Social justice
The Hawke Government agreed to ratify the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, subject to reservations that the private sector could not afford paid maternity leave and women would not be permitted to take combat roles in the armed services. It also agreed to proceed with a Sex Discrimination Bill (enacted in 1984) on the basis of a bill introduced into the Senate in 1981 by Senator Susan Ryan. In July Senator Ryan proposed that the National Women's Advisory Council be phased out and that instead, women should liaise with government though the female members of the ALP Caucus; Cabinet decided that Senator Ryan and the Prime Minister should devise new broad-based consultative arrangements for women. In October 1983 Attorney-General Gareth Evans briefed Cabinet on a proposed Bill of Rights. He noted that Australia had ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1980 and that the ALP election platform included a commitment to a judicially enforceable Bill of Rights. The Whitlam Government had introduced a Human Rights Bill in 1973, but it had lapsed in 1974, and the Fraser Government had legislated for the Human Rights Commission with a narrower jurisdiction in 1981. Evans believed that the approach to a Bill of Rights most likely to be accepted would be one based on 'rules of construction', which could be applied by courts and tribunals in the interpretation of other laws. Cabinet agreed in principle to the introduction of a Bill of Rights and to the strengthening of human rights and racial discrimination legislation.
Selected documents
| Series title | Date range | Series number | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | [Hawke] Submission 51, 7 April 1983, Sex Discrimination Bill | 1983 | A13977, 51 |
| [Hawke] Submission 327, 25 July 1983, New arrangements for consultation with women | 1983 | A13977, 327 |
| [Hawke] Submission 456, 30 September 1983, Proposed human rights legislation package | 1983 | A13977, 456 |
