EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Sex Discrimination (Operation of Legislation) (No. 3) Regulations (Amendment)
Statutory Rules 1987 No. 5
Issued by the Authority of the Attorney-General
Section 116 of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (“the Act”) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing matters that are required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Divisions 1 and 2 of the Act provide that it is unlawful to discriminate against a person on the ground of sex, marital status or pregnancy in certain areas of activity. Paragraphs 40(1)(a) and 40(1)(b) in Division 4 of Part II of the Act are exemption provisions which provide that nothing in Division 1 or 2 of Part II affects anything done by a person in direct compliance with -
(a) any other Act, any State Act, or any law of a Territory in force at the commencement of the Sex Discrimination Act; or
(b) a regulation, rule, by-law, determination or direction in force at the commencement of the Sex Discrimination Act made under an Act, State Act or law of a Territory.
Sub-section 40(2) provides that, except to the extent that regulations made for the purposes of sub-section 40(2) otherwise provide, paragraphs 40(1)(a) and 40(1)(b) shall cease to be in force at the expiration of 2 years after the commencement of the Act. The date of the commencement of the Act was 1 August 1984. Sub-section 40(3) provides that regulations made for the purposes of sub-section 40(2) may make provision in relation to the application of paragraphs 40(1)(a) and 40(1)(b) either generally or in relation to specified legislation.
Three sets of regulations were made under section 116 of the Act to continue, for limited periods after the expiration of 2 years after the commencement of the Act, the application of paragraphs 40(1)(a) and 40(1)(b) of the Act in relation to certain Commonwealth, State and Territory legislation. These are:
• the Sex Discrimination (Operation of Legislation) (No. 1) Regulations which extend the exemptions for certain Commonwealth and Territory legislation;
• the Sex Discrimination (Operation of Legislation) (No. 2) Regulations which extend the exemptions for certain Commonwealth, State and Australian Capital Territory legislation; and
• the Sex Discrimination (Operation of Legislation) (No. 3) Regulations which extend the exemptions for certain legislation of the State of New South Wales.
The Sex Discrimination (Operation of Legislation) (No. 3) Regulations (“the Principal Regulations”) extend the exemption in paragraph 40(1)(a) of the Act in respect of 14 Acts of the State of New South Wales, which are listed in the Schedule to the Principal Regulations, and extend the exemption in paragraph 40(1)(b) of the Act in respect of 3 sets of Regulations made under New South Wales Acts, which are specified in regulation 4 of the Principal Regulations, until 31 January 1987.
These Regulations amend the Principal Regulations. Regulation 2 amends regulation 3 of the Principal Regulations to extend the period of exemption for New South Wales Acts from 31 January 1987 to 31 July 1987. Regulation 3 amends the Schedule to the Principal Regulations by deletion of the Local Government Act, 1919, the Venereal Diseases Act, 1918 and the Workers’ Compensation Act, 1926.
The effect of these amendments is to extend the period of exemption for 11 of the 14 Acts set out in the Schedule to the Principal Regulations from 31 January 1987 to 31 July 1987. This is in response to a request by the Government of New South Wales for further extensions. The regulations have not affected the period of exemption for the regulations made under New South Wales Act which are referred to in regulation 4 of the Principal Regulations. That exemption is expressed to expire on 31 January 1987.