Affirmative Action,Merit and Police Recruitment

For a detailed critique, see Thornton Margaret , The Liberal Promise: Anti-Discrimination Legislation in Australia (1990). See also Gaze Beth , ‘Context and Interpretation in Anti-Discrimination Law’ (2002) 26(2) Melbourne University Law Review 325.

See, eg, Moens Gabriël , Affirmative Action: The New Discrimination, (Centre for Independent Studies, Sydney, 1985).

See, eg, de Kretser Leela , ‘Police Jobs for the Girls’, Herald Sun (Melbourne), 29 April, 2003, 1; Editorial, Herald Sun, 30 April 2003, 20; de Kretser Leela Buttler Mark , ‘Men Just Won't Cop it; Police Quotas Queried’, Herald Sun, 30 April 2003, 11; Opinion , Herald Sun, 2 May 2003, 18; Opinion , Herald Sun, 3 May 2003, 26; Opinion, Herald Sun, 6 May 2003, 18.

Australia ratified ILO Convention No 156: Workers with Family Responsibilities in 1990. In 1992, the ground of family responsibilities was included as a proscribed ground within the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth). All states and territories, except South Australia, now include parental status, or a cognate term, as a ground in their anti-discrimination legislation: Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW) Part 4B; Equal Opportunity Act 1995 (Vic), s 6(1); Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld), s7(1)(d); Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (WA), s 35A; Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 (Tas), s 16(i); Discrimination Act 1991 (ACT), s 7(1)(e); Anti-Discrimination Act 1992 (NT), s 19(1)(g). See also Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Pregnant and Productive (Report of the National Pregnancy and Work Inquiry, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Sydney, 1999); Pocock Barbara , The Work/Life Collision (2003).

Porter Liz , ‘Police Pay Out on Harassment’, The Sunday Age (Melbourne), 18 May 2003, 9; Porter Liz , ‘Force Begins Blitz on “Macho” Police’ and ‘Battling the Brotherhood’, The Sunday Age, 8 June 2003, 1, 13.

See, eg, McKenna v Victoria (1998) EOC ¶92-927 (VADT). The respondent's appeal to the Supreme Court of Victoria was denied: Victoria v McKenna (2000) EOC ¶93-080.

See, eg, Schultz Vicki , ‘Reconceptualizing Sexual Harassment’ (1998) 107 Yale Law Journal 1683; Thornton Margaret , ‘Sexual Harassment Losing Sight of Sex Discrimination’ (2002) 26 MULR 422.

For a discussions of the concept of merit, see Thornton Margaret , ‘Affirmative Action, Merit and the Liberal State’ (1985) 2(2) Australian Journal of Law and Society 28; Burton Clare , Redefining Merit (Affirmative Action Agency Monograph No 2, Canberra, 1988).

Thornton Margaret , ‘Hegemonic Masculinity and the Academy’ (1989) 17 International Journal of the Sociology of Law 115, 122.

Kanter Rosabeth Moss , Men and Women of the Corporation (1977) 68.

See.eg RIOS v Enterprise Association Steamfitters Local 638 501 F2d 622 (2nd Cir 1974); United Steelworkers of America v Weber 443 US 193 (1979).

Andrews v British Columbia [1989] 1 SCR 143; Action Travail des Femmes v Canadian National Railway [1987] SCR 1114.

Johnson v Transportation Agency of Santa Clara 480 US 616 (1987), at 677.

Case C-409/95 Marschall v Land Nordrhein-Westfalen [1997] All ER (EC) 865; Re Badeck and others (Landesanwalt beim Staatsgerichtshof des Landes Hessen and Hessischer [2000] All ER (EC) 289.

Regents of the University of California v Bakke 438 US 265 (1978). This case involved a white man who alleged that, but for his race, he would have been admitted to medical school.

Grutter v Bollinger 2003 US LEXIS 4800. The case involved a white woman who unsuccessfully sought admission to Michigan Law School.

For analysis of the neoliberal turn within which the change occurred, see Thornton Margaret , ‘EEO in a Neo-Liberal Climate’ (2001) 6 Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies 77.

See, eg, Misso v City of Moorabbin (1989) EOC 92-254 (Vic EOB); Wagga Wagga Aboriginal Action Group v Eldridge (1995) ¶92-701 (NSW EOT). See also Thornton Margaret , ‘Remedying Discriminatory Harms in the Workplace’ in Naughton Richard (ed), Workplace Discrimination and the Law (Occasional Monograph Series No 2, Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law, University of Melbourne, 1995).

See Proudfoot v ACT Board of Health (1992) EOC ¶92-417 (HREOC), which involved the now-repealed ‘special measures’ provision, Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth), s 33. For discussion, see Parashar Archana , ‘The Anti-Discrimination Law and the Illusory Promise of Sex Equality’ (1994) 13 University of Tasmania Law Review 83; Morgan Jenny , ‘Equality Rights in the Australian Context: A Feminist Assessment’ in Alston Philip (ed), Towards an Australian Bill of Rights (Centre for International and Public Law, ANU and Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Sydney, 1994).

See Gerhardy v Brown (1985) 159 CLR 70. For discussion, see Sadurski Wojciech , ‘Gerhardy v Brown v The Concept of Discrimination: Reflections on the Landmark Case that Wasn't’ (1986) 11 Sydney Law Review 5.

Hunter notes that almost one-third (9/29) of reported decisions under the Sex Discrimination Act over the last five years arose from complaints initiated by men. See Hunter Rosemary , ‘The Mirage of Justice: Women and the Shrinking State’ (2002) 16 Australian Feminist Law Journal 53, 64.

Victoria Police — Exemption [2000] VCAT 1455 (VCA), <http://austlii.edu.au/au/cases/vic/VCAT/2000/1455.html> at 30 September 2003. On this occasion, an exemption was granted to permit Victoria Police to advertise and employ women in the Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Units in country areas.

See, eg, Bakke above n 15; Grutter above n 16.

See, eg, Pocock , The Work/Life Collision; Williams Joan , Unbending Gender: Why Family and Work Conflict and What to Do about it (2000).

Graycar Adam , ‘Crime in Twentieth Century Australia’, (Centenary Article, Crime and Justice, Year Book of Australia 2002, Australian Bureau of Statistics) <www.abs.gov.au/ausstats> at 30 September 2003.

<http://www.aihw.gov.au.publications/health.ihhac-co2f>.

<http://www.ctsu.ox.ac.uk/pressreleases/50thanniv/Australia_lung_cancer_deaths> at 30 September 2003.

<http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/as.html> at 30 September 2003.

Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2001 Census Basic Community Profile and Snapsho, <www.abs.gov.au> at 30 September 2003.

Rowe Ken , ‘Boys’, Girls‘ Outcomes of Schooling — What really Matters’, Australian College of Education Research (ACER), <http://www.austparents.edu.au/boys_girls.htm> at 30 September 2003.