Adults Only

13th February 2009, 6:00 WST

Upmarket resorts catering for couples seeking a quiet getaway will no longer be able to ban children under a landmark decision by the State Administrative Tribunal.

The SAT has refused the owners of Chimes Spa Retreat, near Denmark, an exemption from the Equal Opportunity Act after it described itself as an “adults’ retreat”.

The ruling outraged many South-West tourism operators who say they cater for a niche market — couples looking to holiday without children. The unnamed complainant had not tried to book at Chimes but claimed her threeyear-old daughter was discriminated against after the resort was advertised online as an “adults’ retreat”.

Equal Opportunity Commissioner Yvonne Henderson said yesterday any resort that refused children opened itself to legal action.

Chimes owner Kane Randle said he was surprised when he heard in 2007 that the Equal Opportunity Commission had received a complaint. “I was a bit facetious and said I’d tried to join kindy gym and was refused and I tried to join boy scouts and was told to bugger off,” he said.

Mr Randle applied for an exemption under the health and safety provisions of the Act, arguing the resort had an open spa in each room and may not be safe for children, but was refused.

Mr Randle claimed his and 14 other “adult retreats” in the South-West had lost their commercial advantage.

“Our market sector was for couples who want to get away for the weekend and have a romantic retreat,” he said. “You cannot have a romantic retreat, with due respect, with a couple of little three-year-olds running everywhere.”

Cape Lodge general manager Drew Bernhardt said while the upmarket resort did not bar children, it did not cater for them.

“There’s a place for anti-discrimination laws but this is ridiculous,” he said.

Ms Henderson defended the decision. “Parliament was quite clear when it enacted the provisions, which outlawed the discrimination of the basis of age, that persons or organisations which provide services to the public are not able to say we will provide them to some but not to others,” she said.

Attorney-General Christian Porter said he was considering the impact of the Act on business.

GEORGIA LONEY