Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Ben Gauntlett
Commission – General
Dr Ben Gauntlett
Disability Discrimination Commissioner: 2019 -
Dr Ben Gauntlett commenced his term as Disability Discrimination Commissioner on 7 May 2019. Ben’s term goals as Commissioner include increased access to meaningful employment opportunities for people with disability, increased access to accessible housing for people with disability, greater community awareness of disability rights and disability discrimination, and strengthened legal and policy frameworks to protect disability rights.
Ben sits on a number of advisory committees, including the National Accessible Transport Taskforce and the Advisory Committee on Health Emergency Response to COVID-19 for People with Disability. Ben has also led the Commission’s engagement with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability on issues of employment, inclusive education and criminal justice.
Prior to commencing as Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Ben worked as a barrister in Western Australia and Victoria with a broad ranging practice. He has also worked as an associate to the Honourable Justice Kenneth Hayne AC at the High Court of Australia, as Counsel Assisting the Solicitor-General of the Commonwealth and taught law in Australia and the United Kingdom.
He also holds a Master of Laws from New York University and a D.Phil. in Law from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.
As Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Ben has travelled to Geneva to report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on Australia’s progress under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Photo credit: Francis Burt Chambers
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