National Age Discrimination Law a Priority, says Human Rights Commissioner

13 November 2001 - Human Rights Commissioner Dr Sev Ozdowski has called on the Federal Government to introduce national age discrimination legislation and also to begin an education campaign against the stereotypes about ageing.

At a speech to the Council on the Ageing National Congress in Canberra, Dr Ozdowski welcomed promises from both major parties prior to the election regarding the introduction of national age discrimination laws.

"Over the past year, I have strongly lobbied the government to develop a national age discrimination law - the missing piece of a national patchwork of sex, race and disability discrimination laws," Dr Ozdowski said. "With this legal protection, people may have an effective remedy for violations of these rights - including the right to be free from stereotypes with no factual foundation."

Three times as many complaints in age discrimination were received by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commissionin 1999-2000 compared to 2000-2001.

Some of the key areas in which discrimination occurs include retirement ages, recruitment in employment, superannuation schemes (which differ between States and Territories), access to goods and services, training and education. State and territory laws do not cover Federal Government employees.

46% of 50-64 year olds do not have paid employment and 33% are relying on some form of social security payment. Dr Ozdowski said there was a clear economic imperative for recruiting, retaining and promoting older people. "It is the best use of available economic resources and expertise while society goes through the process of ageing."

He called on the Government to commence immediately an education campaign to combat stereotypes about ageing and prejudices against older Australians, and for media organisations to support the campaign. Dr Ozdowski said such a campaign would lay the groundwork and hopefully make the wider community more receptive to the early introduction of the law. Dr Ozdowski said he would be happy to assist the new Government in developing the legislation and the education campaign.

At the end of March 2001, Age Limits, a report into age discrimination in employment affecting workers aged over 45 (jointly funded by the Equal Opportunity Commissions of South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia) found that very significant levels of age discrimination occurred at every stage of the employment process.

Quotes From People Interviewed for the Report:

'The agency told me that without the age I could still be shaped into a saleable package'.

'You feel you should be 'up front' about your age, but there are institutionalised consequences of putting your age'.

'There needs to be a better level of understanding of the benefits of older workers by recruitment agencies including government agencies. Officers should be educated to understand the benefits of older workers. Older workers need to be assisted to present themselves. Strong loyalty and commitment and work history need to be emphasised. Government employment services and older unemployed could be looked at more proactively. 'Upgrade their skills rather than downgrade their expectations' (Peak employer organisation).

'Recruitment agents are 'going through the motions' of recruitment according to an 'identikit picture' of what employers want'.

'The General Manager came in and winced and wouldn't look at me. They never rang me back. I rang and they gave an excuse that they were going to get someone more experienced'.

'I attended a group interview with around twenty other women, all of whom were younger. When the time came to demonstrate how to apply cosmetics I was asked to act as the model for the whole interview'.

'There is a perception that you are not likely to change, and that you are not open to new skills and you are not offered new skills. There is no offer of new training, but rather that another person comes back in a new role'.

'There seems to be a culture of preferring young people who have had a lot of jobs. I thought that a long history with one firm would be worth more, but they prefer young people who have had six or seven jobs in the last ten years. They like the turnover rather than stable employment'

Commenting on the report, South Australian Commissioner for Equal Opportunity Linda Matthews said the report was commissioned to find out why more people did not make use of age discrimination legislation despite anecdotal evidence of significant levels of age discrimination in the community, particularly towards people over the age of 45.

"This report confirms that there are high levels of age discrimination in the community. It also found that older workers were unclear about their rights under equal opportunity laws and that older workers are reluctant to make complaints of age discrimination because they fear they will be victimised by employers, or because they will become stigmatised as complainers and because age discrimination can be very difficult to prove", she added.

Chief Executive of the Victorian Equal Opportunity Commission, Dianne Sisely noted the report found that strong negative community attitudes persist about the abilities of older workers. "These attitudes about what a person's working life should be, come from a past era where workers were often worn out from physical labour by the time they were 45 and were unlikely to live much beyond 60."

"Not only has the nature of work changed so that people are no longer physically burnt at 45 but we are now also living well into the 80's. This means that the productive capacity of many workers now extends well beyond 45.", Ms Sisely added.

West Australian Commissioner for Equal Opportunity June Williams said the report supported anecdotal evidence and evidence from complaints of age discrimination to the Equal Opportunity Commission, as well as other research, that these attitudes impacted negatively on the job prospects of people aged over 45.

"There is no reason why many people cannot continue to be productive contributors to the economy well into their 60's and beyond. Yet despite compulsory retirement being abolished in most states there is no sign of a change to working longer. In fact the opposite is true with a significant trend towards early retirement and the retrenchment of older workers when downsizing occurred", she added.

The report made a number of recommendations including that action be taken:

To ensure older workers received practical information to upgrade their skills and support to understand the changing nature of work, to maximise their chances of recruitment, and
To assist employers with information on how to value and support their older workers employment opportunities through training and how to comply with legislation in recruitment.

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