My Goliathan battle for inclusion
David Cawthorn is taking on the big end of town to ensure better disabled access to the democratic heart of our island
FOR almost 4½ years, a David and Goliath battle has been fought through the legal system, from Tasmania’s AntiDiscrimination Tribunal to the Supreme Court to the Full Court of the Supreme Court and now the High Court of Australia.
I am the David in this story, and I am supported by the ParaQuad Association of Tasmania Inc.
Our case is about ensuring equal access to Parliament Square, the $200million-plus public plaza being developed behind Parliament House.
We want a lift installed near a flight of stairs so that people using wheelchairs, families with prams and older people do not have to fight their way up a steep incline on Murray St or have to push an extra 250m around the front of Parliament House and up Salamanca Place to access the public plaza with its open spaces and amenities.
But the heart of the case is unlikely to be heard for some time yet, with the developer and owner appealing to the High Court against the Tasmanian Supreme Court’s finding that the AntiDiscrimination Tribunal must hear the case.
It is extraordinary enough in the 21st century to have to fight for the installation of a lift for me and other people with mobility disabilities.
But last week the Tasmanian Attorney-General, who has a long, proud history of supporting people with disability, intervened in the
High Court on behalf of the state.
To my surprise, the state is not defending the Tasmanian Act or even our Supreme Court’s decision.
It is not defending equal access for all Tasmanians and it is not defending my right to have the core of the case dealt
with by the tribunal. Rather, it is supporting the multimillion-dollar developer and Parliament Square’s multimillionaire owners.
Alarmingly, the State of Tasmania will be arguing before the High Court of Australia that Tasmania’s bedrock protections in the
Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 (Tas) should be weakened.
The background is that the federal government developed disability standards for access to premises.
In the case before the High Court, the developer is arguing that federal standards knock out the state Act. We have argued all along that they don’t and the Supreme Court said we are right. The development does not comply with the standards and we want the Tasmanian Tribunal to decide.
An important consideration for me, as the person making a complaint, is the imbalance of financial power.
In her recent annual report, Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Sarah Bolt, said the developer’s challenge set a dangerous precedent because complainants will have no avenue to have their complaints heard and that “creates a real barrier to access to justice”.
It beggars belief that our state is acting against the advice of its own discrimination law officer and against anti-discrimination law: a law people with disability use to ensure their rights to equality.
It is incomprehensible the State of Tasmania would argue for a weakened discrimination law.
Can the Tasmanian Government honestly say they support the rights of people like me with a disability and continue to support this Goliath-like action?