Community Law Reform Assistance Animals Consultation Paper 5 Victorian Law Reform Commission

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Community Law Reform

Assistance Animals

Consultation Paper 5

Victorian Law Reform Commission

GPO Box 4637

Melbourne Victoria 3001 Australia
DX 144 Melbourne, Vic

Level 10, 10–16 Queen St

Melbourne Victoria 3000 Australia

Telephone +61 3 8619 8619

Facsimile +61 3 8619 8600
TTY 1300 666 557
1300 666 555 (within Victoria)
4 Abbreviations

6 Call for Submissions

8 Preface
10 Chapter 1: Background

10 Introduction

10 Origins of this Community Law Reform project

11 Our Process

11 Structure of this Paper

12 Terminology

13 Chapter 2: About Assistance Animals

13 What are Assistance Animals?

16 Who uses an Assistance Animal?

17 How Many People use Assistance Animals?

17 Will Assistance Animals become more Common?

17 Who Trains Assistance Animals?

18 Informal Training

19 Training Standards

20 How are Assistance Animals Currently Identified?

21 How Common is Discrimination Against Assistance Animal Partnerships?

23 Chapter 3: Regulation Of Assistance Animals In Victoria

23 The Law in Victoria

27 Commonwealth Legislation

31 Summary

33 Chapter 4: Other Jurisdictions

33 Introduction

38 Reform Initiatives in Other Jurisdictions
40 Chapter 5: Options For Reform

40 Introduction

41 Legislative Changes

42 Legislative Amendments to the Equal Opportunity Act 1995

46 What Should the Right Look Like?

58 Amendments to the DFNAA

59 Developing Training Regulations
64 Appendix 1
65 Consultation Questions

ADI Assistance Dogs International
AWARE Assisting Wellbeing Ability Recovery and Empowerment Dogs Australia
DDA Disability Discrimination Act 19992 (Cth)
DFNAA Domestic (Feral and Nuisance) Animals Act 1994 (Vic)
EOA Equal Opportunity Act 1995 (Vic)
GDV Guide Dogs Victoria
HREOC Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
IGDF International Guide Dogs Association
SEDA Seeing Eye Dogs Australia
VEOHRC Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission
VLRC Victorian Law Reform Commission

Victorian Law Reform Commission

Professor Neil Rees

Paris Aristotle AM

The Honourable Justice David Harper

Her Honour Judge Felicity Hampel

Professor Sam Ricketson

His Honour Judge Dr Iain Ross AO


Michelle Burrell, Amelia Ie, Simone Marracco

Prepared by the Victorian Law Reform Commission.
The Victorian Law Reform Commission was established under the Victorian Law Reform Commission Act 2000 as a central agency for developing law reform in Victoria.
This report reflects the law as at April 2008.
© May 2008 Victorian Law Reform Commission. This work is protected by the laws of copyright. Except for any uses permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) or equivalent overseas legislation, no part of this work may be reproduced, in any manner or in any medium, without the written permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.
The publications of the Victorian Law Reform Commission follow the Melbourne University Law Review Association Inc Australian Guide to Legal Citations (2nd ed, 2002).
National Library of Australia


Victorian Law Reform Commission
Assistance Animals: Consultation
ISBN 9780975846599 (pbk.)

1. Animals as aids for people with

disabilities - Victoria
2. Working with animals - Law and Legislation - Victoria


Call for Submissions

The Victorian Law Reform Commission invites your comments on this Consultation Paper.

What is a submission?

Submissions are your ideas or opinions about the law being reviewed. Submissions can be anything from a personal story about how a law has affected you, to a research paper complete with footnotes and bibliography.

The commission wants to hear from anyone who has experience with a law under review. It does not matter if you only have one or two points to make; we still want to hear from you.

What is my submission used for?

Submissions help it understand different views and experiences of issues it is researching. Information in submissions is used by the commission, along with other research and comments from meetings, to help develop recommendations.

How do I make my submission?

A submission can be made in several ways: by completing the form on our website, in writing, over the phone or face-to-face. There is no particular form or format you need to follow, however, it would assist the commission if you address the consultation questions listed at the end of the paper.

Submissions can be made by:

  • Online form:

  • Mail: PO Box 4637, GPO Melbourne Vic 3001

  • Email:

  • Fax: 03 8619 8600

  • Phone: (03) 8619 8619, TTY 1300 666 557 or freecall outside the metropolitan area 1300 666 555

  • Face-to-face: Please contact us to make an appointment with one of our researchers.

Assistance in making a submission

  • if you require an interpreter; or

  • if you require some other assistance to have your views on these issues heard, please telephone the commission on (03) 8619 8619, TTY 1300 666 557 or freecall outside the metropolitan area 1300 666 555

If you would like a copy of this paper in an accessible format please contact the commission.


When you make a submission you must decide how you want your submission to be treated. Submissions are either public, anonymous or confidential.

  • Public submissions can be referred to in our reports, uploaded to our website, and made available to the public to read. The names of people or organisations that make submissions will be listed in the appendices of the report.

  • Anonymous submissions can be referred to in our reports and made available to the public but the identity of the author/s will not be revealed.

  • Confidential submissions cannot be referred to in our reports or made available to the public.

Please let us know your preference along with your submission. Our website submission form includes a tick box you can use to indicate your preference. If you do not tell us that you want your submission treated confidentially then we will treat it as public.

Deadline for receipt of Submissions: 18 August 2008


The Victorian Law Reform Commission received a request from the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC) to examine the law in Victoria as it relates to people with a disability who rely on assistance animals.

One of the functions of the Victorian Law Reform Commission is to examine any matter that the Commission considers raises relatively minor legal issues that are of general community concern.1 The commission refers to these types of inquiries as ‘community law reform projects’.

