Protected Attributes
A defining feature of unlawful discrimination is that adverse treatment or adverse effects must be based upon a particular protected attribute, the most prominent of which include age, disability, gender and race.
Age
Alysia Blackham, Reforming Age Discrimination Law: Beyond Individual Enforcement (Oxford University Press, 2022).
Alysia Blackham, ‘Enforcing Rights in Employment Tribunals: Insights from Age Discrimination Claims in a New “Dataset”’ (2021) 41(3) Legal Studies 390.
Alysia Blackham, ‘Working at the Edges of Legal Protection: Equality Law and Youth Work Experience from a Comparative Perspective’ in Andrew Stewart, Rosemary Owens, Niall O’Higgins and Anne Hewitt (eds) Internships, employability and the search for decent work experience (2021, ILO).
Alysia Blackham, ‘Why Do Employment Age Discrimination Cases Fail? An Analysis of Australian Case Law’ (2020) 42(1) Sydney Law Review 1.
Alysia Blackham, ‘Age Discrimination Beyond Employment’ (2019) 52 Kobe University Law Review 1.
Alysia Blackham, ‘Does Removing Default Retirement Ages Benefit Individuals? A Comparative Empirical Case Study of the University Sector’ (2021) 21(2) International Journal of Discrimination and the Law 77.
Alysia Blackham, ‘A Compromised Balance? A Comparative Examination of Exceptions to Age Discrimination Law in Australia and the UK’ (2018) 41(3) Melbourne University Law Review 1085.
Alysia Blackham, 'Defining "Discrimination" in UK and Australian Age Discrimination Law' (2018) 43(3) Monash University Law Review 760.
Alysia Blackham, ‘Why Mandatory Retirement Ages Should be a Thing of the Past’, The Conversation (online at 9 April 2018).
Therese MacDermott, 'Giving a voice to age discrimination complainants in federal proceedings' (2017) 19(2) Flinders Law Journal 233.
Eileen Webb and Liam Elphick, 'Yesterday Once More: Discrimination and LGBTI+ Seniors' (2017) 43(2) Monash University Law Review 530.
Therese MacDermott, 'Older workers and requests for flexibility: a weak right in the face of entrenched age discrimination' (2016) 44(3) Federal Law Review 451.
Alysia Blackham, Extending Working Life for Older Workers: Age Discrimination Law, Policy and Practice (Hart, 2016).
Therese MacDermott, 'Affirming age: making federal anti-discrimination regulation work for older Australians' (2013) 26(2) Australian Journal of Labour Law 141.
Therese MacDermott, 'Challenging age discrimination in Australian workplaces: from anti-discrimination legislation to industrial regulation' (2011) 34(1) UNSW Law Journal 182.
Margaret Thornton and Trish Luker, ‘Age Discrimination in Turbulent Times’ (2010) 19(2) Griffith Law Review 141.
Caring Responsibilities
Margaret Thornton, ‘Work/Life or Work/Work? Corporate Legal Practice in the Twenty-first Century’ (2016) 23(1) International Journal of the Legal Profession 13.
Margaret Thornton, ‘The Flexible Cyborg: Work/Life Balance in the Legal Profession’ (2016) 38(1) Sydney Law Review 1.
Belinda Smith, 'How might information bolster anti-discrimination laws to promote more family-friendly workplaces?' (2014) 56(4) Journal of Industrial Relations 547.
Anna Chapman, 'Reasonable Accommodation, Adverse Action and the Case of Deborah Schou' (2012) 33(1) Adelaide Law Review 39.
Belinda Smith and Joellen Riley, 'Family-friendly work practices and the law' (2004) 26(3) Sydney Law Review 395.
Belinda Smith, 'Not the Baby and the Bathwater - Regulatory Reform for Equality Laws to Address Work-Family Conflict' (2006) 28(4) Sydney Law Review
Class
Margaret Thornton, ‘Social Status: The Last Bastion of Discrimination’ (2018) 1(3) Anti-Discrimination Law Review 5.
Disability
Alicia Steele, Robin Banks & Winnifed R Louis, Investigating the experiences of students with disability at the University of Queensland: Report of survey conducted April to July 2022 by the University of Queensland Union (University of Queensland Union, 2022) (https://osf.io/mcbn8)
Alice Taylor, 'Disability discrimination, the duty to make adjustments and the problem of persistent misreading' (2019) 45(2) Monash University Law Review 461
Elizabeth Dickson, 'Supporting students with communication impairment in Australian schools: Administering the obligation to make reasonable adjustment' (2019) 43(1) Australasian Journal of Special and Inclusive Education 41.
Paul Harpur, 'My Animal, my support, and my new home in a retirement village: disability discrimination, assistance animals and old age' (2018) 11 Elder Law Review.
