Why shouldn unjustifiable hardship apply in the areas of sport and administration of Commonwealth laws and programs?
The second reading speech introducing the Disability Discrimination Bill indicated an intention to apply the concept of unjustifiable hardship as a general limitation on the legislation, although the drafting of substantive provisions did not fully reflect this. If a defence of unjustifiable hardship were included in the DDA regarding administration of Commonwealth laws and programs, HREOC would expect the practical application of this defence to be more restricted than in other settings even if the legal provision were in the same terms – given the more extensive resources available to the Commonwealth than to some private sector respondents, and the importance of equal participation and access among the public purposes for which Commonwealth programs are established.
