Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I table a supplementary explanatory memorandum relating to the government amendment to be moved to the bill. The memorandum was circulated in the chamber earlier today. I now move government amendment (1) on sheet QF335:

(1)    Schedule 2, item 60, page 18 (lines 3 to 4), omit “the first person did not request or require the information for”, substitute “none of the purposes for which the first person requested or required the information was”.

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 purpose of unlawfully discriminating against the other person on the grounds of disability. This amendment to proposed paragraph 30(3)(a) requires the production of evidence that none of the purposes for which the information was sought was for unlawful discrimination. It addresses a concern raised by the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs 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. I commend the amendment to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill, as amended, agreed to.

Bill reported with an amendment; report adopted.