An advocacy group alleging claims of political discrimination has been blocked from accessing government documents about a cancelled library event.
The Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (TASCAT) ruled last month that Libraries Tasmania does not have to hand over internal emails and decision-making records sought by Women Speak Tasmania.
The group had its booking for a March 2024 event at Burnie Library cancelled by the state-run library service.
Women Speak Tasmania lodged discrimination complaints with the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, alleging it was targeted because of its political beliefs and activities.
The commissioner rejected both complaints, finding they did not relate to discrimination or were “misconceived”.
The group then applied to TASCAT to review those rejections and issued a summons seeking internal documents about why its event was cancelled.
Libraries Tasmania fought the summons, arguing the documents were not relevant to the narrow question before the tribunal.
The tribunal agreed, finding the group was “putting the cart before the horse”.
The tribunal’s role at this stage is only to determine whether the commissioner correctly rejected the complaints – not whether discrimination actually occurred.
“The evidentiary material sought by the complainant is irrelevant to the question before the tribunal as to whether the conduct alleged by the complaints is capable of amounting to discrimination or prohibited conduct,” the tribunal said.
The documents would only become relevant if the case progressed to a full inquiry into the discrimination claims themselves.
The tribunal set aside the contested parts of the summons, meaning Libraries Tasmania does not have to produce internal correspondence, file notes or records about its decision-making process.
The library service had already provided its diversity and inclusion policy and 2024 caretaker conventions to the group.
A directions conference will now be scheduled to progress the review of the commissioner’s rejection decisions.
