Have your say on NSW’s anti-discrimination laws

Wednesday, 18 June 2025

Members of the community have the chance to help shape a more inclusive NSW, with the NSW Law Reform Commission (NSWLRC) inviting feedback as part of its review of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW) (ADA).

The NSWLRC has released a consultation paper, focusing on conduct prohibited by the ADA, including discrimination, vilification, sexual harassment and victimisation.

It explains the ADA and outlines some concerns and ideas the NSWLRC has heard from the community and in its research.

To encourage feedback from across NSW’s diverse communities, the NSWLRC has also produced:

• a community summary, which provides a more concise and less technical summary of the consultation paper, and
• an Easy Read consultation paper, which uses simple language and pictures to help make information easier to understand.  

These set out key issues about the ADA, including:

• what conduct should be unlawful, and when
• who should be protected
• who should be held responsible for unlawful conduct
• when exceptions are appropriate, and
• whether the ADA should do more to promote substantive equality.

Three ways to have your say on the ADA:

• respond to the NSWLRC’s community survey
• make a submission in response to the issues and questions raised in the consultation paper, or
• answer the questions in the Easy Read consultation paper.

Advocates and people with lived experience of discrimination or other unlawful treatment are encouraged to provide feedback. This includes women and girls, Aboriginal people, people with disability, and those from multicultural backgrounds and faith groups.

In 2023 the Attorney General requested the NSWLRC to review the ADA, asking it to consider whether the legislation could be modernised and simplified to better promote the equal enjoyment of rights and reflect contemporary community standards. Terms of reference set out the full scope of the review.

Feedback from the public will help the NSWLRC develop its recommendations to the NSW Government.

For more information about the ADA review and to have your say, visit the NSWLRC website. Submissions close on 15 August 2025.