Appendices 3 - Annual Report 2011-2012: Australian Human Rights Commission

Appendices

Appendix 3 – Complaint statistics

Enquiries and complaints received

In 2011–12 the Commission received 17 047 enquiries and 2 610 complaints. This is the highest number of complaints received over the past 10 years and 21% higher than the number of complaints received in the previous reporting year.

• 37% of complaints were lodged under the Disability Discrimination Act
• 19% of complaints were lodged under the Sex Discrimination Act
• 18% of complaints were lodged under the Racial Discrimination Act
• 18% of complaints were lodged under the Australian Human Rights Commission Act
• 8% of complaints were lodged under the Age Discrimination Act.

Conciliation of complaints

Of the complaints finalised in 2011–12, 48% were conciliated. Of those matters where conciliation
was attempted, 66% were able to be resolved.

Complaints under the Australian Human Rights Commission Act had the highest conciliation rate (54%) and the highest conciliation success rate (88%).

Complaints under the Age Discrimination Act had a conciliation rate of 48% and a conciliation success rate of 69%.

Complaints under the Racial Discrimination Act had a 48% conciliation rate and a conciliation success rate of 63%.

Complaints under the Disability Discrimination Act had a 48% conciliation rate and a conciliation success rate of 62%

Complaints under the Sex Discrimination Act had a conciliation rate of 43% and a conciliation success rate of 60%.

Demographic data

Information on the geographical location and ethnicity of complainants is provided in Tables 7, 10 and 11.

Demographic data obtained during the complaint process indicates that 53% of complaints were lodged by individual males, 45% by individual females and 2% by other categories. Other categories include intersex, sex not specified, joint/multiple complainants and organisations on behalf of others.

Where referral source was identified, 61% of complainants reported that they knew about the Commission prior to lodging their complaint. The other main identified referral sources were the internet (9%), family members or friends (8%), a government agency (5%) and specialist advocacy agencies such as advocacy agencies for people with disabilities, women or Indigenous Australians (4%).

The majority of complainants (65%) indicated that their main source of income at the time of the alleged act was from a form of employment. Of this group, 79% indicated they were in full or part time permanent employment, 17% were engaged in casual, contract or outwork and 4% were self employed.

Approximately 33% of complainants said they were represented at the beginning of the complaint process and 40% of these complainants said they were represented by privately funded solicitors. Other forms of representation were other advocate groups, such as working women’s centres or disability advocacy services (21%), community legal centres, such as Indigenous or disability legal services (16%), family members or friends (16%) and trade unions or professional associations (6%).

In 2010–11, the main respondent organisations to complaints were private enterprise (48%), Commonwealth departments/statutory authorities (22%) and State departments/statutory authorities (16%). These have been the main respondent organisation categories for a number of years. There has been a significant increase in complaints against the Commonwealth which is indicative of the increased number of complaints received this year relating to immigration and immigration detention.

Complaint Information Service

Table 3: Website enquiires

Complaint information webpage views	328 343

Table 4: Telephone, TTY, Email, in-person and written enquiries received

Enquiry type	Total
Telephone	12 668
TTY	8
Email	3 643
In-person	106
Written	622
Total	17 047

Table 5: Enquiries received by issue  

Issue	Total
Race	1 705
Race – racial hatred	582
Sex	747
Sexual harassment	882
Sex – marital status, family responsibilities, parental status, carers responsibilities, breastfeeding	389
Sex – pregnancy	423
Transgender, intersex	11
Sexual preference	160
Disability	2 437
Disability – HIV/AIDS/hepatitis	27
Disability – workers compensation	198
Disability – mental health	722
Disability – intellectual/learning disability	261
Disability – maltreatment/negligence	33
Disability – physical feature	595
Age	97
Age – too young	133
Age – too old	786
Age – compulsory retirement	7
Criminal record/conviction	290
Political opinion	21
Religion	224
Employment – bullying and harassment	1 311
Employment – dismissal	1 710
Employment – personality conflict/favouritism	162
Employment – union activity	79
Employment – work conditions	324
Human rights – children	111
Human rights – civil, political, economic, social	786
Immigration – detention centres	802
Immigration – visas	520
Human rights – other	156
Prisons/prisoners	179
Police	292
Court/tribunal proceedings	366
Privacy	99
Neighbourhood disputes	69
Advertising	24
Local government	99
State government	653
Federal government	902
Other	3 498
Total*	22 872

* One enquiry may have multiple issues

 

 

Racial Discrimination Act

 

 

* One complaint may have multiple grounds.