This consultation paper is part of a community law reform project the commission is undertaking on the law on assistance animals.

The VEOHRC is concerned that Victorian law does not adequately protect the rights of such people and there may be cases where the lack of clarity and certainty in the law has led to discrimination.

It is likely that simpler, clearer laws will promote community understanding of the fact that people with a disability who have a trained assistance animal are entitled to be accompanied by the animal throughout their daily lives.This consultation paper examines whether the law can be clarified and improved so that it better protects people’s rights.

The paper looks at the current legal and regulatory framework in Victoria and other Australian jurisdictions, as well as industry practice by those organisations which provide training and other services for assistance animals.

We provide a series of draft proposals that explain how we think some relatively minor changes to the law might improve the situation. We suggest changes to both equal opportunity legislation and the laws regulating animals.

In devising draft proposals the commission has four main aims:

  • To clarify and rationalise the legal right of a person with a disability to use a trained assistance animal throughout his or her daily life;

  • To give greater operational effect to this legal right than currently exists by establishing the framework for an administrative system which would permit a person with a disability to easily establish that he/she was accompanied by a trained assistance animal;

  • To promote community understanding of the fact that people with a disability who have a trained assistance animal are entitled to be accompanied by the animal throughout their daily lives; and

  • To provide certainty for business and the community in relation to health, safety and hygiene issues associated with the use of assistance animals.

We seek your comments and views on those proposals.

Information about how to give us your views (by making a submission) is set out on page 6 and 7. To allow time for the commission to consider your views before deciding on recommendations, please provide your submission by 18 August 2008.

Upon completing our consultations in August, we will produce a final report and recommendations to the Attorney-General by 30 September 2008.

Chapter 1


As I’ve Become More Confident About Working With My Dog, i’ve Rediscovered Much Of The Independence Which Had Been Whittled Away Over The Past Few Years. It’s Independence On Different Terms From Before Because I’m No Longer On My Own And Unencumbered, But It’s A Precious Gift Which I Value Greatly. I Feel As Though I Have Regained My Citizenship’.2


    1. This quote encapsulates the experience of many people with a disability who benefit from using an assistance animal. Unfortunately, some people with a disability do not enjoy the same experience because the law is unclear, confusing and possibly inconsistent. This consultation paper explores these issues and suggests options for law reform that would provide better protection for people with disabilities.

Origins of this community law reform project

    1. For several years, equal opportunity and law reform bodies have recognised the challenges that sometimes face people with a disability who use assistance animals. Between 1999 and 2002, the federal Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) published papers aimed at clarifying the status of assistance animals under the Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act 1992.3 In 1993 HREOC recommended, among other things, that the definition of assistance animal in the Commonwealth legislation be clarified.4

    2. During 2004 and 2005, the Victorian Equal Opportunity Commission (VEOHRC) considered the issues raised by the HREOC inquiry and held a forum with stakeholders that highlighted many issues around the use of assistance animals in Victoria. VEOHRC then approached the Victorian Law Reform Commission with the suggestion that we undertake a community law reform project about the issue.

    3. In 2007, the Victorian government commenced a review of the Equal Opportunity Act 1995 (EOA). The report of that review is due for publication in June 2008.5 Our project does not duplicate that work. Instead, the commission is looking at a very specific aspect of anti-discrimination law – namely the rights and obligations arising from assistance animal partnerships.

Our Process

    1. The commission has conducted initial research and consultation to identify current problems and potential solutions. We have looked at relevant laws in other states and territories. Following this initial research, we have produced this consultation paper which sets out our findings about the current law dealing with assistance animal partnerships as well as some suggestions about how the law may be changed.

    2. The commission now seeks your views. In particular, we want to know if the legal changes we are proposing will work in practice, and whether they can be further improved.

    3. As well as receiving written submissions in response to this consultation paper, the commission will meet businesses, employers, service providers, transport operators, assistance animal training organisations, disability groups, local government, state government departments and statutory agencies including the VEOHRC and the Bureau of Animal Welfare to obtain feedback on our draft proposals.

    4. Following these consultations and consideration of written submissions, the commission will produce a final report, including recommendations, which will be sent to the Attorney-General by the end of September 2008.

Structure of this paper

    1. Chapter 2 explores what assistance animals are, who uses them and the roles assistance animals fulfil. This chapter also provides an overview of how assistance animals are trained, registered and identified in Victoria. It includes some information about discrimination complaints associated with the use of assistance animals.

    2. Chapter 3 describes the key Commonwealth and State legislation that gives rights to people partnered with assistance animals, and it examines the way in which the courts have interpreted this legislation. The chapter identifies some of the limitations of the current law.

    3. Chapter 4 considers the law in other Australian jurisdictions. It considers whether there are lessons that can be learnt in Victoria from those laws.

    4. Chapter 5 proposes a new model of regulating assistance animal partnerships in Victoria. It includes draft proposals for legislative reform.


    1. There are many terms used to describe assistance animals in legislation, academic research and within the industry itself.6 Throughout this paper, the term ‘assistance animal’ refers to sight dogs, hearing dogs, mobility dogs, psychiatric service dogs and other animals trained to support people with a disability in public places, in employment and when accessing goods and services.

    2. These animals have skills that enable them to help a person with a disability both at home and in public places. However, this consultation paper focuses on the role of assistance animals in public places rather than in the private home.

    1. People with disabilities who are assisted by animals are described as ‘assistance animal handlers’. The handler may or may not own the animal.

    2. The team of assistance animal and handler is described as an ‘assistance animal partnership.’

    3. A ‘trainee assistance animal’ is an animal undergoing training to assist a person with a disability. A ‘trainer’ includes a training organisation, private trainer or person with a disability training an animal to perform the functions of an assistance animal.

