Northern Territory Consolidated Acts

ANTI-DISCRIMINATION ACT - SECT 20

(1) For the purposes of this Act, discrimination includes -

(a) any distinction, restriction, exclusion or preference made on the basis of an attribute that has the effect of nullifying or impairing equality of opportunity; and

(b) harassment on the basis of an attribute,

in an area of activity referred to in Part 4.

(2) Without limiting the generality of subsection (1), discrimination takes place if a person treats or proposes to treat another person who has or had, or is believed to have or had -

(a) an attribute;

(b) a characteristic imputed to appertain to an attribute; or

(c) a characteristic imputed to appertain generally to persons with an attribute,

less favourably than a person who has not, or is believed not to have, such an attribute.

(3) For discrimination to take place, it is not necessary that -

(a) the attribute is the sole or dominant ground for the less favourable treatment; or

(b) the person who discriminates regards the treatment as less favourable.

(4) The motive of a person alleged to have discriminated against another person is, for the purposes of this Act, irrelevant.