Australia

Given the dualist nature of the Australian legal system, the potential for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) to impact on case law is seemingly limited. Nevertheless, a wide range of Australian courts have referenced the Convention in their judgments, and the Convention has certainly been used to bolster or support the reasoning of courts in a number of cases, with at least one court going as far as interpreting Convention provisions and using this interpretation to further the development of domestic law on disability rights. On the other hand, Australian courts have also on occasions explicitly stated that they found the Convention to be inapplicable or irrelevant and have given a variety of reasons for reaching this finding. The Australian cases explored in this chapter therefore represent a wide diversity of judicial responses to the CRPD, and provide the basis for a fruitful discussion and analysis.