The Australian Human Rights Commission has welcomed the federal government’s decision to review the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, arguing that simplifying and modernising the law would better protect the rights of people with disability.
The review follows years of calls for reform across the disability sector, including recommendations from the 2023 Disability Royal Commission. The AHRC, which administers the application of federal anti-discrimination laws including the DDA, said the process is overdue.
Disability Discrimination Commissioner Rosemary Kayess said: “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 said: “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 added: “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.”
The Commission has published explanatory material on why it says the DDA needs reform and outlined a broader agenda for improving federal anti-discrimination laws on its website.
