Advance Australia, Fairer: a submission to the inquiry by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee on the Sex Discrimination Amendment (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Intersex Status) Bill 2013

This general introduction (Section One) located the submission within the global push for human rights and anti-discrimination legislation around discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status, marital or relationship status. It pointed out the need to not only safeguard, but to urge the Australian Government to commit to the advancement of, the proposed Amendment Bill 2013. The rest of the submission deals with specific aspects of the Amendment Bill more directly. Section Two examines and endorses the definitions used in the Amendment Bill. Section Three argues for the withdrawal of default exemptions for religious educational institutions around discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and suggests (if an alternative is required by the Committee) an opt-in model of exemptions. Section Four supplies a numbered list of recommendations for changes to the Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill.