Mr WILLIAMS (Attorney-General) (10:17 AM) —I move:

That the bill be now read a second time.

As members may recall, the Human Rights Legislation Amendment Bill 1998 lapsed before the Senate with the calling of the recent federal election. I am now pleased to reintroduce the bill which implements a number of significant and important changes to the administration functions and procedures of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. These reforms will enhance the promotion and protection of the human rights of all Australians and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the commission.

The first major reform introduced by this bill is the government's response to the High Court's decision in Brandy v. The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (1995) 127 ALR 1. In that case the enforcement mechanism in the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 was found to be unconstitutional on the basis that the commission, as an administrative body, could not make a final determination as to the rights of the parties to a dispute. This decision also affected the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, and the Privacy Act 1988.

As a result of that decision, an interim solution was introduced by the previous government. However, it was inefficient and cumbersome. The bill therefore proposes to maintain the commission's conciliation role, but to provide the parties with direct access to the Federal Court should conciliation prove unsuccessful. This will enable the parties to obtain a timely and enforceable determination of their respective rights.

In order to ensure the court is accessible the bill also includes a number of additional reforms. The court will be able to adopt informal procedures as it will not be bound by technicalities or legal forms. In addition, the court will be able to make rules of court which delegate any of its powers to judicial registrars, apart from the power of granting interim injunctions.

The second major reform involves the consolidation of the three complaint handling schemes under the sex, race and disability discrimination acts into one uniform scheme. The bill provides that all complaints of unlawful discrimination under those acts, and complaints involving alleged breaches of human rights and equality of opportunity will now be made under the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986. The president will assume responsibility for all complaint handling under the new uniform scheme while commissioners are to be given an amicus curiae function to argue the policy imperatives of their legislation before the Federal Court.

The third major reform made by this bill will be to clarify the lines of management responsibility, facilitating timely decision making and providing for the better administration of the commission. The president is to become the chief executive officer of the commission, and will assume responsibility for those functions currently conferred on the commission itself.

Finally, the bill also implements a number of changes suggested by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee when it considered the earlier draft of the bill in 1997. Amongst others, new provisions now deal with:

. complaints against the president, commission or a commissioner;

. the withdrawal and termination of complaints;

. the replacement of a representative complainant; and

. the amendment of a complaint.

The amendments made by this bill are complex, primarily because the different complaint handling provisions in three schemes have been amended and a single uniform scheme included in the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986.

In making these changes, the government has taken steps to ensure that the new procedures represent best practice. Notably, the bill maintains the commission's role in conciliation, as this step in the process has proved most effective. Indeed, most complaints do not proceed past this stage.

The bill also clearly delineates the commission's function of impartially attempting to conciliate complaints from the commissioners advocacy role in promoting the protection of human rights. These, together with the new management structure of the commission, are important and timely reforms. I present the explanatory memorandum to the bill.

Debate (on motion by Ms Macklin) adjourned.