The Racial Discrimination Act at 50

This two-day symposium brings together leading experts from Australia and abroad to reflect on fifty years of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975. Organised by ANU Emerita Professor Margaret Thornton FASSA FAAL and Distinguished Professor Asmi Wood, the program features speakers from ANU, Monash, UNSW, the University of Sydney, and the University of Helsinki.

Please ensure you register for the respective sessions if you wish to attend in person. 

Please ensure you register for the online session if you wish to attend virtually. We will circulate the Zoom link 2 days in advance. 

Thursday 11 September

10-10.30am: Coffee and registration

10.30-10.45am: Welcome

10.45am-12pm: SESSION I: CONSTITUTIONALISM

Distinguished Professor Asmi Wood, Australian National University: Constitutional Racism: The RDA’s limited protections for Indigenous peoples

Associate Professor Hannah McGlade, Curtin University & Professor Megan Davis AC, University of New South Wales: The Racial Discrimination Act and Constitutional recognition: How the RDA has shaped and will continue to shape First Nations thinking about future meaningful constitutional recognition

12-1pm: SESSION 2: LEGISLATION

Associate Professor Harry Hobbs, University of New South Wales: The Racial Discrimination Act: Impetus or Guardrails for Treaty Negotiations? (online)

Associate Professor Sarah Moulds, University of South Australia: Direct and indirect scrutiny of race, racial discrimination and human rights by parliamentary committees in the Australian Parliament

1-2pm: Lunch

2-3.30pm: SESSION 3: IMAGES OF MULTICULTURALISM 

Dr Liz Allen, Australian National University: Has the Racial Discrimination Act delivered on Multiculturalism?

John Curtin Distinguished Professor Emerita Suvendrini Perera, Curtin University: The question of the refugee

Professor Dorota Gozdecka, University of Helsinki: Visual Representation, Legal Subjectivity and Access to Justice under the RDA (online)

3.30-4pm: Afternoon tea

4-5.30pm: SESSION 4: THE LIMITS OF EQUALITY

Professor Emeritus Simon Rice, University of Sydney: The potential of section 10, a justiciable human rights provision

Dr Bill Swannie, Australian Catholic University: The Invisibility of Race in the Debate concerning Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act

Professor Beth Goldblatt, University of Technology Sydney & Associate Professor Cristy Clarke, University of Canberra: Adapting the Racial Discrimination Act to a changing climate?

7pm:  Dinner

Friday 12 September

10-10.30am: Morning tea

10.30-12pm: SESSION 5: RACE AND EMPLOYMENT

Associate Professor Jennifer Nielsen, Southern Cross University: Fifty years of racism – will it ever have to go away?

Dr Will Sanders & Dr Francis Markham, Australian National University: Entwined Histories: The Racial Discrimination Act and Remote Indigenous Employment Policy

Professor Dominique Allen, Monash University: Litigating Racial Discrimination Claims: Analysing Recent Trends and Outcomes

12-1pm: SESSION 6: INTERSECTIONALITY

Assistant Professor Alice Taylor, Bond University: Beyond Formal Equality: Reconsidering Fisher v Commonwealth Through an Intersectional Lens of Race, Age, and Life Expectancy.

Emerita Professor Margaret Thornton, Australian National University: Race, Feminism and Class: Exploring Intersectionality Discrimination.  

1-2pm: Lunch

2-3pm: Wind-up, publication and future steps

3-3.30pm: Afternoon tea