Australian Anti-Discrimination and Equal Opportunity Law

Reviews of previous editions: This text is a thoughtful and insightful analysis, and critique, of current anti-discrimination law in Australia. This text is a substantial work, weighty enough for an audience of specialist lawyers, tribunal members and judges. ... It is also a powerful critique. Read full review... Rebecca Crawford, Law Letter, Law Society of Tasmania, Winter/Spring 2014 [T]he real strength of this book is in the perceptive and insightful commentary bringing together the cases and materials extracted in it...the book is primarily devised as a teaching tool as it appears from the questions posed at the end of each chapter. The questions are designed in such a way as to challenge the reader to think about the contents of the substantive part of the book and service to highlight the complexity of anti-discrimination law that protect many classes, some of whose interest may not merge. Human Rights Law Review, 2009 Every day, governments, private companies and individuals must navigate the shoals of discrimination law. They must grapple with issues for which there is no clear answer and disputes in which both sides are understandable; often institutions and individuals will have little or no idea of their positive or negative obligations to others. For lawyers too this area is a minefield. The law, which is borne of a plethora of statutes, themselves often children of international treaties, is constantly evolving and adapting. Australian Anti-Discrimination Law is the answer to the prayers of the discrimination law practitioner for a complete case and materials textbook on the subject. The book contains extracts from cases (state, federal and international), statutes and statutory instruments, and academic materials where they assist our understanding. The authors are eminently qualified by their practical and academic experience. The book deals thoroughly with the subject from procedure and remedies through philosophical and political underpinnings to thorny issues of constitutional, international and comparative law. It covers both state and federal discrimination law. Law Institute Journal of Victoria, July 2009 This book, which honours the best traditions of its genre, provides, within an appropriate conceptual framework, careful selection of extracts from cases and other pertinent materials and, importantly, incisive textual analysis. Whilst providing a cogent critique of the current law, the authors have kept their feet firmly on the ground. The result is an authoritative analysis based on the very considerable practical and academic experience of its authors. Under the leadership of Professor Neil Rees, and subsequently Simon Rice, Kingsford Legal Centre developed in the early 1980s a specialist practice in anti-discrimination law, providing the skill and experience to mount many of the early groundbreaking cases. Professor Rees continued his work in the area after moving to the University of Newcastle, where he collaborated with Katherine Lindsay. Together, they have established an immensely valuable resource covering the full spectrum of anti-discrimination law in Australia. From the Foreword of the 1st edition by The Hon Justice John Basten As my esteemed appellate colleague, John Basten, pointed out in his foreword to the first edition, two of the three authors - Neil Rees and Simon Rice - developed in the early 1980s a specialist practice in anti-discrimination law, providing the skill and experience to mount many of the early ground-breaking cases. Thirty years later, their commitment is as strong, and their expertise as precious, as ever. Their new co-author - Dr Dominique Allen - represents the next generation. She is one of the leading experts in the field. ... The completion of this second edition, six years after the first, is itself an act of leadership. The importance of this area of the law, at a practical level for so many people, makes it essential to have a clear and comprehensive account both of the statutory schemes and of judicial decisions. More than this, the book provides an intellectual framework within which to understand the philosophical origins, and legal and social objectives, of the anti-discrimination law framework. ... We as lawyers have an obligation to keep things as simple as possible. ... This book is essential equipment for the task at hand. From the Foreword of the 2nd edition by The Hon Justice Chris Maxwell