Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

The amendments on sheet RV162 are technical refinements to provide greater certainty and clarity on the operation of the bill and to allow for additional consideration of the proposed reforms to cost protections.

To outline each of those amendments, amendment (1) relates to third parties in positive duty. This amendment would add the words 'by any person' to the end of the headings of subsections 47C(4) and 47C(5), amending them to read 'other conduct towards employees and workers by any person'. The purpose of this amendment is to clarify that subsections 47C(4) and 47C(5) cover conduct engaged in by third parties or other persons such as customers and suppliers. This means that an employer or person conducting a business or undertaking must take measures to protect their employees or workers from certain conduct by third parties such as customers.

The second amendment would make a technical correction to the current language used in paragraph 47(6)(c) of the Sex Discrimination Act as inserted by the bill. Amendment (3) would add an additional subsection to the positive duty in section 47C of the bill to provide that it does not limit, or otherwise affect, a duty that a duty holder has under Commonwealth and state or territory health and safety laws. And amendment (4) would provide an explicit time frame for a person to seek judicial review of a compliance notice that has been issued by the Human Rights Commission in relation to noncompliance with the positive duty. Amendment (5) is in relation to cost protection. This amendment would remove schedule 5 of the bill which was going to insert a cost protection provision in the Australian Human Rights Commission Act.