Complaint statistics - Annual Report 2009-2010: Australian Human Rights Commission

Complaint statistics

Complaint Information Service

Table 1: Website enquiries

Complaint Handling Section webpage views	314 006

Table 2: Telephone, TTY, Email, in-person and written enquiries received

Enquiry type	Total
Telephone	16 178
TTY	18
Email	2 947
In-person	85
Written	740
Total	19 968

Table 3: Enquiries received by issue

Issue	Total
Total*	25 837
Race	2 829
Race – racial hatred	632
Sex – direct	820
Sexual harassment	1 125
Sex – marital status, family responsibilities, parental status, carers responsibilities, breast feeding	324
Sex – pregnancy	679
Sexual preference, transgender, homosexuality, lawful sexual activity	176
Disability – impairment	3 152
Disability – HIV/AIDS/Hepatitis	107
Disability – workers compensation	160
Disability – mental health	569
Disability – intellectual/learning disability	200
Disability – maltreatment/negligence	50
Disability – physical feature	347
Age – too young	194
Age – too old	527
Age – compulsory retirement	10
Criminal record/conviction	293
Political opinion	24
Religion/religious organisations	265
Employment – personality conflicts/favouritism	146
Employment – union/industrial activity	83
Employment – unfair dismissal/other industrial issues	3 284
Employment – workplace bullying	2 036
Human rights – children	96
Human rights – civil, political, economic, social	855
Immigration – detention centres	91
Immigration – visas	237
Prisons/prisoners	185
Police	275
Court – family court	161
Court – other law matters	244
Privacy – data protection	116
Neighbourhood disputes	61
Advertising	30
Local government – administration	78
State government – administration	493
Federal government – administration	543
Other	4 340

* One enquiry may have multiple issues

Table 4: Enquiries received by State/Territory of origin

State of origin	Total	Percentage
Total	19 968	100
New South Wales	5 202	26
Victoria	4 289	21
South Australia	1 763	9
Western Australia	1 075	5
Queensland	3 314	17
Australian Capital Territory	332	2
Tasmania	434	2
Northern Territory	317	2
Unknown/overseas	3 242	16

Complaints overview

Table 5: Complaints received and finalised over the past five years

	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10
Received	1 397	1 779	2 077	2 253	2 517
Finalised	1 205	1 656	1 883	2 354	2 426

Table 6: Outcomes of complaints finalised over the past five years

	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10
Terminated/declined	44	48	39	34	32
Conciliated	39	38	48	48	50
Withdrawn	16	14	13	18	13
Discontinued*	—	—	—	—	5
Reported (AHRCA only)	1	—	—	—	—

* Complaints finalised under new statutory provision – 46 PF(5)(a) – Satisfied that complainant does not want inquiry to continue.

Table 7: Complaints received by State/Territory of complainant

State of origin	Total	Percentage
Total	2 517	100
New South Wales	903	36
Victoria	499	20
South Australia	221	9
Western Australia	230	9
Queensland	495	20
Australian Capital Territory	83	3
Tasmania	35	1
Northern Territory	23	1
Unknown/overseas	28	1

Table 8: Complaints received and finalised by Act

Act	Received	Finalised
Total	2 517	2 426
Racial Discrimination Act (RDA)	550	524
Sex Discrimination Act (SDA)	532	568
Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)	1 057	978
Age Discrimination Act (ADA)	174	162
Australian Human Rights Commission Act (AHRCA)	204	194

Table 9: Complaints received by Act over the past five years

	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10
Total	1 397	1 779	2 077	2 253	2 517
Racial Discrimination Act	259	250	376	396	550
Sex Discrimination Act	347	472	438	547	532
Disability Discrimination Act	561	802	988	980	1 057
Age Discrimination Act	106	106	126	151	174
Australian Human Rights Commission Act	124	149	149	179	204

Table 10: Country of birth – complainants

	RDA	SDA	DDA	ADA	AHRCA (%)	Total
Born in Australia	49	49	52	70	35	50
Born outside of Australia	38	14	16	14	28	21
Unknown/unspecified	13	37	32	16	37	29

