Commonwealth of Australia Explanatory Memoranda

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DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION AND OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL 2008

                                 2008 - 2009



               THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA




                                   SENATE




 DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION AND OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL
                                    2008




                    SUPPLEMENTARY EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM




             Amendments to be Moved on Behalf of the Government




            (Circulated by the authority of the Attorney-General,
                    the Honourable Robert McClelland MP)
NOTES ON AMENDMENTS

Schedule 2, item 60, page 18 (lines 3 to 4)

Section 30 of the Disability Discrimination Act provides that it is
unlawful for a person to request or require disability-related information
from another person, if the request is connected with action that is
unlawful under the Act.  Paragraph 30(3)(a) as proposed in the Bill places
the onus on the respondent to produce evidence that he or she did not
request or require the information for the (emphasis added) purpose of
unlawfully discriminating against the other person on the ground of
disability.

This amendment to proposed paragraph 30(3)(a) requires the production of
evidence that none of the purposes (emphasis added) for which the
information was sought was for unlawful discrimination.

The amendment addresses a concern raised by the Senate Standing Committee
on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, which was the basis of recommendation
3 in its report on the Bill.  That is, that the paragraph might otherwise
enable a successful defence to a discriminatory request for information
where that unlawful discrimination is only one of a number of purposes for
which information was sought.


FINANCIAL IMPACT STATEMENT

The amendment to the Bill will have no financial implications.