The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) says simplifying and modernising Australia’s Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) will better protect the rights of persons with disabilities.
The Australian Government today announced a review of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth). This follows calls for reform over many years from across the disability sector, including from the recent Disability Royal Commission
The AHRC – which administers the application of federal anti-discrimination laws including the DDA – welcomes the review.
Disability Discrimination Commissioner Rosemary Kayess: “The DDA is a vital piece of our legal framework to ensure that over 5 million people with disability in Australia do not experience discrimination.
“People with disability continue to experience inequality and discrimination on a daily basis and are marginalised and excluded in many areas of their lives due to ableist systems, policies and attitudes. This clearly shows the DDA isn’t working as intended.
“The DDA hasn’t been updated for over 15 years. Much has changed over that time, including court rulings which have made it harder to prove discrimination under the DDA. We need to modernise the DDA to ensure it’s fit for purpose now and into the future.
“During the last 10 years, the AHRC has proposed a range of reforms which would modernise and simplify the DDA as well as strengthen how it protects the rights of people with disability. The Disability Royal Commission made similar recommendations in its 2023 Final Report.
“One of our key proposals is for the introduction of a ‘positive duty’ which is a requirement for those with obligations under the DDA to take active steps to prevent discrimination from happening in the first place. Currently the DDA is reactive, and remedial action can only occur after a complaint has been made.
AHRC President Hugh de Kretser: “The reform of the DDA is also an opportunity to improve Australia’s other anti-discrimination laws so they work more effectively and coherently together. People’s experiences of discrimination intersect and compound across disability, age, race, sex, gender and sexuality.
“Yet currently, the DDA and the Racial, Sex and Age Discrimination Acts have inconsistent standards of protection. This creates confusion and inefficiency and makes non-compliance more likely. We need our discrimination laws to work together in a simple and effective way. We need to make it easier for people to understand their rights and obligations.”
Commissioner Kayess: “The AHRC would like to see DDA reform of the tests for direct and indirect discrimination as well as a strengthening of the Act’s Disability Standards. This would make the DDA more relevant to the contemporary experience of discrimination and easier to enforce.
“We have a range of other recommendations for reform which we’ll be including in our submission to the review.
“We’re looking forward to working with the disability community, the business sector, government and other stakeholders to ensure the DDA review delivers workable anti-discrimination protection for people with disability throughout Australia.”
