Race Relations Act 1968: 50th Anniversary

On 25 October 1968 the Race Relations Act received royal assent. The Act sought to build on the Race Relations Act 1965, which at the time was widely regarded as providing insufficient protection from discrimination, by extending prohibition of racial discrimination in relation to housing, employment and public services, as well as strengthening the Race Relations Board. This briefing sets out the chronology of how the Race Relations Act 1968 came to be passed, referring for context to the passage through Parliament earlier that year of the Commonwealth Immigrants Act.