If you run a business in Australia, your website almost certainly needs to work for people with disability. No law spells out “websites must meet standard X”. But the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 makes it unlawful to discriminate against people with disability when you provide goods or services, and the Australian Human Rights Commission has published guidelines on how that applies to websites, apps and other digital products. Here’s what that means for a small business, what has happened in Australia so far and what to do about it.
The short version: yes, in most cases. The Disability Discrimination Act applies to any business that provides goods or services, including through its website, and there’s no small business exemption. There are no automatic fines. Instead, a person who can’t use your site can complain to the Australian Human Rights Commission and, if that doesn’t resolve it, take you to court. The Commission points to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as the standard to meet. Aim for WCAG 2.2 Level AA, fix the site itself rather than adding a widget, and keep it up as your site changes.
What the law says
Section 24 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 makes it unlawful for anyone who provides goods or services, paid or free, to discriminate against a person because of their disability. That covers refusing to serve someone, offering them worse terms, or the way the service is provided.
A website is often how a business provides its service, or the front door to it. If a blind customer can’t book with you because your booking form doesn’t work with a screen reader, or someone who can’t use a mouse can’t get past your menu, that can amount to discrimination in the way you provide your service.
A few other things are worth knowing:
- There’s no small business exemption. The Act applies to businesses of every size.
- Not making reasonable adjustments can itself be discrimination. The Act expects you to make reasonable changes so people with disability aren’t disadvantaged.
- There’s a defence of unjustifiable hardship. If a change would cost or burden your business more than is reasonable, that can be a defence. It’s judged case by case, looking at things like the cost, the benefit to people with disability and your financial position. Most website fixes are modest, so it isn’t a defence to plan around.
- State laws can apply too. State anti-discrimination laws, including Queensland’s, also cover disability discrimination.
- The law is under review. The Federal Government is reviewing the Disability Discrimination Act, including how reasonable adjustments and unjustifiable hardship work.
What has happened in Australia
Australia had one of the world’s first website accessibility decisions. In 1999, Bruce Maguire, who is blind, complained that the Sydney Olympics website didn’t work for him. Images had no text descriptions, he couldn’t navigate from the schedule to the index of sports, and results tables weren’t accessible. In 2000, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission found the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games had breached section 24. When the committee only partly complied with an order to fix the site, it was ordered to pay Mr Maguire $20,000.
In 2014, Gisele Mesnage, who is blind and uses a screen reader, took legal action against Coles under the Disability Discrimination Act over its online shopping website. She’d had trouble using it since 2008. The case settled in early 2015, with Coles agreeing to make its website more accessible.
Most complaints never reach court. They’re resolved privately through the Human Rights Commission’s conciliation process, so you rarely hear about them. That doesn’t mean they aren’t happening.
What happens if someone complains
- They lodge a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission. It’s free, they don’t need a lawyer, and they generally have 24 months from when the discrimination happened.
- The Commission contacts your business and asks for your response.
- Conciliation. The Commission helps both sides try to reach an agreement. Outcomes can include an apology, fixing the website, a change in policy or compensation.
- Court, if it isn’t resolved. The Commission can’t decide whether discrimination happened. If conciliation fails and the complaint is terminated, the person has 60 days to apply to the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia or the Federal Court.
Even a complaint that settles costs time, stress and often money. Fixing the site before anyone complains is far cheaper.
What standard should your website meet?
The Disability Discrimination Act doesn’t name a technical standard for websites. In April 2025, the Australian Human Rights Commission published its Guidelines on equal access to digital goods and services. The guidelines aren’t legally binding, but they call WCAG the applicable international standard for web accessibility and say it’s important to meet the latest published version.
The latest version is WCAG 2.2, published by the World Wide Web Consortium in October 2023. It has three levels: A, AA and AAA. Level AA is the widely used benchmark, and it’s what we recommend for business websites. It covers things like text alternatives for images, colour contrast, keyboard access, clear forms and captions.
It’s not only about avoiding complaints. The ABS found that 5.5 million Australians, or 21.4% of the population, had disability in 2022. Add older customers whose eyesight isn’t what it was, and people using your site on a phone in bright sun, and accessibility affects a big share of your customers. Many fixes help your SEO too: descriptive headings, image alt text and captioned video all help search engines and AI tools understand your site.
