NOTICE OF INQUIRY UNDER DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION ACT 1992: CAPTIONING OF TELEVISION BROADCASTS
Updated 4 December 2000
See now withdrawal of proposed recommendation to terminate complaints as adequately remedied .
See also Deputy Commissioner Innes update on this inquiry, published 16 March 2000; submissions received on Notice of Inquiry; and Telstra/Channel 7 press release on Olympic TV captioning
The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) has received complaints under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 alleging discrimination by a number of television stations regarding captioning of television programming.
The complaints concern an alleged failure by the television stations to provide programming in a captioned format for people who have a profound hearing loss or who are deaf.
Section 24 of the Disability Discrimination Act makes discrimination unlawful regarding access to services, except where providing non-discriminatory access would involve unjustifiable hardship. Some of the television stations named would also be subject to section 29 of the Act which makes discrimination unlawful in the administration of Commonwealth programs.
The Acting Disability Discrimination Commissioner is seeking submissions for the purposes of inquiring into these complaints, including to:
- assist her and the parties to the complaints to identify options for resolution;
- assist her to determine whether the power under section 71 of the Act to decline the complaints should be exercised (whether on the basis that another more appropriate remedy is reasonably available or on other grounds); and
- assist her to decide whether the subject matter is such that it should be referred to the Commission for determination.
Relevant factors and materials
The Acting Commissioner will take into account
- relevant information provided to HREOC during the 1998 general inquiry on captioning;
- materials and submissions in the Review undertaken by the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts pursuant to Part 4, Schedule 4 of the Broadcasting Services Act, available on the Department's Internet site;
- standards resulting from the Department's review when available.
Following the complete of a number of reviews by the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (including a review of the captioning requirements), the Minister is expected to table a report in Parliament by the end of 1999, and to make an announcement on the proposed captioning standard.
The legislation provides that the standard will apply to commercial and national broadcasting services from the date at which their respective services commence broadcasting in the digital mode, which in metropolitan areas is scheduled for 1 January 2001 and in regional areas during the period 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2003. The Standards will apply to both digital and analog transmissions.
The legislation sets out two primary objectives in relation to the determination of standards for captioning:
- that, as far as practicable, commercial and national television broadcasters should provide a captioning service for television programs transmitted during prime viewing hours (defined as 6:00 PM to 10:30 PM); and
- that, as far as practicable, broadcasters should provide a captioning service for television news programs, and television current affairs programs, transmitted outside prime viewing hours.
The Acting Commissioner is particularly interested in receiving views on
- whether the Broadcasting Services Act standards, when available, should be accepted as providing a more appropriate remedy or dealing adequately with the subject matter of these complaints - either on an interim basis pending further regulatory or other developments or more generally;
- if other measures which have been or could be proposed should be so accepted; and
- should regulations setting standards under the Broadcasting Services Act be regarded as displacing the legal application of the Disability Discrimination Act in this area
Submissions are requested by 22 February 2000 , preferably by e-mail to disabdis@hreoc.gov.au or by mail to Disability Rights Unit, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, GPO Box 5218 Sydney 1042. The Acting Commissioner intends to make submissions publicly available on this site except where a need for confidentiality is specifically indicated. The further course of this inquiry will be decided on the basis of submissions received but may include a public forum to discuss issues which arise.
SUSAN
HALLIDAY
Acting Disability Discrimination Commissioner
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
19 November 1999
- Australian Association of the Deaf
- Australian Broadcasting Corporation
- Deafness Council of Western Australia
- Federation of Australian Commercial Television Stations (RTF file)
- NSW Disability Discrimination Legal Centre