Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

[Index] [Search] [Download] [Related Items] [Help]

DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2002 (NO. 1) 2002 NO. 185

Statutory Rules 2002 No. 185

Issued by the Authority of the Attorney-General

Subject: Disability Discrimination Amendment Act 2002

Disability Discrimination Amendment Regulations 2002 (No. 1)

Section 132(1) of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing matters required or permitted by the DDA to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed, for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.

Item 6 of Schedule 1 of the Disability Discrimination Amendment Act 2002 (the Act) has inserted new subsection 132(1 A) into the DDA to provide that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing a body as a body that the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (the Commission) must consult before granting an exemption to the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport (Transport Standards). The Act received Royal Assent on 3 July 2002. It has been proclaimed that Schedule 1 of the Act commences on 19 August 2002.

The Governor-General has made regulations to prescribe the National Transport Secretariat as a body that the Commission must consult before granting an exemption to public transport service operators to the Transport Standards.

Schedule 1 of the Act has also inserted new subsection 55(1A) into the DDA to allow the Commission to grant appropriate temporary exemptions to public transport service operators from the Transport Standards. Transport Standards are intended to provide operators with detailed information about operating their services in a way that complies with the obligations under the DDA. Exemptions may be granted for reasons including, for example, that compliance would cause unjustifiable hardship.

Schedule 1 of the Act has also inserted new subsection 55(1C) into the DDA, which provides that if the regulations prescribe a body as a body that the Commission must consult in relation to the kinds of public transportation services that will be dealt with under an exemption to subsection 55(1A), then the Commission must consult that body before granting an exemption under subsection 55(1A). The Regulations made by the Governor-General prescribe the National Transport Secretariat as the body that the Commission must consult pursuant to subsection 55(1C) of the DDA before granting an exemption to the Transport Standards under subsection 55(1A). The regulations commence on the same day as the commencement of Schedule 1 of the Act (19 August 2002).

The regulations, along with the amendments to the DDA by the Act, provide a proper mechanism for the granting of exemptions to the Transport Standards. The Transport Standards will be tabled in Parliament by the Attorney-General. The Transport Standards and the power to grant exemptions are designed to strike an appropriate balance between costs to transport operators and benefits to people with disabilities.