    4. Throughout this report, the term ‘guide dog’ is used. The commission recognises that ‘guide dog’ specifically refers to those dogs trained by Guide Dogs Australia and its affiliates and that the correct term is ‘dog guide’. The term ‘seeing eye dog’ or ‘sight dog’ may also be used.

    5. However, because most members of the public use the term ‘guide dog’, it is used in this consultation paper to encompass all dogs trained to assist people with visual impairment.

    6. Throughout this paper we use the terms ‘impairment’ and ‘disability’. ‘Impairment’ is the word used in the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act 1995 to describe the attribute or ground upon which it is unlawful to discriminate against a person. ‘Disability’ is the word used with the same purpose in the relevant Commonwealth legislation, the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.

Chapter 2

About Assistance Animals

What are Assistance Animals?

    1. Assistance animals are those that are trained to assist a person with a disability to alleviate some of the effects of the disability. Assistance animals provide their owners with independence, a sense of self-confidence, safety, mobility and self-esteem. Studies have shown that the use of assistance animals promotes health, mobility, social interaction and facilitates employment.7

    2. While guide dogs have a long and established history in Australia, other types of assistance animals are relatively new. Hearing dogs were first introduced in Australia in the 1980s.8 Organisations training assistance animals for people with non-vision or hearing related disabilities only began to appear in the late 1990s.9 As a result, the assistance animals industry is still small and developing.

    3. Despite this, the demand for assistance animals already far exceeds supply.Waiting lists are common, and may be up to 12 months long. This is because training an assistance animal is time-consuming and expensive. According to Seeing Eye Dogs Australia (SEDA), it takes up to two years and costs about $30,000 to train a dog to the required level.

    4. Types of assistance animals used in Australia are listed in the table below.

1011121314Types of Assistance Animals

Guide Dogs or seeing eye dogs, are trained to help blind or visually-impaired people to move around safely. The person chooses the direction the team will travel, while the dog makes sure that they safely negotiate obstacles like stairs, kerbs or traffic on the chosen route.

Hearing Dogs are trained to help deaf or hearing-impaired people by alerting them to specific sounds. These may include a doorbell, alarm clock, telephone, smoke alarm or crying baby. A hearing dog alerts its handler to a sound by making physical contact and leading the owner to the source of the sound.

Mobility Support Animals are trained to help people with physical disabilities who use wheelchairs or have difficulty walking or moving. Mobility support animals can pull a wheelchair or help people to walk by providing stability. They may also be trained to open and close doors, retrieve and carry items, turn light switches on and off, and other day-to-day tasks as needed by their handler. They are sometimes called ‘assistance dogs’ or ‘service dogs’.

Medical Alert Animals are trained to assist their handlers before and during a medical emergency such as a seizure or diabetic episode. They can recognise early warning signs that a medical emergency is about to occur and are trained to alert their owner by making physical contact. Medical alert animals may also be trained to assist by:

  1. lying on top of their handler during a seizure to prevent the owners from injuring themselves

  2. helping their handler to become reoriented and mobile after a seizure

  3. going for help.

Psychiatric service animals, sometimes called ‘service dogs’ are trained to provide support to people with psychiatric disabilities. They may assist people with disabilities including bipolar disorder, panic disorder, depression, schizophrenia and autism. The tasks performed are tailored to the needs of the individual handler. They may include:

  1. alerting their handler to the onset of a manic episode or panic attack;

  2. providing a focus point during an episode;

  3. providing tactile stimulation to alleviate severe depression;

  4. helping people to identify when they are hallucinating.

    1. Not all animals that help people with disability are assistance animals. The table below sets out some of these.

1516Animals not legally considered to be assistance animals

Companion or ’pet’ animals are not assistance animals. Assistance animals must be trained to assist a person to alleviate the effects of their disability.

If you do not have a disability your animal is not an assistance animal even if it provides you with comfort or emotional support.

If you do have a disability but your animal is not specifically trained to assist you by alleviating the effects of your disability, your animal is not an assistance animal. House training or general obedience training is not training to assist a person to alleviate the effects of a disability, nor is the provision of comfort only.

Therapy animals are used to improve a person’s general quality of life and to facilitate counselling or psychotherapy. They are often used to assist older people and people with low severity physical, emotional, intellectual or developmental disabilities. They are not trained to the same standard as assistance animals and are not trained for public access.

Facility animals visit people living in hospitals, mental health units, nursing homes and rehabilitation centres to assist treatment or recovery and improve their quality of life through contact with an animal.

    1. In Australia, it is very rare for animals other than dogs to be assistance animals. The commission was unable to identify any formal training organisation in Australia that trains species other than dogs to be assistance animals. However, in other countries formal organisations have successfully trained other animals. In the United States miniature ponies have been trained to assist people with sight impairments.17 Other animals such as monkeys have been trained to assist people with quadriplegia by taking on tasks in the home like fetching items from a fridge, pouring a drink and inserting a DVD.18

    2. There is controversy over the suitability of other species to undertake assistance roles. There are public health concerns and animal welfare concerns. For example, the Australian community may not feel comfortable with domesticating a monkey for use as an assistance animal.

Who uses an assistance animal?

    1. People must have a disability for their animal to be considered an assistance animal.19 Those with vision impairment most commonly use assistance animals. However, people with many types of disability use them for everyday support including people with hearing or mobility impairments, people with mental health disability, people with epilepsy,20 cerebral palsy,21 or post-traumatic stress disorder. The commission’s research suggests that assistance animals are most commonly used by people who have had a disability for an extended period.22

    2. Assistance animals may not be suitable for all people and all disabilities.Some people do not like animals, have allergies, or are unwilling to take on the expense, time and responsibility that an assistance animal partnership requires. While assistance animals can provide important help to some individuals, others prefer to use devices such as canes, wheelchairs or mobility aids.

How Many people Use Assistance Animals?

    1. It is difficult to establish the number of people in Victoria using assistance animals. This is because the use and training of assistance animals is unregulated. While training organisations keep their own records, these do not include any animals trained outside the organisation such as privately trained assistance animals.

    2. While it is impossible to quantify exact numbers, records of training organisations suggest that SEDA and Guide Dogs Victoria (GDV)23 support about 250 assistance animal partnerships in Victoria between them.

Will Assistance Animals Become More Common?

    1. As the industry grows and the community becomes more aware of the role and value of assistance animals, it is possible that the demand for assistance animals will grow. One million Victorians, or 20 % of the population have some form of disability.24 Some 1.2 million Australians (or 6.3% of the population) always or sometimes need assistance with self-care, mobility or communication.25 This figure has increased by nearly 10% since 1998.26 Demographic trends suggest that as Australia’s population grows and ages, the number of Australians with a disability will continue to rise. Assistance animals may play an increasing role in this future environment.

Who trains assistance animals?

    1. Most assistance animals are trained by formal training organisations. These are usually charities and provide their services free or at a low cost.27 They receive funding from public donations, sponsorship and government grants. Training organisations often provide a range of additional services including ongoing support, advocacy and information.

    2. Most training organisations have an application process requiring evidence of the disability. The type of evidence required varies from organisation to organisation. Applicants may be required to obtain a referral, attend an interview or assessment, complete questionnaires about the type and level of their disability, and supply doctor’s reports, medical histories and personal references.

    3. Some training organisations place other limitations on the acquisition of an assistance animal. For example, some organisations have age restrictions and do not provide assistance animals to young children or people aged over 75.

    4. In Victoria, GDV and Seeing Eye Dogs Australia (SEDA) train most assistance animals. Victorians with non-vision related disabilities must generally look interstate for assistance animals.28

Assistance animal training providers in Victoria

Guide Dogs Victoria — based in Victoria, sight dogs only, International Guide Dogs Federation (IGDF) member

Seeing Eye Dogs Australia — based in Victoria, sight dogs only, IGDF member

Righteous Pups — based in Victoria, autism assistance dogs for children

Assistance Dogs Australia — based in NSW, physical disability, Australia wide, Assistance Dogs International (ADI) member

Assisting Wellbeing Ability Recovery and Empowerment (AWARE) Dogs Australia — based in QLD, psychiatric service dogs, provides training course for self-trainers, Australia wide, ADI member

Canine Helpers for the Disabled — based in QLD, hearing and mobility dogs for a range of disabilities, provides animals across Australia, ADI member

Disability Aid Dogs Australia — based in QLD, range of disabilities, provides assistance dogs, courses on how to train your own assistance dog, Australia wide

Lions Hearing Dogs — based in SA, hearing dogs only, provides animals across Australia and PNG, ADI member

Informal training

    1. People with a disability sometimes approach private trainers to train their assistance animal. Alternatively, people with disability may wish to learn how to train their existing dog to be an assistance animal and do the training themselves.

    2. There are several reasons why people may choose to train their assistance animals themselves or use individual trainers. For example, there may be no formal training organisation that trains animals to perform tasks for people with particular disabilities. As demand for formally trained assistance animals exceeds supply, there are often long waiting lists. Consequently, people with the means may prefer to pay for the training.

    3. There is little publicly available information about informal training of assistance animals. However, it appears to be more common for people with mobility or psychiatric disabilities to have informally trained animals, than those with a vision or hearing impairment. This may be a result of the smaller number of formal training organisations for assistance animals other than dog guides and hearing dogs, or the nature of the training required.

Training standards

    1. In Victoria, there is no legal regulation of who can train an assistance animal and how training must be conducted. However, various organisations have developed their own standards of training and/or operate to international standards. The industry is self-regulated.

    2. Many formal training organisations use clear and rigorous quality standards devised over years of practice. This provides a measure of confidence that an assistance animal will be able to perform its required tasks.

    3. While internal standards exist in training organisations, for private trainers or people who train their own dog, there are no mandatory or voluntary guidelines to follow. This is not to say that informally trained animals are not well trained. Rather, there is no clear mechanism for verifying that appropriate training has occurred. 29

    4. Some formal training organisations are prepared to provide certification to privately trained assistance animals. Canine Helpers for the Disabled (QLD)30 runs a private certification program that evaluates and develops the teamwork skills of informally trained assistance animals so they can be certified according to international training standards.31 Entry is only available in very limited circumstances and only to people from South East Queensland.

    5. Similarly, some existing organisations, such as A.W.A.R.E Dogs, train owners so that they can train their existing animal to become an assistance animal. This service is provided to Victorians. A fee is charged to cover the training organisation’s cost.32 Disability Aid Dogs also provides support to people wishing to train their own animal.33

International training standards

    1. Most commonly, organisations affiliate themselves with international representative bodies which require their members to comply with fixed training and operational standards. The International Guide Dog Federation (IGDF) and Assistance Dogs International (ADI) are two international bodies which publish standards for training.

International Guide Dogs Federation

    1. IGDF is a UK based organisation that has operated since 1989. It currently has members worldwide, including GDV and SEDA. IGDF has a set of standards with which all members are required to comply. The standards cover a range of areas including training, the health and welfare of guide dogs, fundraising, record keeping and school facilities.

    2. To be eligible for membership, training organisations must have been operating for more than five years and have trained at least 20 guide dogs. New members must complete an accreditation process. The IGDF conducts a five-yearly review of its members.34

Assistance Dogs International

    1. Assistance Dogs International (ADI) has operated since 1987. It represents people who train many types of assistance dogs including guide dogs, hearing dogs, mobility dogs, seizure alert dogs and psychiatric service dogs. It has members worldwide, including several that provide assistance animals to Victorians.35 To become a member, a training organisation must be a charity. When applying they must provide a copy of the organisation’s rules, a recommendation from an existing ADI member and references from five past clients.

    2. All ADI members must comply with separate standards for the training and care of each type of assistance dog, ethical standards dealing with the provision of client services, treatment of animals and the organisational structure of member schools. A compliance committee monitors whether members are complying with the standards.36

How are assistance animals currently identified?

    1. In Victoria, assistance animals and their handlers are not legally required to carry identification proving that the animal is a genuine assistance animal.

    2. In practice, most people in an assistance animal partnership carry some form of identification when they are in public. This is for two reasons. Firstly, without identification it is very difficult to prove that an animal is a genuine assistance animal and not a pet. Having identification may help to avoid potentially humiliating and discriminatory situations. Second, clearly identifying an assistance animal as a working animal can help to prevent people from distracting the animal.

    3. Because there is no official identification system, individual training organisations supply their clients with their own identification equipment. There are broad similarities between the types of identification equipment used across the industry. Common types of identification include identification cards, harnesses, and coloured jackets or backpacks. However, the specific type and detail of identification equipment varies according to the training organisation and the type of assistance the animal provides.

    4. Identification equipment usually displays the training organisation’s logo. For training organisations, displaying their logo on animals working in public is an important way of promoting their services and making their organisation stand out from others.

    5. Identification is an important issue that any new regulation of assistance animals would need to address because it would assist in creating clarity and certainty for people in an assistance animal partnership. It may also help protect against discrimination. This is discussed further in Chapter 5 which explains options for establishing a simple identification scheme for assistance animals.

How common is discrimination against assistance animal partnerships?

    1. It is likely that discrimination against animal partnerships is more prevalent than complaint numbers to Commonwealth and State human rights bodies indicate. People who have suffered discrimination may choose to take no action for many reasons. They may feel too upset, embarrassed, or afraid to follow up an incident.

    2. People who suffer discrimination because they are accompanied by assistance animals may respond in various ways. These range from taking no action, to resolving the matter informally with the business or service, to making a discrimination complaint to the formal complaints handling body. In the State jurisdiction, this is the VEOHRC. In the Commonwealth jurisdiction, it is the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC).

    3. Both VHREOC and HREOC resolve many complaints via conciliation. Conciliation is free and aims to help parties resolve the complaint without going to court.Outcomes range from apologies, to guarantees of access and changed policies, to payments of financial compensation.

    4. If conciliation is not successful, the complainant may choose to take the matter to a court or tribunal to obtain a final, binding decision.37 Litigation is usually a last resort because it can be a very stressful, time-consuming and expensive. Victorian complaints are heard by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. Commonwealth complaints are heard by either the Federal Court of Australia or the Federal Magistrates Court. These bodies have the power to make orders concerning legal rights and obligations and to award compensation. Only a small number of disputes proceed to litigation.

Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission Complaints

    1. An analysis of the complaints and enquiries received by the VEOHRC between 1999 and 2006 shows that 18 formal complaints of discrimination relating to an assistance animal were received.38

    2. Most VEOHRC complaints involved guide dogs (seven complaints) or hearing dogs (six complaints). One complaint involved a psychiatric service dog. One person, who was partnered with a dog whose assistance role was unclear, lodged four complaints.39

    3. In two cases, the complainant did not have an assistance animal, but suffered discrimination because he or she was accompanied by a person who did. In one case, a doctor refused to see a sick child unless her vision-impaired mother left her guide dog outside the examination room. In another case, an injured woman was not permitted to be accompanied by her hearing-impaired son in an ambulance because the son had a hearing dog.

    4. In most cases, the assistance animal was formally trained and some form of identification was used. Most of these complaints arose because access was denied to business premises (seven complaints) or transport (six complaints). There were two complaints about access to housing or accommodation, and another two complaints about access to medical facilities.

    5. Of the 18 complaints lodged with the VEOHRC, 14 were accepted and four were declined for lack of substance. The majority of investigated cases (nine out of 14) were resolved through conciliation (five) or withdrawn voluntarily following receipt of a written apology (four).

    6. Transport is an area where specific complaints mechanisms also exist. The Transport Ombudsman reports that they have had three complaints since they opened in 2004.40 The Victorian Taxi Inspectorate reports 37 complaints for the period 2004-2008. 41

Chapter 3

Regulation of Assistance Animals in Victoria

The Law in Victoria

    1. In Victoria, there is no single law that deals comprehensively with assistance animals. There are four different Victorian Acts and 13 regulations containing provisions that apply to assistance animal partnerships.42

    2. In addition, there are Commonwealth laws that operate alongside Victorian laws and establish concurrent rights for all people with a disability using assistance animals, regardless of the type of disability or assistance animal.43

Domestic (Feral and Nuisance) Animals Act 1994

    1. The Domestic (Feral and Nuisance) Animals Act (“the DFNAA”) is the main Victorian legislation regulating public access for people with assistance animals. However, as its name suggests, the DFNAA is not specifically an Act about assistance animals. Its main purpose is to regulate feral animals, dangerous dogs and pet dogs and cats.44

    2. The rights granted by the DFNAA are contained in section 7 which is headed ‘exemptions for guide dogs’. Sections 7(1), (2) and (3) are reasonably clear: they exempt a guide dog from the nuisance and registration fee aspects of the Act that apply to all other dogs.

    3. However, the right to be accompanied by an assistance animal contained in the DFNAA only applies to certain disabilities, and it is practically unenforceable. Section 7(4) says that ‘a visually impaired person, hearing impaired person or person training a guide dog may, at all times and in all places, be accompanied by a dog kept and used, or trained by him or her as a guide dog’.

    4. It is highly likely that section 7(4) cannot be read literally, for otherwise it would interfere with private property rights. 45 It probably means that the three categories of people referred to in the sub-section are entitled to be accompanied by a guide dog at all times when in all of the places those people are lawfully permitted to be.46 In addition, the Act does not provide an enforcement mechanism for this ‘right’ to be accompanied by a guide dog. It does not impose obligations upon anyone and it does not contain a sanction if a visually or hearing impaired person accompanied by a guide dog is refused access to any place where that person is entitled to be.

    5. Under the DFNAA, trainee guide dogs and hearing dogs have the same status as fully trained dogs. However, the Act does not define the term ‘trained’. Nor does it specify any training standards for assistance animals.47

The Equal Opportunity Act

    1. The EOA also recognises assistance animal partnerships. It contains a provision which specifically deals with some forms of assistance animal partnerships (guide dogs).48

    2. There are also provisions of general application which probably render it unlawful to discriminate against assistance animal partnerships in some circumstances.49

    3. Section 52(1) of the EOA provides that ‘[a] person must not refuse to provide accommodation, to a person with visual, hearing or mobility impairment because that person has a guide dog.’ It is discriminatory to:

  • refuse a person access to business premises or accommodation50

  • to require the person to pay extra for the dog

  • to keep the dog elsewhere as a condition of entry.51

    1. A person whose disability is not visual, hearing and mobility related, falls beyond the protective scope of this specific provision concerning the use of guide dogs. This section of the EOA does not protect individuals with psychological disabilities. In this regard, it provides less protection than the Commonwealth DDA. Further, this provision is limited to the area of accommodation only. It does not apply to the other areas of activity regulated by the Act such as employment, education, and the provision of goods and services.

General anti- discrimination provisions

    1. However, the EOA also contains provisions that prohibit direct or indirect discrimination 52 because of a person’s disability in many different areas, such as, employment, education, provision of goods and services, and club and sports membership.

    2. Direct discrimination occurs when a person with an attribute protected by the Act, such as impairment, is treated less favourably, because of that attribute, than another person who does not possess that attribute. It is also unlawful to treat a person less favourably than others because of a characteristic associated with a particular attribute protected by the Act. The characteristic may be either one which a person with an attribute ‘generally has’, or one ‘that is generally imputed to a person with that attribute’. 53

    3. Whether a characteristic falls within either category is a question of fact to be determined by the evidence in each particular case. It is strongly arguable, however, that a person who is vision or hearing impaired would be able to establish that being accompanied by an assistance animal is an attribute that a person with an impairment of that nature ‘generally has’. Consequently, as a result of the operation of the ‘characteristics extension’ in s 7(2) of the EOA it may be unlawful to discriminate against some people with some impairments when accompanied by some assistance animals in all of the areas of activity governed by Part 3 of the EOA.54

    4. Indirect discrimination occurs when a condition or requirement that applies equally to all persons operates to the disadvantage a particular group and is not reasonable.55 In these circumstances discrimination occurs because people of that group find it more difficult than others to comply with the particular condition or requirement.

    5. The indirect discrimination provisions may apply when a person who is accompanied by an assistance animal when engaging in one of the areas of activity governed by the EOA sustains some detriment, or is denied some benefit, because of using the animal. If, for example, a restaurant or a store refused entry to all people accompanied by an animal this practice would have a disproportionate impact upon people with an impairment accompanied by an assistance animal because those people would not be able to use the services provided by that business. Telling a person with a disability that they cannot enter premises with their assistance animal effectively denies them entry.56 Unless the practice was found to be reasonable, the restaurant or store owner would have engaged in unlawful indirect discrimination in contravention of the EOA.

Qualifications within the EOA

    1. The general rights conferred by the EOA are qualified in some instances. For example, a person may refuse to provide a service to a person with an impairment if they are not reasonably capable of providing the service in the special manner required, or, if doing so would be more onerous for the service provider. 57

    2. It is important to note that qualification applies to ‘services’ only. However, ‘services’ is broadly defined in the EOA to include access to and use of public places, banking and financial services, provision of entertainment, recreation or refreshment, transport, and the services of any profession, trade or business. Services also includes those provided by state and local government or a public authority, but does not include education or training. 58 Hence, the qualification applies to many of the services and places that assistance animal partnerships need to access.

Other Victorian laws and regulations

    1. In addition to the DFNAA and the EOA there are a variety of Acts and regulations which give assistance animal partnerships specific rights.59

    2. These laws fall into three broad areas:

  • major public events;

  • national parks, reserves and gardens; and

  • public transport, taxis and other commercial passenger vehicles.

    1. There are significant differences in the types of assistance animal recognised and the extent of the rights protected in each area. Some laws supply a definition explaining what an ‘assistance animal’ is, and some do not. Many use the term ‘guide dog’ as a catch-all label to describe different types of assistance animals. Most enactments only recognise dogs, but a small number recognise other types of animals. Trainee assistance animals are sometimes but not often recognised.

    2. Victorian human rights legislation is also relevant to any discussion of assistance animal law.

    3. The Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 includes the right to be free from discrimination.60 The Charter applies to all public authorities and includes organisations contracted to provide a public service on behalf of the Victorian government, such as public transport authorities.61 The Charter makes it ‘unlawful for a public authority to act in a way that is incompatible with a human right or, in making a decision, to fail to give proper consideration to a relevant human right’.62

Commonwealth legislation

Disability Discrimination Act

    1. The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) operates alongside Victorian legislation. It imposes additional requirements and obligations. Section 13(3) of the DDA explicitly provides that the Commonwealth law does not exclude state laws if they are consistent and able to operate concurrently. However, if there is an inconsistency, federal law will over-ride state law.63

Section 9 DDA

    1. Section 9 of the DDA makes it unlawful to treat a person ‘less favourably’ because the person has or is accompanied by an assistance animal. In effect, it establishes a specific sub-category of discrimination on the ground of disability.64

    2. It is much broader than the guide dog provision in the Victorian EOA.65 It applies to all disabilities, to all trained assistance animals and to all areas of activity governed by the DDA. These include employment, access to business premises, public transport or public events, and to obtaining accommodation. The DDA makes it clear that this right must be respected even if a person or business has a policy against allowing animals, or normally imposes conditions upon people accompanied by animals.66 However, this is qualified when there is ‘unjustifiable hardship’67. This is discussed further below.68

    3. The DDA does not specifically require an assistance animal to be under the control of its user.69 However, section 9(2) specifies that a person possessing or accompanied by an assistance animal may remain liable for damage to property caused by the assistance animal.

    4. Section 9 recognises not only guide dogs and hearing dogs, but also ‘any other animal trained to assist the aggrieved person to alleviate the effects of the disability’.70 This means that any animal trained to assist with any kind of disability is recognised. ‘Trained’ is not defined. Nor does the DDA indicate how assistance animals are to be recognised by the public.

    5. The courts have interpreted the DDA definition of ‘assistance animal’ very broadly. In Sheehan v Tin Can Bay Country Club,71 the Federal Magistrates Court held that an informally trained dog that helped a man with an anxiety disorder to feel more confident by ‘breaking the ice’ in social interactions was an assistance animal for the purposes of the DDA.

General anti-discrimination provisions

    1. Section 5 of the DDA defines direct discrimination, whilst section 6 contains a general description of indirect discrimination on the ground of disability.

    2. On the face of it, section 9 is a sub-category of direct discrimination. However, some people have brought claims under either or both sections of the DDA.72 Other cases have been decided on the grounds of indirect discrimination in the areas of access to premises or provision of services, without the need to examine section 9 of the DDA.73 It has been noted that ‘the nature of the stand-alone provisions tends to lend itself to a lack of clarity’ and can ‘…potentially result in confusion and overlapping claims’. 74

Qualifications within the DDA - unjustifiable hardship

    1. The DDA does not contain an express provision requiring employers or providers of goods to make ‘reasonable accommodation’ to facilitate access or participation by a person with a disability.75 Under the DDA it is unlawful to discriminate against a person with a disability who is accompanied by an assistance animal in any of the areas of activity governed by the Act unless one of the specific exceptions applies.

    2. There are circumstances where refusing access to a person accompanied by an assistance animal may be lawful. For example, under section 24 (2) of the DDA it is not unlawful to discriminate against a person on the ground of disability in the provision of goods and services, or making facilities available, if such provision would result in ‘unjustifiable hardship’. It is up to a person claiming ‘unjustifiable hardship” to argue on the facts of a particular case that it would impose unjustifiable hardship were he or she compelled not to discriminate.

    3. ‘Unjustifiable hardship’ does not apply to all activities governed by the DDA.76 ‘Unjustifiable hardship’ is a question of fact in each case but the DDA provides a non-exhaustive list of considerations that may be taken into account when determining whether a person has established ‘unjustifiable hardship’. Section 11 provides that relevant circumstances include:

(a) the nature of the benefit or detriment likely to accrue or be suffered by any persons concerned; and

(b) the effect of the disability on a person concerned; and

(c) the financial circumstances and the estimated amount of expenditure required to be made by the person claiming unjustifiable hardship; and

(d) in the case of the provision of services, or the making available of facilities – an action plan given to the Commissioner under s64.77

    1. The burden of proof rests on the person who wishes to be excused from complying with a general obligation not to discriminate. It is not easy to establish unjustifiable hardship. In the view of the HREOC establishing unjustifiable hardship in cases involving assistance animals will ‘very rarely be possible’.78

HREOC exemptions

    1. The DDA also contains a provision allowing HREOC to grant individual exemptions from compliance with some provisions in the Act for a specified period of time.79 In 2007 HREOC granted the Australasian Railways Association80 a temporary exemption from sections 23 and 24 of the DDA in relation to assistance animals. The exemption will operate until 2010.81

    2. The exemption allows the rail operators to refuse access to a person who claims to be accompanied by an assistance animal unless that person can show evidence that the animal has been trained to alleviate the effects of the passenger’s disability. The passenger must also prove the animal is of an appropriate breed and temperament and has been trained to meet appropriate standards of behavior. Registration of the animal as an assistance animal (in jurisdictions where registration schemes exist) or identification as a guide or hearing dog will satisfy as proof.82

Federal Case law on assistance animals

    1. Sheehan v Tin Can Bay Country Club83 examined the meaning of section 9(1)(f) of the DDA. The applicant (Mr Sheehan) had self-trained a dog to help ‘break the ice’ and make him feel more confident in social settings. The symptoms of Mr Sheehan’s disability included a concern about meeting people and how people reacted to him. It was accepted by the respondent that Mr Sheehan had a disability for the purposes of the DDA.

    2. Having previously taken his dog to the local golf club, Mr Sheehan received a letter from the club stating that he could not bring his dog onto the premises unless the dog was leashed. Mr Sheehan claimed direct discrimination.

