Why develop Premises Standards?

Since the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) came into force in March 1993 complaints to the Australian Human Rights Commission have showed significant inconsistencies between anti-discrimination law and current building law in Australia .

These inconsistencies have covered both the level of access required, for example the area of coverage of a hearing augmentation system in a conference room, and the amenity of the access provided, for example the location of unisex accessible toilets and location of accessible entrances.

Progressive changes to the national building code - the Building Code of Australia (BCA) - have been made since 1995 to address these inconsistencies, but in 2000 significant momentum was given to the process when the Commonwealth Government amended the DDA to allow for the development of Disability Standards for Access to Premises (Premises Standards).

This amendment allowed for the development of a mechanism that will clarify accessibility requirements under the DDA and ultimately ensure consistency between building law and the DDA.