Styles v The Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

This case concerned an application for special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia. The applicant, Helen Styles, a Grade Al journalist, complained of a discriminatory requirement imposed on her application for transfer to a journalist position in London. The requirement stipulated that successful applicants must hold the same substantive grading as the vacant office, which was Grade A2. The respondent was the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The second respondent, Philip Arthur Harrison, indicated he did not wish to participate in the proceedings.

The legal issues before the court included whether the reasoning of the Full Court was correct in holding that a discriminatory requirement or condition could nevertheless be considered reasonable. Specifically, the applicant argued that the Full Court's approach to determining the reasonableness of the criterion was erroneous, raising questions of principle regarding the application of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 and equal opportunity principles within the Australian Public Service. The applicant contended that the Full Court's reasoning, by focusing on the objective and equal application of a criterion, potentially rendered remedial legislation, such as the Sex Discrimination Act, nugatory.

The court was required to consider the Full Court's determination that the requirement for applicants to hold a Grade A2 substantive grading was discriminatory, as a substantially greater proportion of males than females could comply with it. The applicant's central argument was that the Full Court erred in its reasoning process by concluding that this discriminatory criterion was reasonable. The applicant submitted that the Full Court's finding that the criterion constituted a "precept of fairness" because it was objective and applied equally to all was insufficient to establish its reasonableness, despite the Full Court's nominal weighing of fairness against discriminatory impact.