    3. The Federal Magistrates Court held that an informally trained dog that helped a man with an anxiety disorder to feel more confident by ‘breaking the ice’ in social interactions was an assistance animal for the purposes of the DDA. In that case, the respondent club was found to have indirectly discriminated against the applicant when it refused to permit the applicant’s unleashed dog on the premises.84

    4. HREOC criticised the decision in Sheehan as rendering the operation of section 9 ‘unsustainable in its current form’. They considered the current definition to be unsustainable because:

[t]he concept of ‘assistance’ used here appears so broad as to entitle any person with a disability to be accompanied by the animal of their choice since it will always be possible to claim that an animal provides companionship, a talking point in social interaction and a greater sense of security, and that these effects alleviate the effect of a person’s disability.85

    1. Difficulties with the interpretation of section 9(1)(f) of the DDA also arose in the more recent case of Forest v Queensland Health86 . In that case, the applicant, Mr Forest, suffered from a personality disorder and claimed that he had trained two dogs as assistance dogs to mitigate the anxiety and distress he experienced because of his disorder. Mr Forest attended the Cairns Base Hospital and the Smithfield Community Health Centre accompanied by one of his assistance dogs. Notwithstanding Mr Forest’s assertions that his dog was an assistance animal within the meaning of the DDA, representatives of Queensland Health advised Mr Forest that he would not be treated while accompanied by a dog. Mr Forest claimed that Queensland Health had unlawfully discriminated against him on the ground of disability in relation to access to premises and the provision of services.

    2. It was accepted that Mr Forest had a disability under the DDA. The issue for the court was whether the dogs were assistance animals under section 9 of the DDA. The Court found that the training that had been provided to Mr Forest’s dogs87 and the tasks they performed were sufficient for them to be classed as assistance animals.88

    3. Collier J found that ‘the fact that the dogs provide both companionship and therapy to the applicant does not in my view derogate from the performance of tasks which potentially assist in alleviating the effect of the applicant’s disability’.89

    4. The Court noted that the lack of clarity in the DDA precipitates confusion between owners of assistance animals and service providers.90


    1. In Victoria, various laws recognise and protect assistance animals in different ways. Some Victorian laws distinguish between people partnered with assistance animals depending on the nature of their disability and the type of animal that is used.

    2. Having laws that recognise certain disabilities and not others causes confusion and is inequitable. There is no sound reason for providing different levels of legal protection according to the type of disability. It offends human rights principles, including the right to equality before the law.

    3. Some laws are vague and may create conflicting rights and obligations. This makes the law confusing and impractical both for people using assistance animals and for the broader community.

    4. There have been reported incidents where people with disabilities accompanied by an assistance animal, such as a guide dog, have been refused entry into taxis, restaurants, 91 health services, and accommodation92 even after explaining that the animal is a trained assistance animal. The main problems with the current law are set out in the table on page 33.

    5. The next chapter looks at how other states regulate assistance animal partnerships. It is included to help the reader consider what works and does not work in other places. It also discusses some of the reform processes taking place in other states and territories.

Problems with Law

Gaps in legal protection

Most Victoria laws recognise only guide dogs and hearing dogs. In contrast, the Commonwealth legislation recognises a much broader range of assistance animals and disabilities.

No clear definition of ‘assistance animal’

Victorian legislation does not clearly define ‘assistance animals’. Different terms are used in different pieces of legislation. Most commonly, the term ‘guide dog’ is used, however, this is also inconsistently defined.

Most, but not all, Victorian laws recognise only dogs as legitimate assistance animals. Commonwealth law explicitly recognises any animal trained to alleviate the effects of a disability.

The Commonwealth definition does not define key terms such as ‘trained’.

Protection for trainee animals is unclear

While some laws treat trainee assistance animals the same as fully trained assistance animals, some do not mention trainee assistance animals at all.

Absence of training standards and guidelines

There are no uniform training standards for assistance animals in Victoria. People who train assistance animals are not legally required to have any qualifications or experience. The current law does not provide adequate support when the person with a disability trains their assistance animal.

No registration scheme

Local council dog registration does not specify that the dog is an assistance animal. The absence of reliable records makes it difficult to identify and access the assistance animal community as a whole, and to develop policies and services for their benefit.

No universal identification

People who use assistance animals are not legally required to carry identification. Because no uniform identification exists, businesses and service providers must be able to recognise a wide variety of different identification features. At the same time people with disability may be subject to humiliating questioning about the nature of their disability.

Chapter 4

Other jurisdictions


    1. All Australian jurisdictions have laws dealing with assistance animals. Each adopts a different approach to protecting access rights and regulating the use and training of assistance animals.

Australian Capital territory (ACT)

    1. The ACT has specific legislation dealing solely with assistance animals.

    2. The Domestic Animals Act 2000 defines an assistance animal as ‘an animal trained to help a person with a disability to alleviate the effect of the disability’. ‘Trained’ is not defined.

    3. The Act provides that a person with a disability93, who is accompanied by an assistance animal, has the same right of access to, and use of, a public place as a person not accompanied by an assistance animal.94 It also prohibits additional charging when an assistance animal accompanies a person.95 The Act prohibits a person from excluding or removing either an assistance animal, or their handler from a public place. This is subject to a broad exception of ‘reasonable excuse’ contained in the legislation.96

    4. Trainee assistance animals are not recognised. There are no specific training requirements for assistance animals in the ACT. However, assistance animals must be registered with the local council.97

    5. ACT anti-discrimination legislation also prohibits discrimination by treating a person ‘unfavourably’ in any circumstances because they possess or are accompanied by an assistance animal.98

New South Wales (NSW)

    1. In NSW, as in Victoria, assistance animals are regulated under legislation that deals with all sorts of animals including pets and dangerous dogs.

    2. The Companion Animals Act 1998 defines an assistance animal as one referred to in section 9 of the Commonwealth DDA.

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