Paul Harpur, Discrimination, Copyright and Equality: Opening The E-Book for the Print Disabled (Cambridge University Press, 2017).
Karen O'Connell, 'Should We Take the "Disability" Out of Discrimination Laws? Students with Challenging Behaviour and the Definition of Disability' (2017) 35(2) Law in Context 108.
Karen O'Connell, 'Unequal Brains: Disability Discrimination Law and Children with Challenging Behaviour' (2016) 24(1) Medical Law Review 76.
Karen O'Connell, 'What are your rights if your child with a disability is denied a school place?', The Conversation (online at 29 January 2016).
Paul Harpur, 'Rights of persons with disabilities and Australian anti-discrimination laws: What happened to the legal protections for people using guide or assistance dogs?' (2010) 29(1) University of Tasmania Law Review 49.
Paul Harpur, 'Ensuring equality in education: how Australian laws are leaving students with print disabilities behind' (2010) 3(1) Media and Arts Law Review 46.
Belinda Smith, 'Fair and Equal in the World of Work: Two Significant Federal Developments in Discrimination Law' (2010) 23 Australian Journal of Labour Law 199.
Margaret Thornton, ‘Disabling Discrimination Legislation: The High Court and Judicial Activism’ (2009) 15(1) Australian Journal of Human Rights 1.
Karen O'Connell, 'The Clean and Proper Body: Genetics, Stigma and Disability Discrimination Law' (2009) 14(2) Australian Journal of Human Rights 139.
Belinda Smith, 'From Wardley to Purvis - How far has Australian Anti-Discrimination Law Come in 30 Years?' (2008) 21 Australian Journal of Labour Law 3.
Colin Campbell, 'A Hard Case Making Bad Law: Purvis v New South Wales and the role of the Comparator Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth)' (2007) 35(1) Federal Law Review 111.
J Joy Cumming and Elizabeth Dickson, 'Equity in assessment: discrimination and disability issues from an Australian legal perspective' (2007) 19(3-4) Education and the Law 201.
Elizabeth Dickson, 'Disability Standards for Education and Reasonable Adjustment in the Tertiary Education Sector' (2007) 12(2) Australia and New Zealand Journal of Law & Education 25
Margaret Thornton, ‘Neo-Liberalism, Discrimination and the Politics of Ressentiment’ (2000) 17(2) Law in Context 8
Robin Banks, 'Just not for people with disabilities', in Nan McNab (ed), A just Society? What access to justice means to twelve Australians (Victoria Law Foundation Publishing, 1999)
Robin Banks, 'More than Law: Advocacy for Disability Rights', in Melinda Jones and Lee Ann Basser Marks (eds), Disability, Divers-ability and Legal Change, (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1999)
Robin Banks and Rosemary Kayess, 'Disability Advocacy: Too Much Talk, Not Enough Action’, in Marge Hauritz, Charles Sampford and Sophie Blencowe (eds), Justice for People with Disabilities: Legal and Institutional Issues (The Federation Press, 1998)
Margaret Thornton, ‘Domesticating Disability Discrimination’ (1997) 2 International Journal of Discrimination and the Law 183.
Gender
Belinda Smith, ‘Respect@Work Amendments: A Positive Reframing of Australia’s Sexual Harassment Laws’ (2023) 36 Australian Journal of Labour Law 145
Margaret Thornton, Kieran Pender and Madeleine Castles, Damages and Costs in Sexual Harassment Litigation: A Doctrinal, Qualitative and Quantitative Study (2022).
Beth Goldblatt and Linda Steele, 'Bloody unfair: Inequality related to menstruation – considering the role of discrimination law' (2019) 41(3) Sydney Law Review 293.
Belinda Smith and Monica Hayes, 'Using data to drive gender equality in employment: more power to the people?' (2015) 28(3) Australian Journal of Labour Law 191.
Cristy Clark, 'Does the Human Right to Water Address the Gendered Nature of Water Poverty?' (2015) 24 Human Rights Defender 31.
Sandra Fredman and Beth Goldblatt, 'Gender Equality and Human Rights' (Discussion Paper, UN Women, 2015).
Margaret Thornton, 'The Political Contingency of Sex Discrimination Legislation: The Case of Australia’ (2015) 4 Laws 314.
Margaret Thornton and Ann Genovese, 'On The Liberal Promise: A Conversation’ (2015) 41(1) Australian Feminist Law Journal 3.
Margaret Thornton, ‘Neoliberal Governmentality and the Retreat from Gender Equality’ in Ashleigh Barnes (ed), Feminisms of Discontent: Global Contestations (Oxford University Press, 2015) 71.
Margaret Thornton (ed), Sex Discrimination in Uncertain Times (ANU Press, 2010).
Margaret Thornton and Trish Luker, ‘The Sex Discrimination Act and its Rocky Rite of Passage’ in Margaret Thornton (ed), Sex Discrimination in Uncertain Times (ANU Press, 2010) 25.
