Function 1

Function 1: The Commissioner must foster and encourage amongst members of the public informed and unprejudiced attitudes with a view to eliminating discrimination in the grounds to which this Act applies

Training and education

	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Total – participants	742	302	238	458	304
Total – sessions	44	31	20	39	20

Note: From 1 July 2021 the OCEO no longer delivered training directly to the public.
In 2021-22 the number of training sessions delivered only includes sessions delivered by partner training providers.

Matters received

	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
No. of enquiries received	570	566	607	659	647
% difference from previous year	-5%	-1%	7%	9%	-2%

	2017-18		2018-19		2019-20		2020-21		2021-22
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Telephone	426	73%	401	71%	390	64%	427	65%	460	71%
Email	88	15%	85	15%	152	25%	220	33%	170	26%
Online form	40	7%	59	10%	9	1%	2	0%	9	1%
Letter	4	1%	3	1%	3	0%	4	1%	8	1%
In person	22	4%	18	3%	51	8%	4	1%	0	0%
Hardcopy form	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	2	0%	0	0%
Facebook	0	0%	0	0%	2	0%	0	0%	0	0%

Total	580	100%	566	100%	607	100%	659	100%	647	100%

	2017-18		2018-19		2019-20		2020-21		2021-22
Disability	141	22%	163	27%	176	27%	154	21%	230	34%
Race	68	11%	54	9%	61	10%	74	10%	42	6%
Age	34	5%	38	6%	20	3%	43	6%	32	5%
Sexual harassment	40	6%	35	6%	49	8%	41	6%	22	3%
Sex	50	8%	43	7%	31	5%	39	5%	15	2%
Caring responsibilities	19	3%	26	4%	16	2%	14	2%	14	2%
Pregnancy	15	2%	15	2%	15	2%	15	2%	12	2%
Gender identity	7	1%	2	0%	2	0%	14	2%	6	1%
Victimisation	19	3%	14	2%	13	2%	21	3%	5	1%
Sexual orientation	8	1%	6	1%	5	1%	16	2%	4	1%
Religious appearance or dress	7	1%	0	0%	9	1%	5	1%	2	0%
Marital status	2	0%	4	1%	1	0%	2	0%	2	0%
Association with a child	1	0%	2	0%	2	0%	4	1%	1	0%
Intersex status	0	0%	0	0%	3	0%	2	0%	0	0%
Identity of spouse or partner	4	1%	1	0%	1	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Enquiries with no grounds under Equal Opportunity Act 1984	172	27%	180	29%	150	23%	189	26%	219	33%
General OCEO enquiries	45	7%	29	5%	87	14%	87	12%	64	10%

Total	632	100%	612	100%	641	100%	720	100%	670	100%

	2017-18		2018-19		2019-20		2020-21		2021-22
	No.	%	No.	%	No	%	No	%	No.	%
Employment	283	56%	278	53%	285	55%	249	47%	240	47%
Goods and services	113	23%	136	26%	116	22%	134	25%	165	32%
Housing/land/accommodation	25	5%	29	6%	38	7%	35	7%	45	9%
Education/training	45	9%	47	9%	53	10%	57	11%	26	5%
Clubs and associations	31	6%	28	5%	30	6%	47	9%	20	4%
Qualification	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	9	2%
Advertising	3	1%	4	1%	0	0%	4	1%	6	1%

Total	501	100%	523	100%	522	100%	526	100%	511	100%

Note: enquiries that do not relate to an area of the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 are not included in this table.

	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Complaints lodged in year	213	179	181	230	224
Complaints closed in year	340	195	160	258	218
% difference of lodged complaints from previous year	-11%	-17%	1%	27%	-3%

Table 7: How complaints were received

	2017-18		2018-19		2019-20		2020-21		2021-22
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Online form	123	55%	112	63%	141	78%	162	70%	178	79%
Email	45	20%	45	25%	27	15%	37	16%	36	16%
Letter	6	3%	3	2%	4	2%	6	3%	4	2%
Hardcopy form	47	21%	17	9%	9	5%	22	10%	3	1%
Telephone	1	0%	1	1%	0	0%	3	1%	3	1%
In person	2	1%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Fax	1	0%	1	1%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Facebook	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%

