Carberry -V- Culburra Bowling & Recreation Club Limited (No. 1) [1996] NSWEOT

Equal Opportunity Tribunal of New South Wales

CITATION: Carberry -V- Culburra Bowling & Recreation Club Limited (No. 1) [1996] NSWEOT

COMPLAINANT: Mr Ronald Carberry

RESPONDENT: Culburra Bowling & Recreation Club Limited

NUMBER: 146 of 1995

Mr Graham Ireland ( Judicial Member ) TRIBUNAL: Ms M Alt Mr O McDonald OAM

GROUNDS OF COMPLAINT: Race Discrimination in the area of Registered Clubs

DATES OF HEARING: 08/07/1996; 08/08/1996; 08/09/1996 DATE OF JUDGMENT: 09/06/1996

Complainant: Mr S Apps (Solicitor) South Coast Aboriginal Legal Service Mr J Wilson (Counsel) LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES: Respondent: Mr S Boone (Solicitor) Pigott Stinson Stuart Thom Mr I Neil (Counsel)

JUDGMENT IN FAVOUR OF: Complainant

This is an application brought by the Respondent pursuant to section 111(1) of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (the Act) to dismiss the complaint on the ground that the complaint is lacking in substance. The application is made at the conclusion of the case for the Complainant and at a stage in the proceedings when the Tribunal had heard the evidence of the Complainant and two other witnesses, Mr Longbottom and Mr Whitten. A volume of documents had been admitted by the Tribunal as exhibits.

The complaint has been referred to the Tribunal for inquiry pursuant to section 94(1) of the Act.

The Respondent is entitled to bring this application at any stage of the inquiry and the Respondent bears the onus of satisfying the Tribunal that the evidence before the Tribunal is not capable of establishing the complaint. The nature of the test which the Tribunal is required to apply in reaching its determination has been the subject of a number of pronouncements by Courts and by other tribunals. The Tribunal was referred to the decision of the President of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Sir Ronald Wilson, in Assall v Department of Health Housing and Community Services ([1993] EOC 92-409).