Waters & Ors v Public Transport Corporation

The parties to this matter were the Public Transport Corporation (the respondent) and nine individual appellants, along with organisations representing them (the appellants). The dispute concerned the Public Transport Corporation's decision in late 1989 to implement a new ticketing system involving "scratch" tickets and the removal of conductors from trams. This decision was alleged to cause severe hardship and exclusion from public transport for the individual appellants due to their disabilities, a fact that was not in dispute. The case came before the High Court of Australia on appeal from a decision of Phillips J.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the Public Transport Corporation's decision to introduce the new ticketing system and remove conductors constituted unlawful discrimination under the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (Vic). Specifically, the court was required to determine if the severe hardship and exclusion experienced by the appellants, as a consequence of their disabilities, amounted to discrimination prohibited by the Act. The appellants contended that the impact of the Corporation's decision was to cause hardship to which other members of the travelling community were not subjected, and at worst, resulted in their total exclusion from the public transport system.