Ineffective Complaints Process -
The onus is on people with disability to enforce breaches of discrimination law, through the lodgement of individual complaints through the AHRC or its State and Territory counterparts.
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In AHRC conciliations, there is a power imbalance between the complainant and respondent (usually a company or government agency). This power imbalance is even more prominent when a complainant is without legal representation, a frequent issue. Should the parties reach a settlement agreement at conciliation, any resulting agreement is only binding between the parties to the complaint. Currently, there is no enforcement agency and the complexity of bringing legal proceedings makes it even more difficult for the complainant to enforce an agreement reached through conciliation.
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If conciliation fails, a complainant can take a matter to the Federal Court or the Federal Magistrates Court for determination. However, the financial and personal costs of pursuing legal action can limit the extent to which individual complainants take this course of action. (See also Article 13)
Case Study
A student with a vision impairment studying for her final high school exams found it very difficult to gain access to texts in an accessible format. Her marks suffered as a result. She was given the option of taking the matter to court and was advised that she had a very strong test case. However, if she lost, she would have to pay the other side’s legal costs that could be up to $20,000. She was also not prepared to spend her final year in school fighting over the issue in court nor deal with the associated stress. She chose not to pursue it any further. Consequently, her case was not tested and students with vision impairments continue to struggle in obtaining access to texts in accessible formats within a reasonable time period.31
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