http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-06/pms-delay-on-sex-discrimination-commission...

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's commitment to tackling discrimination against women is being questioned, with the position of Sex Discrimination Commissioner left vacant for four months.

Elizabeth Broderick left the post in early September, but her departure was long expected after Attorney-General George Brandis extended her term by a year in 2014.

Senator Brandis told Parliament in early November, in response to Labor's questions, that an announcement would be made "very soon".

In a statement, a spokeswoman for Senator Brandis said Human Rights Commission President Gillian Triggs was acting in the role.

"The recruitment process is well underway and an announcement will be made shortly," the statement said.

The ABC understands candidates have been shortlisted for the position and interviews will be conducted in the near future, before the appointment is decided by Cabinet in mid-February.

The Opposition seized on the delay and linked it to the Mr Turnbull's handling of what it called the Jamie Briggs and Peter Dutton "debacle".

"It's all very well to talk about tackling discrimination against women and stronger ministerial standards — this farce shows Malcolm Turnbull is failing on both those fronts," Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said.

Mr Dreyfus said it was "unacceptable" that women suffering discrimination had been left with no dedicated advocate for four months.

"Malcolm Turnbull has simply done nothing to fill this important position," he said.

"It doesn't appear to be a priority for him, and that is a disgrace for women everywhere."

Maqqa wrote on Jan 6^th, 2016 at 9:48am:


Fair enough criticism considering they continually point at sex equality as a priority for them and every time they look around they have another failure in the area.

Well deserved criticism - they do in fact need to do better, nobody could possibly doubt that.

Dnarever wrote on Jan 6^th, 2016 at 10:26am:


Appointment of a senior person is not a goldilocks phenomena  when it comes to "months" i.e. too long or too short or just right timeframe

If it takes another few months to appoint the right person then so be it

Maqqa wrote on Jan 6^th, 2016 at 11:04am:

So that means you have no idea.  Poor droopy, go read up the definition.

Maqqa wrote on Jan 6^th, 2016 at 11:03am:


They extended her term and gave themselves 12 months to find someone and now it is 4 more on top of that - 16 months and still nobody has even been interviewed.

Maqqa wrote on Jan 6^th, 2016 at 12:44pm:

He has, he wishes to look strong yet does nothing to actually be strong.

Maqqa wrote on Jan 6^th, 2016 at 12:59pm:

And?  Plenty of time to make 1 appointment.

Or are you suggesting turnbull will take 4 months to deliberate any issue he wishes to look strong on?  If that the case he wont do very much at all.

Maqqa wrote on Jan 6^th, 2016 at 1:10pm:

Allowing for 10 days?

4 months is plenty of time. Turnbull is being weak.