Table 11: Indigenous status – complainants

	RDA	SDA	DDA	ADA	AHRCA	Total
Aboriginal	39	3	2	0.5	3	10
Torres Strait Islander	—	—	—	—	—	—
None of the above	61	97	98	99.5	97	90

Table 12: Time from receipt to finalisation for finalised complaints

	RDA	SDA	DDA	ADA	AHRCA	Cumulative Total (%)
0–6 months	75	65	53	70	64	63
6–9 months	89	81.5	79	89.5	86	83
9–12 months	98	94.5	95	96	98	96
More than 12 months	100	100	100	100	100	100

Racial Discrimination Act

Table 13: Racial Discrimination Act – complaints received and finalised

	Total
Received	550
Finalised	524

Table 14: Racial Discrimination Act – complaints received by ground

Racial Discrimination Act	Total	Percentage
Total*	922	100
Colour	54	6
National origin/extraction	38	4
Ethnic origin	76	8
Descent	4	0.5
Race	536	58
Victimisation	17	2
Racial hatred	166	18
Aids, permits or instructs	3	0.5
Association	7	1
Immigrant	21	2

* One complaint may have multiple grounds

Table 15: Racial Discrimination Act – complaints received by area

Racial Discrimination Act	Total	Percentage
Total*	922	100
Rights to equality before the law	—
Access to places and facilities	11	1
Land, housing, other accommodation	20	2
Provision of goods and services	169	18
Right to join trade unions	—	—
Employment	409	44
Advertisements	—	—
Education	18	2
Incitement to unlawful acts	4	1
Other – section 9	121	13
Racial hatred	170	19

*An area is recorded for each ground, so one complaint may have multiple and different areas.

Table 16: Racial hatred complaints received by sub-area

Racial Discrimination Act	Total	Percentage
Total	151	100
Media – press/TV/radio	37	24
Disputes between neighbours	14	9
Personal conflict	8	5
Employment	23	15
Racist propaganda	1	1
Internet – e-mail/webpage/chat room	51	34
Entertainment	—	—
Sport	1	1
Public debate	—	—
Provision of goods and services	12	8
Other	4	3

Table 17: Racial Discrimination Act – outcomes of finalised complaints

Racial Discrimination Act	Total
Total	524
Terminated	143
At complainants request – s.46PE	—
Not unlawful	1
More than 12 months old	9
Trivial, vexatious, frivolous, misconceived, lacking in substance	36
Adequately dealt with already	—
More appropriate remedy available	—
Subject matter of public importance	—
No reasonable prospect of conciliation	97
Discontinued*	32
Withdrawn	66
Conciliated	245
Administrative closure**	38

* Finalised under new statutory provision – 46 PF(5)(a) – Satisfied that complainant does not want inquiry to continue.

** Not an aggrieved party, state complaint previously lodged.</>

Sex Discrimination Act

Table 18: Sex Discrimination Act – complaints received and finalised

Sex Discrimination Act	Total
Received	532
Finalised	568

Table 19: Sex Discrimination Act – complaints received by sex of complainant

Sex Discrimination Act	Total	Percentages
Total	532	100
Female	418	79
Male	101	19
Other category*	13	2

* Includes intersex, sex not specified, joint/multiple and individual/organisation on behalf of other.

Table 20: Sex Discrimination Act – complaints received by ground

Sex Discrimination Act	Total	Percentages
Total*	968	100
Sex discrimination	434	45
Marital status	30	3
Pregnancy	202	21
Sexual harassment	201	21
Parental status/ family responsibility	62	6
Victimisation	37	4
Aids, permits, instructs	2	—

* One complaint may have multiple grounds.

Table 21: Sex Discrimination Act – complaints received by area

Sex Discrimination Act	Total	Percentage
Total*	968	100
Employment	854	88
Goods, services and facilities	70	7
Land	—	—
Accommodation	—	—
Superannuation, insurance	2	—
Education	24	3
Clubs	1	—
Administration of Commonwealth laws and programs	16	2
Application forms etc	—	—
Trade unions, accrediting bodies	1	—

* An area is recorded for each ground, so one complaint may have multiple and different areas.