Total	225	100%	179	100%	181	100%	230	100%	224	100%

	2017-18		2018-19		2019-20		2020-21		2021-22
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Disability	52	33%	31	28%	50	21%	46	25%	41	35%
Victimisation	12	8%	12	11%	33	14%	22	12%	19	16%
Sexual harassment	28	18%	16	14%	46	20%	22	12%	14	12%
Race	10	6%	7	6%	24	10%	17	9%	12	10%
Sex	6	4%	14	13%	26	11%	20	11%	8	7%
Age	13	8%	4	4%	16	7%	13	7%	7	6%
Caring responsibilities	8	5%	7	6%	3	1%	7	4%	3	3%
Sexual orientation	4	3%	0	0%	6	3%	3	2%	3	3%
Gender identity	3	2%	1	1%	11	5%	1	1%	3	3%
Whistleblower*	8	5%	9	8%	5	2%	0	0%	3	3%
Identity of spouse	3	2%	2	2%	8	3%	2	1%	2	2%
Association with a child	3	2%	1	1%	1	0%	3	2%	1	1%
Religious appearance or dress	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	1	1%
Aiding unlawful act	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	1	1%
Pregnancy	9	6%	5	5%	3	1%	4	2%	0	0%
Marital status	0	0%	2	2%	1	0%	0	0%	0	0%
Other	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	27	14%	0	0%

Total Grounds	159	100%	111	100%	233	100%	187	100%	118	100%

* Refers to complaints of victimisation under the Whistleblowers Protection Act 1993 (SA), the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2018 (SA) or the Independent Commissioner for Corruption Act 2012 (SA). Notes: there may be more than one ground per complaint. Data in the table will vary slightly from year to year due to database corrections and changes during the period a complaint is open. ‘Other’ added from 2020-21.

	2017-18		2018-19		2019-20		2020-21		2021-22
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Employment	110	77%	79	71%	163	70%	66	58%	46	56%
Goods and services	14	10%	11	10%	29	12%	27	24%	21	26%
Education/training	7	5%	15	13%	36	15%	10	9%	10	12%
Clubs and associations	4	3%	3	3%	3	1%	4	4%	4	5%
Advertising	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	3	3%	0	0%
Housing/land/accommodation	8	6%	4	4%	2	1%	2	2%	0	0%
Qualification	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	1	1%	1	1%

Total Areas	143	100%	112	100%	233	100%	113	100%	82	100%

	*Area*
*Ground*	Advertising	Clubs and associations	Education and training	Employment	Goods and services	Housing, land and accommodation	Total
Disability	0	4	8	12	18	0	42
Sexual harassment	0	0	0	20	2	0	22
Victimisation	0	0	4	14	2	0	20
Race	0	0	2	8	4	0	14
Sex	0	0	1	6	1	0	8
Age	0	0	0	6	1	0	7
Caring responsibilities	0	0	3	2	1	0	6
Gender identity	0	0	1	1	1	0	3
Sexual orientation	0	0	0	3	0	0	3
Whistleblower*	0	0	0	3	0	0	3
Identity of spouse or partner	0	0	0	2	0	0	2
Aiding unlawful act	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
Association with a child	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
Religious appearance or dress	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
Intersex status	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Marital status	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Pregnancy	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Total of Areas	0	4	19	79	31	0	133

	Employment
	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Sexual harassment	29	14	41	20	20
Victimisation	9	9	26	14	14
Disability	29	16	26	21	12
Race	6	3	14	9	8
Sex	4	11	18	15	6
Age	11	3	12	10	6
Sexual orientation	4	0	5	1	3
Whistleblower *	5	8	5	0	3
Caring responsibilities	5	5	2	4	2
Identity of spouse or partner	3	1	5	0	2
Aiding unlawful act	0	0	0	0	1
Gender identity	0	1	4	0	1
Religious appearance or dress	0	0	0	0	1
Pregnancy	5	5	3	4	0
Association with a child	0	1	1	0	0
Marital status	0	2	1	0	0
Intersex status	0	0	0	0	0
Other	0	0	0	13	0

Total	110	79	163	111	79

	Goods and services
	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Disability	7	2	9	16	18
Race	2	3	6	4	4
Victimisation	0	1	0	3	2
Sexual harassment	0	0	2	0	2
Sex	2	2	7	3	1
Age	1	0	1	3	1
Association with a child	1	0	0	2	1
Gender identity	1	1	2	1	1
Caring responsibilities	0	1	0	1	1
Sexual orientation	0	0	1	2	0
Intersex status	0	0	0	2	0
Identity of spouse or partner	0	0	1	0	0
Whistleblower *	0	1	0	0	0
Marital status	0	0	0	0	0
Pregnancy	0	0	0	0	0
Religious appearance or dress	0	0	0	0	0
Aiding unlawful act	0	0	0	0	0
Other	0	0	0	8	0

