairly discriminated against.

Under the proposed reform, the Human Rights Commission will also have a greater range of options to work with our sector including:

  • a fast, free and voluntary dispute resolution service to deal with disputes early
  • the responsibility to develop guidelines to assist employers to understand and address discriminatory practices 
  • providing advice to employers and employees about the development of action plans which address discriminatory practices
  • the ability to conduct public inquiries into broad systemic issues.

The Bill is due to be debated in Parliament in the next sitting session from 23-25 March and will then be referred to the Legislative Council.

View media release: here