Marking 50 years of the Racial Discrimination Act: the fight to embed equality in Australian law

Azadeh Dastyari; Cassandra Le Good

doi:10.1177/1037969X251388661

Marking 50 years of the Racial Discrimination Act: the fight to embed equality in Australian law

Azadeh Dastyari
, Cassandra Le Good

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

The year 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) (RDA), Australia’s first federal anti-discrimination law. While now regarded as a foundational part of Australia’s human rights framework, the RDA was the product of a protracted and contested legislative process. Its passage required confronting legal uncertainty, and ideological division over race, rights, and the role of international law. This article revisits that journey, focusing on the Whitlam government’s efforts to implement the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the broader vision of democratic reform it pursued. It examines how the RDA was shaped through compromise and perseverance, by reflecting on the debates that surrounded its passage. The history of the RDA shows principled legal reform is both possible and essential for a more just and inclusive society.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	243-248
Number of pages	6
Journal	Alternative law journal
Volume	50
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/1037969X251388661
Publication status	Published - Dec 2025

Open Access - Access Right Statement

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities
SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Keywords

human rights
legislative history
race issues
Racial discrimination
racism
Whitlam

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10.1177/1037969X251388661Licence: CC BY-NC

Full textFinal published version, 506 KBLicence: CC BY-NC

Cite this

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Marking 50 years of the Racial Discrimination Act: the fight to embed equality in Australian law

Abstract

Open Access - Access Right Statement

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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