Seniors advocate, COTA Australia, said the Federal Government’s decision to break an election commitment to older Australians and abandon the consolidation of anti-discrimination laws will mean discrimination against older people will continue with little recourse.
COTA Chief Executive Ian Yates today called on the Federal Government to introduce its revised Bill as a matter of priority in the Budget session of parliament.
“Older people will be deeply disappointed that changes to the Age Discrimination Act have been put on hold, apparently indefinitely,” Mr Yates said.
“The Age Discrimination Act is by far the weakest of all the anti-discrimination laws and this was an opportunity to finally bring age discrimination in line with the provisions of the other Acts.
“As it stands the Age Discrimination Act has a very high burden of proof and as such has rarely been used by older people to seek justice when they have suffered discrimination due to their age.
“Strengthening of discrimination laws was a key Labor election commitment and the Attorney General must commit to resolving the issues of the Senate Committee and ensure the current Acts can be replaced by one strong streamlined Act in the Budget session of parliament this May.
“This is too important to be dragged out any longer or, worse, abandoned altogether”
Mr Yates also called on the Parliament to amend the changes to the Sex Discrimination Act, likely to be introduced today, to remove the exemption for aged care services to reject a person based on their sexuality.
“Most aged care services are funded by the government and they should not be exempt from discriminating against gay and lesbian older people,” Mr Yates said.
Media contact: Ian Yates 0418 835 439 , Olivia Greentree 0439 411 774