Margaret Thornton, 'Women's Rights as Human Rights' in Margaret Thornton (ed), Sex Discrimination in Uncertain Times (ANU Press, 2010) 319.
Margaret Thornton, 'Women and Discrimination Law’ in Patricia Easteal (ed), Women and the Law in Australia (LexisNexis Butterworths, 2010) 131.
Margaret Thornton, 'Feminism and the Changing State: The Case of Sex Discrimination’ (2006) 21(50) Australian Feminist Studies 151.
Margaret Thornton, ‘EEO in a Neo-Liberal Climate’ (2001) 6(1) Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies 77.
Margaret Thornton, ‘The Indirection of Sex Discrimination’ (1992) 12 University of Tasmania Law Review 88.
Margaret Thornton, ‘The Public/Private Dichotomy: Gendered and Discriminatory’ (1991) 18 Journal of Law and Society 448.
Intersectionality
Alysia Blackham and Jeromey Temple, ‘Intersectional Discrimination in Australia: An Empirical Critique of the Legal Framework’ (2020) 43(3) UNSW Law Journal 773.
Karen O'Connell, 'Can Law Address Intersectional Sexual Harassment? The Case of Claimants with Personality Disorders' (2019) 8(4) Laws 34.
LGBTIQ+
Liam Elphick, ‘Marriage equality was momentous, but there is much still to do to progress LGBTI+ rights in Australia’, The Conversation (online at 6 March 2019).
Sarah Moulds, 'The Right to Turn Away Gay Students? Exceptions to Unlawful Discrimination for Religious Schools in Australia' (2019) 41(1) Law Society of South Australia Bulletin 12.
Liam Elphick, Amy Maguire and Anja Hilkemeijer, 'Ruddock report constrains, not expands, religious exemptions', The Conversation (online at 10 October 2018).
Liam Elphick and Luke Beck, ‘America’s “gay wedding cake” case and what it means for Australia’, ABC News (online at 10 June 2018).
Liam Elphick, 'The "gay wedding cake" dilemma: when religious freedom and LGBTI rights intersect', The Conversation (online at 27 March 2018).
Liam Elphick, 'Do same-sex couples really have the same rights as married couples?', SBS News (online at 14 September 2017).
Liam Elphick, ‘Sexual Orientation and "Gay Wedding Cake" Cases Under Australian Anti-Discrimination Legislation: A Fuller Approach to Religious Exemptions’ (2017) 38(1) Adelaide Law Review 149.
Cristy Clark, 'With that ring, I thee judge: why the law should not allow exceptions on marriage equality', The Conversation (online at 6 October 2016).
Cristy Clark, 'Anti-discrimination law exemptions don’t strike the right balance between rights and freedoms', The Conversation (online at 30 June 2016).
Sarah Moulds and John Williams, 'Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and intersex status in South Australian legislation' (Report, South Australian Law Reform Institute, 2015).
Laura Grenfell and Anne Hewitt, “Regulating Gender – Restrictive, facilitative, or transformative laws?” (2012) 34(4) University of Sydney Law Review 761.
Race
Margaret Thornton and Trish Luker, ‘The New Racism in Employment Discrimination: Tales from the Global Economy’ (2010) 32(1) Sydney Law Review 1.
Margaret Thornton and Trish Luker, ‘The Wages of Sin: Compensation for Indigenous Workers’ (2009) 32(3) UNSW Law Journal 647.
Beth Gaze, 'Has the Racial Discrimination Act Contributed to Eliminating Racial Discrimination? Analyzing the Litigation Track Record 2000-04' (2004) 11(1) Australian Journal of Human Rights 171.
Religion
Liam Elphick and Alice Taylor, ‘Religious Discrimination Bill is a mess that risks privileging people of faith above all others’, The Conversation (online at 30 August 2019).
Liam Elphick, Amy Maguire and Anja Hilkemeijer, ‘The government has released its draft religious discrimination bill. How will it work?’, The Conversation (online at 29 August 2019).
Margaret Thornton, ‘Christianity “Privileged” in Laws Protecting Fairness’, Viewpoint: Perspectives on Public Policy, Issue 5 (February 2011) 41.
Margaret Thornton and Trish Luker, ‘The Spectral Ground: Religious Belief Discrimination’ (2009) 9 Macquarie Law Journal 71.
Anne Hewitt, ‘'It's not because you wear hijab, it's because you're Muslim' - Inconsistencies in South Australia's Discrimination Laws' (2007)7(1) QUTLJJ 57
Other
Belinda Smith and Tashina (Alice) Orchiston, ‘Domestic Violence Victims at Work: a Role for Anti-Discrimination Law?' (2012) 25 Australian Journal of Labour Law 209.