Total	14	11	29	45	31

	Education, training and qualifications
	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Disability	5	9	11	6	8
Victimisation	0	2	6	3	4
Caring responsibilities	0	1	1	2	3
Race	2	1	4	1	2
Sex	0	1	1	1	1
Gender identity	0	0	5	0	1
Sexual harassment	0	0	3	2	0
Age	0	0	3	0	0
Identity of spouse or partner	0	1	2	0	0
Whistleblower *	0	0	0	0	0
Marital status	0	0	0	0	0
Aiding unlawful act	0	0	0	0	0
Association with a child	0	0	0	0	0
Intersex status	0	0	0	0	0
Pregnancy	0	0	0	0	0
Religious appearance or dress	0	0	0	0	0
Sexual orientation	0	0	0	0	0
Other	0	0	0	5	0

Total	7	15	36	20	19

	Clubs and associations
	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Disability	1	2	2	2	4
Victimisation	0	0	1	2	0
Race	0	0	0	1	0
Sexual harassment	0	1	0	0	0
Age	1	0	0	0	0
Caring responsibilities	1	0	0	0	0
Gender identity	1	0	0	0	0
Sex	0	0	0	0	0
Whistleblower *	0	0	0	0	0
Aiding unlawful act	0	0	0	0	0
Association with a child	0	0	0	0	0
Identity of spouse or partner	0	0	0	0	0
Intersex status	0	0	0	0	0
Marital status	0	0	0	0	0
Pregnancy	0	0	0	0	0
Religious appearance or dress	0	0	0	0	0
Sexual orientation	0	0	0	0	0
Other	0	0	0	1	0

Total	4	3	3	6	4

	Housing/land/accommodation
	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Disability	4	2	2	1	0
Association with a child	0	0	0	1	0
Sex	0	0	0	1	0
Age	0	1	0	0	0
Sexual harassment	0	1	0	0	0
Victimisation	1	0	0	0	0
Caring responsibilities	1	0	0	0	0
Gender identity	1	0	0	0	0
Pregnancy	1	0	0	0	0
Race	0	0	0	0	0
Whistleblower *	0	0	0	0	0
Aiding unlawful act	0	0	0	0	0
Identity of spouse or partner	0	0	0	0	0
Intersex status	0	0	0	0	0
Marital status	0	0	0	0	0
Religious appearance or dress	0	0	0	0	0
Sexual orientation	0	0	0	0	0
Other	0	0	0	0	0

Total	8	4	2	3	0

Note due to low or zero numbers annually, a separate table of data is not supplied for advertising complaints.

Matter outcomes

Enquiries – outcomes	2017-18		2018-19		2019-20		2020-21		2021-22
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
General information provided	233	41%	195	35%	165	27%	347	47%	337	53%
Referred elsewhere (out of OCEO jurisdiction)	101	18%	164	29%	98	16%	96	13%	95	15%
No action required	32	6%	16	3%	49	8%	84	11%	79	12%
Complaint form and information package sent	25	4%	16	3%	14	2%	53	7%	38	6%
Referred to OCEO electronic complaint form	82	15%	97	17%	39	6%	25	3%	31	5%
Referred to advocate (to assist with equal opportunity/other Issue)	34	6%	21	4%	6	1%	3	0%	26	4%
Referred to Australian Human Rights Commission	13	2%	13	2%	6	1%	1	0%	16	3%
Referred to OCEO Website	43	8%	40	7%	226	37%	120	16%	9	1%
Media response provided/presentation requested/other	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	6	1%
Appointment made for interview with OCEO enquiry officer	0	0%	0	0%	0	0%	2	0%	1	0%

Total	563	100%	562	100%	603	100%	731	100%	638	100%

Note: As of 2019-20, Report/publications/media response provided/presentation requested/other are reported together.

	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Finalised complaints	327	206	176	235	218
Average no. weeks to finalise all complaints	33.3	19.6	11	10.5	9.94
Median no. weeks to finalise all complaints	23.9	11	9.7	8.6	7.3

	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Complaints resolved by conciliation	66	54	57	48	24
Declined by the Commissioner following further investigation or withdrawn by complainant	30	26	31	47	40
Referred to tribunal	66	20	26	31	16

Total accepted complaints finalised in the year	162	100	114	126	80

Notes: During 2021-22 there were 47 conciliations attempted; 24 (or 51%) were successful. 4 matters were declined after attempting conciliation. 2 matters were withdrawn following conciliation. 18 total matters were referred to a tribunal after attempting conciliation, including 2 of those declined after conciliation.

