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Discrimination - Laws apply to decisions made outside the country |
A blind man who is a third dan black belt was denied entry to a judo world tournament being held in Queensland. |
The man won a gold medal at the Atlanta Paralympics, was awarded the Australian sports medal, and hopes to be considered for the Australian judo team for both the Olympics and Paralympic Games in Beijing. |
The judo organisation held that he couldn't enter the tournament because of his disability. The organisation is registered in New Zealand, though some of its executive live in Australia. |
The organisation argued that Australian courts were not in a position to hear the case as the decision was made by the organisation outside of Australia. |
However, the court decided that where the decision was made did not prevent it from examining whether the action was unlawful under the Disability Discrimination Act, because the consequences of the decision were felt in Australia, and that if the Act's powers were to be limited in this way, then its impact could be avoided by making decisions offshore. |
