News and Events

Today in Sydney public hearings are being held to discuss the Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill. RLC is providing evidence at today's public hearings alongside representatives from the National Association of Community Legal Centres.

A recent report by Redfern Legal Centre and several other organisations, Disability Rights Now was recently submitted to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

On 13 February 2008, the Federal Government apologised 'for the laws and policies... that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.'

In the year of its 20th anniversary, the Federal Disability Discrimination Act is under scrutiny thanks to a 78-year old woman taking on an airline policy of not flying more than two people in wheelchairs on the same plane.

The veteran disability rights campaigner, Sheila King, 78, is undaunted by the barrage of hateful comments that followed her unsuccessful court action against Jetstar for its ''two wheelchair'' policy.

This week David and Goliath have been playing it out in the Federal Court of Australia.

A disabled woman has taken action against Jetstar in the Federal Court after the airline refused to allow her onto a flight because policy restricts any one flight to two wheelchairs.

In a matter before the federal court this week, Sheila King is seeking a declaration that Jetstar's 'two wheelchair policy' is discriminatory.

The chief executive of the Australian Council of Social Service is spot on with her statement that "employers need to be less discriminatory".

I sympathise with Michael Texilake's concerns (Letters, July 20), but many of his complaints can effectively be dealt with by existing legal remedies where the conduct is threatening or excessive. A more effective short-term solution to "music, burn-outs, fights and all-night public rampages" may be found in the Summary Offences Act and the Protection of the Environment Operations Act.