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Carrying assistance animals

Assistance animals help hundreds of Victorians to live independent lives. They assist their owners by giving them a greater sense of freedom and helping them with their daily tasks.

The regulations require that commercial passenger vehicle drivers transport passengers with their assistance animals.

Under the Commonwealth’s Disability Discrimination Act 1992 you can't discriminate against people who use an assistance animal. Some assistance animals wear identification and others don't. As long as they’re trained to help a person alleviate their disability, they’re considered an assistance animal.

Every assistance animal is clean and trained to be quiet, well-behaved and obedient at all times.

By opening doors for passengers with assistance animals, drivers can help people get to work, attend medical appointments and achieve their goals.

Helping passengers with assistance animals PDF, 516.4 KB

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Assistance animals are highly trained to ensure appropriate and exceptional behaviour and health standards, so they can be safely admitted where other animals are not otherwise permitted.

Refusing to carry an assistance animal is an offence under the current regulations and may result in penalties against a driver who is found to be in breach of these regulations. For further questions about assistance animals, please contact us.