The Age Discrimination Act 2004 is an Act of the

Parliament of Australia The Parliament of Australia (officially the Parliament of the Commonwealth and also known as the Federal Parliament) is the federal legislature of Australia. It consists of three elements: the Monarchy of Australia, monarch of Australia (repr ...

that prohibits

age discrimination Ageism, also called agism in American English, is a type of discrimination based on one's age, generally used to refer to age-based discrimination against elderly people. The term was coined in 1969 by Robert Neil Butler to describe this discrim ...

in many areas including

employment Employment is a relationship between two party (law), parties Regulation, regulating the provision of paid Labour (human activity), labour services. Usually based on a employment contract, contract, one party, the employer, which might be a cor ...

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

, accommodation and the provision of goods and services. Persons of any age can be discriminated against within the meaning of the act. Some exemptions are provided, including for

religious organisation Religious activities generally need some infrastructure to be conducted. For this reason, there generally exist religion-supporting organizations, which are some form of organization that manages: * the upkeep of places of worship, such as ...

charitable organisation A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

s and

positive discrimination Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries' laws and policies) refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking ...

. Complaints of discrimination must first be made to the

Australian Human Rights Commission The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of the Commonwealth of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body fu ...

(AHRC), where a

conciliation Conciliation is an alternative dispute resolution process whereby the parties to a dispute rely on a neutral third-party known as the conciliator, to assist them in solving their dispute. The conciliator, who may meet with the parties both sep ...

process can be initiated. Filing a complaint is free."Complaints under the Age Discrimination Act"

. If the complaint is not resolved through the conciliation process, it can be taken to the Federal Court or the Federal Circuit Court. In general, age discrimination is not a criminal offence. However, the Act creates criminal offences of discriminatory advertising, victimisation and failure to disclose statistical or actuarial data upon request by the President of the AHRC.

References

{{reflist 2004 in Australian law Acts of the Parliament of Australia Ageism law Anti-discrimination law in Australia Children's rights legislation Old age in Australia

See also

References