	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Apology	20	22	31	21	14
Policy change/change in practice	7	6	14	11	9
Financial compensation	29	17	25	20	7
Other	10	5	11	13	3
Staff training/development program	14	4	18	7	2
Complainant satisfied with response	0	0	0	0	2
Reasonable adjustment	2	4	5	5	1
Undertaking to cease an action	3	1	3	0	1
Access to education/training	1	6	2	0	1
Private agreement	8	16	13	7	0
Reference provided	2	5	2	5	0
Employment options improved (e.g. job offer)	7	5	4	4	0
Provision of goods/services/facilities	4	1	2	1	0
Other access achieved (e.g. mobility)	2	5	6	0	0
Access to/provision of accommodation	1	1	2	0	0
Access to club membership/benefits	1	0	0	0	0

Note: there may be more than one outcome per conciliation agreement.

	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Total financial compensation payments	$139,317	$122,726	$173,114	$150,842	$44,000
Average financial compensation payments	$5,805	$7,219	$6,925	$9,428	$6,285

Note: Individual agreements for financial compensation ranged from $2,000 to $20,000 in 2021-22.

Demographic data

	2021-22
	Enquiries	Complaints
Undisclosed	377	48
Female	147	78
Male	122	97
Non-binary	1	1
Transgender	0	0
Intersex	0	0

Total	647	224

	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
0 - 9 years	2%	2%	2%	3%	2%
10 - 19 years	7%	7%	6%	6%	4%
20 - 29 years	15%	6%	24%	16%	9%
30 - 39 years	9%	25%	27%	21%	15%
40 - 49 years	23%	13%	13%	15%	17%
50 - 59 years	13%	14%	13%	14%	14%
60 - 69 years	9%	5%	6%	9%	4%
70 - 79 years	3%	1%	2%	1%	5%
80 + years	0%	0%	0%	2%	0%
Unknown age	20%	23%	7%	14%	31%

Total	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%

Exemptions under the Equal Opportunity Act 1984

Section 92 of the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 provides for applicants to apply to the SA Civil and Administrative Tribunal (SACAT) for an exemption from the Act for a specific purpose. SACAT provides the Commissioner with a copy of all applications received, to enable her to review the application and make any submissions she considers necessary before an application is considered by SACAT.

In 2021-22 the OCEO received six exemption applications.

Applicant	Summary	Order
Fernwood Women’s Health Clubs (Australia) Pty Ltd	Application for exemption allowing the applicant to exclusively employ and offer goods and services to women.	Granted
Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement	Application for exemption allowing the applicant to offer employment to suitably qualified Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons in select positions.	Granted
Attorney-General’s Department SA	Application for exemption allowing the applicant to recruit a person of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent for the position of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Witness Assistance Officer.	Granted
An individual	Application for exemption from the requirement to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus.	Dismissed
Courts Administration Authority of South Australia	Application for exemption allowing the applicant to advertise and recruit female legal practitioners for an employment program.	Order not yet made
Dieri Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC	Application for exemption allowing the applicant to request from existing and potential employees and contractors ancestral and such other information necessary to identify Aboriginality, taking such matters into account in determining who should be offered employment, contract work and other contracts for goods and services, and maintaining such records.	Granted

Function 2

Function 1

Training and education

Table 1: Training delivered

Matters received

Table 2: Enquiries received

Table 3: How enquiries were received

Table 4: Grounds of enquiry (across all areas)

Table 5: Areas of enquiry (across all grounds)

Table 6: Complaints received

Table 7: How complaints were received

Table 8: Grounds of accepted complaints (across all areas)

Table 9: Areas of accepted complaints (across all grounds)

Table 10: 2020-21 complaint grounds by area

Table 11: Accepted complaints by area - Employment

Table 12: Accepted complaints by area – Goods and services

Table 13: Accepted complaints by area – Education, training, and qualification

Table 14: Accepted complaints by area - Clubs and associations

Table 15: Accepted complaints by area – Housing, land, and accommodation

Matter outcomes

Table 16: Outcomes of enquiries

Table 17: Complaint finalisation

Table 18: Outcomes of accepted complaints finalised during 2021-22

Table 19: Outcomes from conciliations

Table 20: Financial compensation agreements from conciliations

Demographic data

Table 21: Gender identity of enquirers and complainants

Table 22: Age distribution of complainants (accepted complaints)

Exemptions under the Equal Opportunity Act 1984

Table 23: Summary of exemption applications received by the Commissioner in 2021-22.