Does the DDA apply to access for councillors at local council meetings?
Unlike some State laws, the DDA does not have a specific provision dealing with discrimination as a member of a local government body – but if the council chambers are open to the public a complaint can be made under DDA section 23. Even if the chambers are not open to the public, the council may constitute an “association” for the purposes of DDA section 27. Council chambers are often heritage buildings, but that is not decisive as far as the DDA is concerned, since meetings could be moved, even if the building cannot be readly altered. The effect of the DDA is that inaccessible facilities are best regarded as museum pieces, rather than the location for a working democracy.
