https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/employers/workplace-discrimination-and-harassment-policy-template

Cultural diversity guidance resource (PDF, 372kb). 

The Law Society of NSW recognises that creating an environment where every person, regardless of their background, has opportunities and support to reach their professional potential can result in better outcomes for the community at large, and better business outcomes for the profession.

The Law Society’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, cultural diversity guidance encourages workplaces to actively consider their recommendations towards improving cultural diversity in the legal profession.

https://creativeequitytoolkit.org/

The Creative Equity Toolkit provides an action-oriented approach to increasing cultural diversity in the arts. It is a project run by Diversity Arts Australia and the British Council.

The site features dozens of implementable actions, from simple to complex, along with hundreds of links to tools and resources developed around the world to help put these actions into practice.

Internationally there are remarkable differences in how arts organisations approach the question of diversity. This site brings together ideas, research and best practice from around the world into one place. The Creative Equity Toolkit has extracted the solutions and recommendations from research and case studies, and provided short introductions to key concepts to help inform debate.

Ten steps you can take to create a fair and productive workplace resource

This guide from the Australian Human Rights Commission provides employers with ten practical and effective steps to create a fair and productive workplace.

Australian Human Rights Commission guide to preventing discrimination during the recruitment process (opens in new window).

Employers recruit in different ways. Some may use in-house human resources personnel; others may hire a recruitment agent to short-list the applicants and help select the successful candidate.

If you use your own staff to recruit, you must make sure they are aware of their obligations under the law and are dedicated to a fair process.

If you use a recruitment agent, you must make sure the agent is aware of their legal obligations when it comes to discrimination.

Link to factsheet 

Guide to discrimination laws.

There are federal, state and territory laws in Australia to protect people from discrimination and harassment.

The Australian Human Rights Commission has statutory responsibilities under the Age Discrimination Act 2004, Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986, Disability Discrimination Act 1992, Racial Discrimination Act 1975, and the Sex Discrimination Act 1984.

In addition to the federal legislation, each state and territory in Australia has equal opportunity and anti-discrimination agencies, with statutory responsibilities.

Commonwealth laws and the state/territory laws generally overlap.

However, the laws apply in different ways and employers must comply with all legislation.

Employers also need to check the exemptions and exceptions in Commonwealth and state or territory legislation.

An exemption or exception under one Act does not mean employers are exempt under another Act.

Link to workplace bullying, discrimination and harassment resource.

Link to Women of Colour's workplace survey report.

This landmark survey collects the experiences of diverse women of colour in Australian workplaces.

A total of 543 women of colour completed the survey, with 7% identifying as being Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

Most respondents (70%) were between 25 and 34 and 70% worked full-time. Questions were not mandatory, so some questions had fewer answers than others. The women reported being employed in more than 250 different roles, and those who did not identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander had heritage from more than 60 different nations.

Most of the women who responded had experienced discrimination in the workplace (60%) while 40% had not. While 30% believed their identity as a woman of colour was valued in the workplace, 43 % did not, and the remainder answered “maybe”.

Most respondents (57%) felt they had faced challenges in the workplace related to their identity as a woman of colour, while 21% did not believe so and the remainder were unsure (answered ‘maybe’). While 59 % said their workplace had a diversity and inclusion policy, 22% said it did not, and the remainder were unsure.

The majority of respondents (57.61%) said the leader of their organisation was a man, not a person of colour, followed by a woman, not a person of colour, (25.63%) with just over 2% saying they were the organisation’s leader and 6.58% saying the leader was a woman of colour.

Many of the women responding named ‘mentoring’ as a key need for future development in their careers, and other suggestions included networking, counselling, and structural change.

Link to resource (PDF, 803KB).

The guide is part of the Law Society’s work in promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace. It contains practical tools that can assist legal practices in NSW to identify and eliminate discriminatory recruitment and employment practices. The guide provides helpful insights to enable law firms and other organisations to engage in best practice to promote a truly diverse and fair workplace.