The most common problems on small business websites
These are the issues we find most often when we audit Queensland business websites:
- Images without alt text, so screen reader users don’t know what they show.
- Low colour contrast, like light grey text on white or white text on a bright brand colour.
- Menus, popups and sliders that don’t work with a keyboard, or that trap people inside them.
- No visible focus outline, so keyboard users can’t see where they are on the page.
- Contact and booking forms without proper labels, or with error messages that only show in red.
- Videos without captions, and important information that’s only in a video.
- Menus, price lists and forms as PDFs or images that screen readers can’t read.
- Third-party booking, chat and payment tools that don’t meet the standard. They’re part of your customer’s experience, so check them too.
Will an accessibility widget fix it?
No. Accessibility widgets, sometimes called overlays, add a toolbar for things like bigger text or higher contrast, but they don’t fix the underlying problems in your site’s code. In 2025, the US Federal Trade Commission ordered overlay company accessiBe to pay US$1 million over claims that its widget could make any website comply with WCAG. The FTC said those claims were false, misleading or unsubstantiated.
Many people with disability already use their own assistive technology, such as screen readers or magnifiers. What they need is a website built properly, not another toolbar.
What to do now
- Run a free check. Our free WCAG 2.2 check tests any page against the automated WCAG 2.2 AA checks and shows what fails. Automated tests can’t catch everything, but they’re a quick way to see where you stand.
- Fix the biggest problems first. Start with your contact, booking and checkout pages: alt text, contrast, keyboard access and form labels.
- Test it like your customers would. Try using your site with only a keyboard. Then try a screen reader. NVDA is free for Windows, and VoiceOver is built into every Mac and iPhone.
- Add an accessibility statement. Say what standard you’re working towards and give people an easy way to contact you if something doesn’t work for them.
- Build it into new work. Ask your web developer to build to WCAG 2.2 Level AA, and make it part of the brief for any new website. It costs far less to build it in than to fix it later.
- Keep it up. Every new page, image, PDF and video can add new problems. Check again after major updates.
Work with a council or government agency? Their requirements are stricter. See our guide to WCAG 2.2 for Queensland councils.
Frequently asked questions
Is website accessibility a legal requirement in Australia?
There’s no law that names a website standard, but the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 makes it unlawful to discriminate against people with disability when providing goods or services, and that includes services provided through a website. The Australian Human Rights Commission points to WCAG as the standard to meet.
Can my business be fined for an inaccessible website?
There are no automatic fines. A person can make a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission, which tries to resolve it through conciliation. If that fails, they can take the matter to court, which can order compensation and changes to your website.
Do small businesses have to make their websites accessible?
Yes. The Disability Discrimination Act has no small business exemption. A business’s size and finances can be considered if it argues that a change would cause unjustifiable hardship, but most website fixes are modest.
What WCAG level should my business website meet?
We recommend WCAG 2.2 Level AA. The Australian Human Rights Commission’s guidelines say to meet the latest published version of WCAG, which is currently 2.2, and Level AA is the widely used benchmark.
Will an accessibility plugin or widget make my website compliant?
No. Widgets and overlays don’t fix problems in your website’s code. In 2025, the US Federal Trade Commission ordered overlay company accessiBe to pay US$1 million over claims that its widget could make any website WCAG compliant.
Find out where your website stands
Run our free WCAG 2.2 check in about a minute. If it finds problems, our Brisbane team can audit the rest of your site, fix the issues and re-test with tools like axe and WAVE and screen readers like NVDA and VoiceOver. You’ll get an itemised quote before any work starts. See our website design and development service.
This article is general information, not legal advice. If you’ve received a complaint, speak to a lawyer.
Sources
- Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth), section 24: Goods, services and facilities
- Australian Human Rights Commission, Guidelines on equal access to digital goods and services (April 2025)
- Australian Human Rights Commission, Unlawful discrimination complaint process
- Legal Aid NSW, Discrimination (complaint and court time limits)
- Attorney-General’s Department, Disability Discrimination Act Review issues paper
- W3C, Maguire v SOCOG case study
- Consumers Federation of Australia, Coles agrees to make online shopping site more accessible (February 2015)
- W3C, WCAG 2.2 is a W3C Recommendation (October 2023)
- Australian Bureau of Statistics, 5.5 million Australians have disability (July 2024)
- US Federal Trade Commission, FTC approves final order requiring accessiBe to pay $1 million (April 2025)
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