Table 22: Sex Discrimination Act – outcomes of finalised complaints

Sex Discrimination Act	Total
Total	568
Terminated	160
At complainants request – s.46PE	1
Not unlawful	1
More than 12 months old	1
Trivial, vexatious, frivolous, misconceived, lacking in substance	20
Adequately dealt with already	2
More appropriate remedy available	2
Subject matter of public importance	—
No reasonable prospect of conciliation	133
Discontinued*	36
Withdrawn	61
Conciliated	275
Administrative closure**	36

* Finalised under new statutory provision – 46 PF(5)(a) – Satisfied that complainant does not want inquiry to continue.

** Not an aggrieved party, state complaint previously lodged.

Disability Discrimination Act

Table 23: Disability Discrimination Act – complaints received and finalised

Disability Discrimination Act	Total
Received	1 057
Finalised	978

Table 24: Nature of complainant’s disability

Disability Discrimination Act	Total	Percentage
Total*	1 173	100
Physical disability	220	19
A mobility aid is used (e.g. walking frame or wheelchair)	124	10.5
Physical disfigurement	16	1
Presence in the body of organisms causing disease (e.g. HIV/AIDS)	7	0.5
Presence in the body of organisms causing disease (other)	14	1
Psychiatric disability	178	15
Neurological disability (e.g. epilepsy)	70	6
Intellectual disability	44	4
Learning disability	54	5
Sensory disability (hearing impaired)	48	4
Sensory disability (deaf)	58	5
Sensory disability (vision impaired)	46	4
Sensory disability (blind)	19	2
Work-related injury	110	9
Medical condition (e.g. diabetes)	93	8
Other	72	6

* One complainant may have multiple disabilities.

Table 25: Disability Discrimination Act – complaints received by ground

Disability Discrimination Act	Total	Percentage
Total*	2 354	100
Disability of person(s) aggrieved	2 182	93
Associate	71	3
Disability – person assisted by trained animal	49	2
Disability – accompanied by assistant	5	—
Disability – use of appliance	10	1
Harassment	6	—
Victimisation	24	1
Aids, permits or instructs	7	—

* One complaint may have multiple grounds.

Table 26: Disability Discrimination Act – complaints received by area

Disability Discrimination Act	Total	Percentage
Total*	2 354	100
Employment	859	36
Goods, services and facilities	865	37
Access to premises	67	3
Land	—	—
Accommodation	35	1
Incitement to unlawful acts or offences	—	—
Advertisements	—	—
Superannuation, insurance	22	1
Education	207	9
Clubs, incorporated associations	52	2
Administration of Commonwealth laws and programs	42	2
Sport	3	—
Application forms, requests for information	—	—
Trade unions, registered organisations	—	—
Unlawful to contravene Disability Standard	202	9

* An area is recorded for each ground, so one complaint may have multiple and different areas.

Table 27: Disability Discrimination Act – outcomes of finalised complaints

Disability Discrimination Act	Total
Total	978
Terminated	330
At complainants request – s.46PE	—
Not unlawful	11
More than 12 months old	7
Trivial, vexatious, frivolous, misconceived, lacking in substance	50
Adequately dealt with already	5
More appropriate remedy available	4
Subject matter of public importance	—
No reasonable prospect of conciliation	253
Discontinued*	33
Withdrawn	109
Conciliated	486
Administrative closure**	20

* Finalised under new statutory provision – 46 PF(5)(a) – Satisfied that complainant does not want inquiry to continue.

** Not an aggrieved party, state complaint previously

Age Discrimination Act

Table 28: Age Discrimination Act – complaints received and finalised

Age Discrimination Act	Total
Received	174
Finalised	162

Table 29: Age Discrimination Act – age group of complainant

Age Discrimination Act	Total	Percentage
Total	174	100
0 – 14 years	4	2
15 – 24 years	20	12
25 – 34 years	13	7
35 – 44 years	18	10
45 – 54 years	41	24
55 – 64 years	40	23
> 65 years	33	19
Unknown	5	3

Table 30: Age Discrimination Act – complaints received by area

Age Discrimination Act	Total	Percentage
Total*	290	100
Employment	189	65
Goods, services and facilities	73	25
Access to premises	1	0.5
Land	—	—
Accommodation	3	1
Incitement to unlawful acts or offences	—	—
Advertisements	—	—
Superannuation, insurance	11	4
Education	4	1.5
Clubs, incorporated associations	—	—
Administration of Commonwealth laws and programs	9	3
Sport	—	—
Application forms, requests for information	—	—
Trade unions, registered organisations	—	—

* One complaint may have multiple and different areas.

