A STUDY of racial discrimination laws in several Western countries has prompted a call for the Government to toughen Australia's 33-year-old laws.
Race Discrimination Commissioner Tom Calma wants the burden of proof in cases of racial discrimination to fall on the alleged offender, instead of the person making the complaint.
Mr Calma said Australia's laws made it difficult to prove there had been discrimination.
A Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission analysis of other countries, including the US, Britain and Canada, shows that in those countries the onus of proof shifts to the person who has been accused of discrimination once the complainant has established an initial case.
In Australia, the burden of proof rests on the person making the complaint.
Mr Calma will ask the Federal Government to review the Race Discrimination Act, which was established in 1975 and was the first human rights legislation introduced in Australia. The only amendments to the act were the introduction of racial hatred provisions in 1995.
Mr Calma said some people who had been racially discriminated against did not lodge a complaint because they felt the process was too hard.
"It is a difficult exercise to be able to get that evidence together and if the offending party doesn't want to co-operate then you can't progress it," he said. "We do get occasions where people don't want to co-operate, and then we're forced to terminate a case, and then the case might have to be taken forward to a court." The alleged offender can be summoned to court to defend themselves, but then it gets very expensive.
A spokesman for Attorney-General Robert McClelland said the Race Discrimination Act had been a "strong and effective protection against racism".
He said the Government had committed to conducting a wide-ranging national consultation on how to best protect the rights and responsibilities of Australians.
"The courts have not identified significant areas of deficiency or inconsistency in the operation and interpretation of the act, which could be resolved by amending the act," he said. The Age believes that consultation could start by the end of the year.
The nation's attorneys-general have also agreed to examine options to make Commonwealth and state anti-discrimination laws more consistent.
Mr Calma said if people were forced to defend themselves, it might make them think twice before offending.
These kinds of complaints were usually a last resort. "A lot of people will tolerate behaviour, consider it a joke, until it comes to crunch point," he said. "You don't get vexatious complaints for the sake of complaints."
Peter van Vliet, executive officer of the Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria, said Australia's racial discrimination laws needed to be strengthened.
"There is a serious power imbalance, particularly between larger organisations and individuals who are being discriminated against," he said.
"We certainly have a large body of anecdotal evidence that systemic racial and religious discrimination, particularly with regards to employment, exists in Australia."
Source :The age.
Topic: Call to switch onus on racist offences (Read 898 times)