OPINION
On a sunny day nearly 50 years ago, disability rights protesters disrupted the opening of a new but inaccessible railway station at Bondi Junction.
They were reportedly spat at and told to “go back to your nursing homes”.
Standing in front of signs that read “don’t cripple the disabled” and “transport for all”, the late Premier Neville Wran was rattled,
Similar protests were happening around Australia, signalling a shift in thinking about disability.
Instead of seeing disability as something to be fixed, we began addressing the barriers put up by society that led to disadvantage, such as lack of access to buildings, inaccessible transport, or a lack of captions in a cinema.
This led to the Keating government creating the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).
We mark 25 years of the DDA this month
Over a quarter of a century, these laws have allowed people with disabilities to call out entrenched discrimination in the community.
If a person with a disability has a job, they are likely to earn less.
Of the federal discrimination laws relating to age, sex and race, the
There have been some terrific outcomes.
Like 5-year-old Scarlet Finney, who was rejected from the of her choice because of her disability. The school’s decision was ruled discriminatory, which set the standard for what a school needs to provide for students with disabilities.
Or Bruce Maguire, who needed braille to His successful complaint was a precedent for all public events.
Or the cases that former Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes took up himself, including
On top of individual cases, it has helped create an awareness among the broader public about their responsibilities.
Yet the discrimination and disadvantage continues.
With an unemployment rate double the wider population and a low workforce participation rate, , putting us at number 21 of the 29 OECD countries.
One reason for this is that . Half of Australia’s prison population has a disability, and .
, people with disabilities are subject to unacceptable abuse and violence in accomodation.
At federal Parliament, the very place the DDA was created, new Senator Jordon Steele-John . Did we never envision someone in a wheelchair becoming a federal representative?
25 years on, we should take stock of how to strengthen the DDA.
Victoria Legal Aid, where I have worked, that “a significant weakness of Australian anti-discrimination law is its reliance on individuals to hold discriminators to account”.
A person must know there are protections to make a complaint. After that, they have to go through a process that takes months or even years.
If they are successful, there is a poor cost-benefit ratio, particularly when fee-charging lawyers become involved. As a result, the lawyers who end up representing complainants are often from free, resource-restrained legal services like legal aid or community legal centres.
We have seen the consequences of the law’s weaknesses in the lead up to this month’s Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. In its haste to prepare, the Queensland government cut costs on its new fleet of trains. The trains are not accessible and will leave many unable to work, volunteer or even attend.
One worthwhile reform would be to give the Australian Human Rights Commission powers, not just to handle complaints, but to enforce compliance. This would be in much the same way the Fair Work Ombudsman can investigate breaches of the Fair Work Act with ‘own motion’ investigations, and enforce compliance through enforcement notices and prosecutions.
We have seen the consequences of the law’s weaknesses in the lead up to this month’s Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. In its haste to prepare, the Queensland government cut costs on its new fleet of trains. The trains are not accessible and will leave many unable to work, volunteer or even attend.
While the , Queensland transport minister Mark Bailey confirmed the trains would run despite breaching the DDA. The Minister said “the decision is not about whether the trains can run, this is about whether people can lodge a complaint or not”.
One can only hope that individuals will follow up with a flurry of complaints. By then, the Games will be a distant memory.
So while the DDA will allow people to continue their own legal journeys of activism, now is the time to make the next step and strengthen what we have.
In the next quarter of a century, we can turn a society that is open to many towards one that truly is open to all.
Sam Drummond is a lawyer and disability advocate.
