By Elle Morrell
MELBOURNE — It was reported in the establishment media as a shock. However, Moira Rayner, Victoria's equal opportunity commissioner, had been expecting something since July. Her sacking by the Kennett government on October 26 is obviously politically motivated. Rayner has been outspoken on many issues, never hesitating to criticise government policy and hold the government accountable for its actions.
The government claims that it plans to make the EO system "more accountable and efficient" by replacing Rayner with a five-member Commission of Equal Opportunity.
Rayner took a strong stand against plans to close Fairlea women's prison and transfer inmates to the Jika Jika high-security unit at Pentridge. She referred to this as a case for taking the government to the Equal Opportunity Commission. She also commented on a 64% increase in complaints to the commission as a result of the rapid change to employment contracts and other Kennett government industrial changes.
The changes to the EO Commission are a radical change to the way the whole EO system. Rayner says: "Ultimately it's not important whether the act is administered by one particular person ... It is fundamentally important that the remedies that the act provides are accessible to ordinary people who believe their rights to equal participation in life have been abused or denied."
The Kennett government plans to make the individual responsible for the costs of legal proceedings if a case fails — $60,000 to $70,000 in most cases. This will be a huge disincentive for ordinary people to challenge injustices inflicted upon them.
In an article in the October 28 Age, Rayner gave an example of how the new system would operate: "Earlier this year one brave woman tried, and failed, to prove that shutting down a school was indirectly discriminatory against boys. She did it alone: on the respondent's side I saw a Queen's counsel, junior barrister, two instructing solicitors, a representative of the Victorian Government Solicitor, and sometimes several officers employed by that department. She obtained legal help half way through the hearing, but the case failed.
"If she were to fail today, under the amendments, she would be liable, personally to pay the Government's costs of legal representation, the quality and quantity of which she could never provide for her own case. It would have cost tens of thousands of dollars."
Other changes include time limits for complaint-handling, power for the attorney general to prevent conciliation from being tried and restriction of the board's power to make interim orders.
At short notice a rally was called here on October 28 to show people's anger at the dramatic changes taking place. Among the speakers was John Brumby, the state opposition leader, who equated the long list of people the Kennett government have sacked because they disagree with his policies with the situation under the Joh Bjelke-Petersen government in Queensland in the 1980s.
Brumby didn't mention the fact that when Labor was in government last year it did not increase funding or resources to the Equal Opportunity Commission despite a rise in complaints. The same number of staff that in 1987 handled 268 complaints last year handled 1128.