Table 31: Age Discrimination Act – outcomes of finalised complaints

Age Discrimination Act	Total
Total	162
Terminated	56
At complainants request – s.46PE	—
Not unlawful	7
More than 12 months old	1
Trivial, vexatious, frivolous, misconceived, lacking in substance	14
Adequately dealt with already	—
More appropriate remedy available	—
Subject matter of public importance	—
No reasonable prospect of conciliation	34
Discontinued*	3
Withdrawn	23
Conciliated	75
Administrative closure**	5

* Finalised under new statutory provision – 46 PF(5)(a) – Satisfied that complainant does not want inquiry to continue.

** Not an aggrieved party, state complaint previously lodged

Australian Human Rights Commission Act

Table 32: AHRCA – complaints received and finalised

Australian Human Rights Commission Act	Total
Received	204
Finalised	194

Table 33: AHRCA – complaints received by ground

Australian Human Rights Commission Act	Total	Percentage
Total*	220	100
Race (ILO 111)	—	—
Colour (ILO 111)	—	—
Sex (ILO 111)	—	—
Religion (ILO 111)	21	9.5
Political opinion (ILO 111)	1	0.5
National extraction (ILO 111)	—	—
Social origin (ILO 111)	1	0.5
Age (ILO 111)	—	—
Medical record (ILO 111)	—	—
Criminal record (ILO 111)	67	30.5
Impairment (including HIV/AIDS status) (ILO 111)	—	—
Marital status (ILO 111)	—	—
Disability (ILO 111)	2	1
Nationality (ILO 111)	—	—
Sexual preference (ILO 111)	19	9
Trade union activity (ILO 111)	14	6
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights	78	35.5
Declaration on the Rights of the Child	—	—
Declaration on the Rights of Mentally Retarded Persons	—	—
Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons	1	0.5
Convention on the Rights of the Child	5	2
Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief	1	0.5
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities	9	4
Not a ground within jurisdiction	—	—
Not a human right as defined by the Act	1	0.5

*One complaint may have multiple grounds.

Table 34: AHRCA – complaints received by area

Australian Human Rights Commission Act	Total	Percentage
Total*	220	100
Acts or practices of the Commonwealth	94	43
Employment	125	57
Not act or practice of the Commonwealth (not employment cases)	1	—

* An area is recorded for each ground, so one complaint may have multiple and different areas.

Table 35: AHRCA – non-employment complaints received by sub-area

Australian Human Rights Commission Act	Total	Percentage
Total	95	100
Prisons, prisoner	3	3
Religious institutions	—	—
Family court matters	—	—
Other law court matters	—	—
Immigration	60	63
Law enforcement agency	1	1
State agency	1	1
Other service provider (private sector)	—	—
Local government	—	—
Education systems	4	4
Welfare systems	6	7
Personal or neighbourhood conflict	—	—
Health system	2	2
Other	18	19

Table 36: AHRCA – Outcomes of finalised complaints

Australian Human Rights Commission Act	Total
Total	194
Declined	92
Does not constitute discrimination	14
Human rights breach, not inconsistent or contrary to any human right	6
More than 12 months old	1
Trivial, vexatious, frivolous, misconceived, lacking in substance	24
Adequately dealt with already	3
More appropriate remedy available	4
Withdrawn, does not wish to pursue, advised the Commission	40
Withdrawn, does not wish to pursue, settled outside the Commission	—
Withdrawn or lost contact	—
Conciliated	89
Referred for reporting*	10
Administrative closure**	3

*Complaints in this category were not conciliable and therefore transferred from the Commission’s Complaint Handling Section to the Legal Section for further inquiry and possible reporting.

**Not an aggrieved party, state complaint previously lodged.