34
| HIRE
AND
RENTAL
NEWS
| MAY 2013
EVENTS IN FOCUS
And the big news in the
events industry – still – is
the issue of the Disability
Discrimination Act and how this
relates to temporary structures.
This is proving to be a costly
and frustrating battle for the
events industry but we will
persevere.
On behalf of the HRIA I
recently attended a meeting
with the Victorian Building
Control Commission (BCC) to
discuss the situation and how
it is affecting our industry; a
representative from Melbourne
City Council was also present.
The purpose of the meeting
was to gain an understanding
of how the BCC interpreted the
Disability Discrimination Act
(
DDA) and to see if there was
an opportunity to phase in the
workings of the DDA over time.
Two clear facts emerged; the
BCC have no power to provide
a phase in period. Second, the
DDA is law and as such the BCC
have no option but to enforce
the legislation in full.
The DDA affects any
Lobbying for a fairer playing field
members anywhere across the
country engaged in marquees,
portable buildings or toilet
hire. Simply being unaware
of how the legislation works
is no defence when someone
makes a complaint against
your company. Once this has
occurred, you will find yourself
running up costly legal fees
running a defence in the court
of human rights.
While I understand some
members might be frustrated
we might appear to be looking
at this from a Victorian
perspective, please let me
assure you this is not the case.
The legislation is the same
Australia wide. The meeting
with the BCC simply gave us a
greater understanding of what
could and couldn’t be achieved.
The recommendation from
the BCC was we lobby the
Attorney General in an attempt
to have the DDA altered at its
next review. Since the review is
still some way off, this is being
done in a low key way.
We have also contacted
“
Simply being
unaware of how the
legislation works is
no defence when
someone makes a
complaint against
your company. Once
this has occurred,
you will find yourself
running up costly
legal fees running a
defence in the court
of human rights...”
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
the Australian Building Codes
Committee (ABCC) and made
submissions seeking a review
of the code classification of
marquees, portable buildings
and toilet hire. Our aim is to
have a separate classification
for marquees, portable
buildings and toilet hire rather
than have them all classified as
temporary buildings.
If this course of action is
successful, it would provide
some scope for the authorities
to allow concessions from
the DDA because of the
nature of the classification.
Unfortunately this is a long
term objective. The suggestion
in the meantime would be to
make sure the event organiser
has employed a consultant to
provide an access report and
members comply.
My recommendation would
be: if you find yourself an
event organiser, ensure the
client has a budget for a
consultant’s report.
Tom O’Dowd
National President Events