In January 2009, the Human Rights Law Resource Centre made a Submission to the Senate’s review of the Disability Discrimination and Other Human Rights Legislation Amendment Bill 2008 [Word] [PDF].
The submission commends the Australian Government on its commitment to improving the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth), but states that the amendments do not go far enough. Even with the amendments in the Bill, the Disability Discrimination Act continues to fall short of Australia’s obligations under international human rights law and leaves people vulnerable to disability discrimination in many walks of life. The HRLRC submits that a full scale comprehensive review of all federal anti-discrimination laws is required in order to protect society’s most vulnerable and marginalised persons from all forms of discrimination.
The submission also makes recommendations that the following amendments proposed by the Bill be reconsidered and redrafted:
- the new definitions of direct and indirect disability;
- the duty to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate a person’s disability;
- the requirement to provide genetic information; and
- the exemptions provided in the migration context.
- TheCentre acknowledges the substantial assistance of Melanie Schleiger and Julian Riekert of Lander & Rogers in researching and drafting this submission.
