Commissioner for Equal Opportunity (WA) 

Act: Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (WA).¹

Established: Section 75 creates the office directly — "There shall be a Commissioner for Equal Opportunity who shall be appointed by the Governor." The Commissioner holds office for a period not exceeding seven years as specified in the instrument of appointment, and is eligible for re-appointment.

Purpose: The Commissioner works towards eliminating discrimination on the grounds the Act specifies and eliminating sexual and racial harassment at work, in educational institutions and in connection with accommodation.

Where the authority sits

This is a created statutory office of the plainest kind — the Act says there shall be a Commissioner, and the Governor appoints. It sits at the opposite end of the drafting spectrum from the consumer regulators, several of which are constituted by pointing at a public-service position.

Section 75(4) adds a disqualification worth noticing: a member of the Legislative Council or Legislative Assembly, or of a House of Parliament of another State, a Territory or the Commonwealth, cannot be appointed. Explicit parliamentary disqualification is not universal among statutory office-holders, and where it appears it says something about how the office is meant to sit relative to the political branch.

Powers conferred under the Act

Section 80 frames the general functions by reference to the purposes the Act pursues — eliminating discrimination on grounds including sex, marital status, pregnancy, family responsibility or family status, sexual orientation, race, religious or political conviction, impairment and age, eliminating discrimination against gender reassigned persons on gender history grounds, and eliminating sexual and racial harassment.

For those purposes the Commissioner may carry out investigations, research and inquiries into discrimination or harassment made unlawful by the Act, and acquire and disseminate knowledge on those matters. The functions are investigative and educative rather than adjudicative: the Commissioner does not determine complaints.

The complaint pathway

Section 83 is where most students will meet the office. A complaint alleging a contravention of the Act — other than one for which a specific penalty is imposed — may be lodged in writing with the Commissioner by a person on their own behalf, or by two or more persons on their own behalf or on behalf of others.

Two features matter in practice:

• A complaint may be lodged as an ordinary complaint or as a representative complaint.
• It must be lodged within 12 months after the relevant date.

Determination sits with the State Administrative Tribunal rather than the Commissioner, and the Act also allows a complaint about a refusal, neglect or failure to comply with a Tribunal order.

Is it a prosecuting authority?

No. The Commissioner investigates, educates and receives complaints; the Tribunal determines them. Where the Act imposes a specific penalty for a contravention, s 83 expressly puts that outside the complaint pathway — which is a useful signal that the Act separates its penal provisions from its complaint-handling machinery.

Self-check

• Have I checked the 12-month limit in s 83 before advising that a complaint is available?
• Have I distinguished the Commissioner's investigative role from the Tribunal's determinative one?
• Have I confirmed the ground relied on is one the Act actually lists, rather than assuming it matches another jurisdiction's?