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orta exemption notice of inquiry

Notice of application for temporary
exemption under Disability Discrimination Act section 55: Olympic Roads
and Transport Authority

This
page last updated 20 September 2001

Notice

The
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission has received an application
under section 55 of the Disability Discrimination Act ("DDA") from the
Olympic Roads and Transport Authority ("ORTA") for exemption from section
24 of the DDA.

The
application is submitted on behalf of

  • ORTA;
  • Other
    relevant government agencies in New South Wales, the Australian Capital
    Territory, Queensland and Victoria as specified in the application;
  • Bus
    2000 Ltd, a company established to procure (under contract with ORTA)
    the required numbers of buses, coaches, drivers and support staff for
    the Olympic and Paralympic bus task;
  • Public
    and private bus operators in New South Wales, the Australian Capital
    Territory, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria from whom ORTA will
    be procuring accessible buses during the Olympic and Paralympic Games
    periods. 

The
exemption is sought for the period of ORTA's operations in connection
with bus transport services for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, that
is from 2 September 2000 to 4 November 2000, a total period of 9 weeks.

The
purpose of the application is indicated to be to protect bus operators,
ORTA and other parties concerned from liability which might otherwise
arise from the temporary transfer of accessible buses from other services
to Olympic and Paralympic related services. The application indicates
that without such protection difficulty is being experienced in securing
sufficient accessible buses for Olympics and Paralympics related services.
In addition to services directly for Olympic and Paralympic events this
includes a need for accessible buses to replace rail services in some
New South Wales locations during this period.

Proposed
recommendation to grant exemption

I
propose to recommend to the Commission that an exemption be granted as
applied for, with the specification that the exemption applies only in
relation to the transfer of buses from other services to Olympic and Paralympic
service and does not affect the obligations of relevant operators and
authorities under the DDA in other respects.

This
proposal to grant an exemption in these terms is made on the basis that
it appears to me that to do so would be consistent with and would promote
the object of the DDA to eliminate discrimination as far as possible.
This view is based on the reasons and material provided by ORTA in its
application and in particular on the following considerations.

  • If
    an exemption is not granted, bus operators who have brought accessible
    vehicles into operation face a potential liability (in making those
    vehicles available to ORTA and therefore temporarily withdrawing them
    from other services) which is not faced by operators who have not made
    the same progress in providing non-discriminatory services (and who
    therefore have no such vehicles to provide to ORTA). It is appropriate
    for the Commission to use its exemption power to ensure that the DDA
    provides incentives rather than disincentives to measures to achieve
    access and equality.
  • The
    potential complaints under the DDA which this exemption would preclude
    would, in essence, be concerned with which services accessible
    buses should be applied to in the relevant period, rather than with
    whether and at what rate operators should be required to acquire
    and deploy accessible vehicles. I endorse the view previously expressed
    by the Commission, in its reasons for granting an exemption regarding
    Melbourne
    trams    ,
    and by the Disability Discrimination Commissioner, in her decision on
    a complaint regarding access to Summer
    Hill railway station    ,
    that the Commission is not best placed to decide issues of allocation
    of accessible services as between different locations. The objects of
    the DDA are best served if these issues of allocation are determined
    by operators in consultation with users of services.

Request
for comments

Pursuant
to the Commission's policy
on consideration of applications for temporary exemption, an opportunity
for public comment on this proposed exemption is being provided.

Submissions
are requested by 13 June 2000. I have set a four week period for responses
(rather than the standard six weeks generally contemplated by the Commission s
policy) pursuant to the recognition in that policy that a shorter period
may be adopted where more urgent consideration is required.

Submissions
by e-mail are preferred, to disability@humanrights.gov.au.
Submissions may also be made by
post to Disability Rights Unit, HREOC, GPO Box 5218 Sydney 1042.

Consideration
of applications under State and Territory laws

The
application indicates that similar applications will be made for exemption
under the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW), the Equal Opportunity Act
1984 (SA), the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (QLD), the Discrimination
Act 1991 (ACT) and the Equal Opportunity Act 1995 (VIC). There are different
decision makers and processes as between each of these Acts and the DDA,
and each decision making authority is required to make its own decision.
However, the Commission will take steps to ensure that each State and
Territory body is fully informed of all stages of consideration of this
application (including by publication of material on this site), and will
be able to take into account any relevant information and views emerging
from consideration of applications under the State and Territory laws.

Graeme
Innes

Deputy Disability Discrimination Commissioner

17 May 2000

Amendment
to application

The
following advice has been received from ORTA (26 May):

ORTA
has received advice from the ACT Department of Urban Services that no
ACTION  low floor accessible buses will be contracted to Bus 2000
for use in Sydney during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Consequently
there will be no disruption to Canberra bus services during this period
as a result of ORTA's requirements. Therefore ORTA's application for exemption
under the DDA section 55 should be amended to delete references to the
ACT Urban Transport Authority (clause 1.2.2) and the Australian Capital
Territory (clauses 1.2.4,  2.6 and 4.1.2). As a consequence ORTA
will no longer need to make an application under section 109 of the Discrimination
Act 1991 (ACT).  Clause 10.1should be amended accordingly.