Australian Human Rights Commission (Cost Protection) Bill passed

The Australian Human Rights Commission (Cost Protection) Bill was passed last week.

National Legal Aid, in partnership with the Kingsford Legal Centre and the Australian Council of Trade Unions, would like to thank everyone involved for their incredible advocacy. We thank and acknowledge everyone who has advocated in this area, as this work has been done by so many organisations with passionate staff and volunteers.

Please see below a joint media statement for more information.


Joint media statement

September 2024

The Power to Prevent Coalition welcomes the costs reforms passed by parliament on 19 September 2024. The Australian Human Rights Commission Amendment (Costs Protection) Bill implements recommendation 25 of the Respect@Work Report and adopts a modified equal access costs model in  federal anti-discrimination law in Australia, addressing a key barrier to people pursuing redress for  discrimination and sexual harassment.

The Power to Prevent Coalition is a group of diverse community organisations, unions, academics, peak  bodies, health professionals, lawyers and victim-survivors. We see the effects of discrimination and sexual  harassment on people every day and the barriers they face in seeking justice. The Power to Prevent  Coalition strongly advocated for this reform with 85 organisations endorsing a call for equal access in discrimination and sexual harassment matters. Power to Prevent Coalition members gave evidence at the  public hearing into the Bill on 31 January 2024.

An equal access costs model means that individuals who bring claims of discrimination and sexual  harassment can recoup their legal costs if they are successful while being protected from having to pay  legal costs if they are unsuccessful (except in limited circumstances). Legal costs in these types of cases  can easily be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and can bankrupt people. This has been a major  barrier to people speaking up when harmed by discrimination or sexual harassment at work.

This reform is a first for Australia in discrimination law. People will now be able to bring claims without the  huge risk of having to pay the legal costs of the perpetrator, or the perpetrator’s employer, should they  lose. It also means that people who bring successful sexual harassment or discrimination claims will have  their legal costs covered.

People not being able to enforce their rights has led many people to be silenced and perpetrators not being  held to account. Long overdue, this change to how costs are considered in discrimination and sexual  harassment claims will be another tool to address the endemic nature of sexual harassment documented in  the Respect@Work Report.

This change together with the implementation of the Respect@Work reforms sends the clear message that  sexual harassment and discrimination are unacceptable. We also welcome that since December 2023, for  the first time in Australia, the Australian Human Rights Commission will have the ability to investigate and  enforce compliance with the new positive duty that organisations and businesses must eliminate sexual  and sex-based harassment and discrimination in connection with work, as well as any related acts of  victimisation. This means employers need to actively seek to create a safer work environment free from  this type of conduct.

We congratulate the Commonwealth Government on this reform and the implementation of the Respect@  Work recommendations. We thank and acknowledge everyone who has advocated in this area,  particularly people who have directly experienced sexual harassment and discrimination and have bravely  spoken out to improve the law.

Download the media release