Can discrimination complaints still be made about accessibility of public transport services?

Full answer

Yes, but people seeking different or faster outcomes to those provided for in the Standards will not succeed.

The Disability Discrimination Act states (in section 34) that actions that comply with a Disability Standard are protected from being unlawful under the general anti-discrimination provisions of the DDA.

The purpose of the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport is to provide a structure for planning and achievement over time of accessibility of all public transport services, instead of only access to particular services or locations in response to particular complaints. These standards were the result of extensive negotiations between governments, industry and disability community representatives. Governments and industry committed to major investment and upgrading programs to provide accessibility in return for protection from liability under the Disability Discrimination Actso long as they complied with the timetable and measures contained in the Standards.

It is not possible for the Australian Human Rights Commission or the courts to re-open these processes and impose more demanding timetables or other requirements in response to complaints.

Complaints can still be lodged, but the Australian Human Rights Commission will terminate complaints where in relation to the issue raised by the complaint the transport provider is complying with the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport. (On any issues not addressed by the Standards, the general provisions of the DDA continue to apply and complaints can be made under these provisions.)

New vehicles and facilities brought into service since the commencement of these Standards in 2002 are required to comply from the outset. Apart from this, however, the compliance targets for many of the requirements of these Standards apply only from later compliance points, at the end of 2007, 2012, 2017 and 2022.

Clearly, transport providers will need to be planning and taking action prior to these dates to ensure that they are in a position to meet the compliance targets as they arise, but it is not unlawful for providers to take until each compliance point to meet these targets.

So, for example, discrimination complaints before 2007 that some of a transport provider's existing vehicles or stations are not physically accessible will not succeed.

People considering making complaints regarding public transport access should first refer to the provisions of the Standards to assist them in deciding whether these complaints are likely to succeed.