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Information last reviewed at:
09 October 2007

Access for People with a Disability

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)

The Australian Government's Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) has been in effect since March 1993. The DDA prohibits discrimination against people with a disability or their associates in a range of areas including transport, education, employment, accommodation and premises to which the public is entitled to enter or use.

The DDA is complaints-based (as opposed to compliance-based) legislation.  To date, the intent and objectives of the DDA have not been supported by detailed technical requirements, so there is no clear way to ensure that a building complies with the DDA.

The Building Code of Australia (BCA)

The BCA is developed and maintained by the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) on behalf of the Australian Government and the State and Territory Governments of Australia, each of whom have statutory responsibility for building control and regulation within their jurisdiction. The BCA is a comprehensive statement of the performance and technical requirements relevant to the design and construction of buildings and other related structures. The BCA is therefore a national code, administered at a state and territory government level.

The BCA contains specific provisions for access to and within buildings, for people with a disability. The BCA applies to building work on both new and existing buildings.

The Problem

The need to review the relationship between the DDA and the BCA stems from the following:

• The DDA contains intent and objectives but not the technical details of how to provide access for people with a disability; 
  
• The current technical requirements of the BCA are not considered to meet the intent and objectives of the DDA; and 
  
• The existence of two legislative requirements in relation to access for people with a disability to buildings, being the BCA and DDA, clearly gives rise to potential inconsistencies.

In April 2000, an amendment was made to the DDA to allow the Australian Government's Attorney-General to formulate 'Disability Standards for Access to Premises' (Premises Standard).  Disability Standards will help to clarify accessibility requirements under the DDA.

The ABCB was requested by the Australian Government to develop proposals for a revised BCA, to enable it to form the basis of a draft Premises Standard. The ABCB established the Building Access Policy Committee (BAPC) to recommend changes to the BCA, to consult widely with industry and the community, and to provide advice to the ABCB on access-related issues.

Through the BAPC and its Technical Working Group, the draft Premises Standard was developed with wide stakeholder input to achieve a negotiated set of proposals for public comment.  Once the Premises Standard has been formulated, the BCA will be amended so that the technical details of each document mirror each other.  In future, compliance with the access provisions of the BCA will mean compliance with the Premises Standard and hence the DDA.

The Current Situation (April 2006)

In February 2004, the ABCB released for public comment the draft Disability Standards for Access to Premises (Premises Standard).  Public consultation closed on 30 April 2004 after conducting a national round of awareness sessions.

The ABCB, through its Building Access Policy Committee have now considered all submissions resulting from the public consultation period on the draft Premises Standard.  During this process, consultation with various respondents was undertaken to further clarify their submissions and discuss options to progress the draft Premises Standard.  The submissions received were generally supportive of the development of new provisions, but opposing views were expressed on the stringency of the proposals.

The results of the Building Access Policy Committee’s consideration of public comment have been considered by the Board and advice, including a Regulation Impact Statement that estimates the costs and benefits likely to accrue from the proposal, has been provided to the Federal Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources and the Federal Attorney-General for their consideration.

For further information relating to the draft Premises Standard, please contact the ABCB Office on 1300 857 522 or email abcb.office@abcb.gov.au.