OW & OV v Members of the Board of the Wesley Mission Council [2010] NSWADT 293

CITATION: OW & OV v Members of the Board of the Wesley Mission Council [2010] NSWADT 293

DIVISION: Equal Opportunity Division

Applicants: OW & OV

PARTIES: Respondent: Members of the Board of the Wesley Mission Council

Intervenor: Attorney General

FILE NUMBER: 091111

HEARING DATES: 22 September 2010

SUBMISSIONS CLOSED: 22 September 2010

DATE OF DECISION: 10 December 2010

BEFORE: Patten D - Deputy President; Hayes E - Non-Judicial Member; Schneeweiss J - Non-Judicial Member

CATCHWORDS: Equal Opportunity – discrimination on ground of homosexuality – religious exception

LEGISLATION CITED : Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998

OV & anor v QZ & anor (No. 2) [2008] NSWADT 115 CASES CITED: Members of the Board of the Wesley Mission Council v OV & OW (No. 2) [2009] NSWADTAP 57 OV & OW v Members of the Board of the Wesley Council [2010] NSWCA 155 Cobaw Community Health Services v Christian Youth Camps Ltd [2010] VCAT 1613

Applicant Representative: Ms C Ronalds SC and Ms A Perigo

REPRESENTATION: Respondent Representative: Ms K Eastman

Intervenor Representative: Mr C Lenehan

ORDERS: 1. Complaint dismissed 2. No order as to costs

REASONS FOR DECISION

1 This matter has a lengthy history and it is necessary to review that history in order to understand the issues which this Tribunal needs to decide. It commenced as long ago as 1 April 2003 when the applicants lodged a complaint with the Anti-Discrimination Board alleging an act of discrimination on 2 August 2002. The complaint was amended, withdrawn, revised and subjected to much procedural argument concerning inter alia the suppression of the names of the applicants and the proper identity of the respondent.