Djime v Kearnes – Dec 2015

Mr Djime claimed that Victoria Police discriminated against him, racially vilified him and breached his rights to freedom of expression and freedom of movement by charging him with criminal offences, making racial comments about him and harassing him over a number of years.

Victoria Police argued that Mr Djime’s case should be dismissed because there was no basis to his complaints. They also said that when police officers were interacting with Mr Djime, they were not providing him with ‘services’, so the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 did not apply.

VCAT allowed the Commission to assist it as a ‘friend of the court’. The Commission’s submissions focused on the meaning of ‘services’ in the EO Act. The Commission detailed the legal authorities on the issue of what constitutes “services”, in support of the view that the conduct of the Respondents could constitute “services” and be the proper foundation for a complaint of discrimination pursuant to s 44 of the EO Act. The Commission submitted that the allegations should not be struck out.

The Commission also submitted that VCAT has the power to assess the Charter claims and is in fact required to do so.

VCAT dismissed most of the allegations on the basis that they were misconceived or lacking in substance. VCAT found that claims of a breach of Charter rights could not proceed where the non-Charter claims were summarily dismissed.

View the VCAT decision here: Djime v Kearnes [2015] VCAT 941

VCAT dismissed 21 of the 27 claims. The six remaining claims proceeded to a further hearing. At the further hearing, none of the remaining six claims were proven.

View the further decision: Djime v Kearnes [2015] VCAT 2055