Jones and the Scout Association of Australia, Australian Capital Territory Branch Incorporated

The parties involved in the dispute were Jones, the complainant, and the Scout Association of Australia, Australian Capital Territory Branch Incorporated, the respondent. The nature of the dispute involved a complaint of discrimination in the provision of services. The case was heard in the Australian Capital Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal. The respondent sought to have the complaint struck out on the basis that it was misconceived, arguing that it was exempt from the provisions of the Discrimination Act 1991 due to its status as a voluntary body. The legal issues the court had to decide were whether the respondent was indeed a voluntary body exempt from the Act and, if so, whether the complaint was without substance.

The court considered whether the respondent was a voluntary body as defined by the Act. It examined the nature and purpose of the respondent's activities and the extent to which it was controlled by the government. The court determined that the respondent was not a voluntary body as it was subject to a significant degree of government control, thereby not qualifying for the exemption. Having established that the respondent was not exempt, the court then assessed whether the complaint had substance. The court concluded that the complaint did have substance and thus the application to strike out the complaint was not warranted.

Consequently, the application by the Scout Association of Australia, Australian Capital Territory Branch Incorporated, to have the complaint struck out was dismissed. The court found that the complaint was not misconceived and therefore had substance. The decision underscores the importance of correctly identifying the nature of an organisation to determine its obligations under discrimination legislation. The final order was that the complaint forwarded to the Tribunal on 25 September 2006 was not to be struck out.