TASMANIA’S Anti-Discrimination Commissioner has ­allowed a proposed Hobart Cat Cafe to ban guide and assistance dogs.

In what is believed to be an Australian first, Commissioner Robin Banks granted the exemption under the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Act.

EDITORIAL: INEQUALITY OK IN CATTY CAFE SOCIETY

Ms Banks congratulated the proponents of the Cat Cafe venture, which is yet to open, for their proactive approach.

“It makes entirely logical sense,” she told the Mercury yesterday.

“It was a first for me and none of my interstate colleagues have had a similar exemptions.”

Exemptions under the Act have increased in the past few years, but are usually granted in situations where business, government or tertiary organisations want to employ people with specific attributes that support the roles they fill.

media_camera PURRFECT: Cafe proponent Adam Honeyman, right, with partner Sarah, daughter Israel at cat.

In recent years exemptions have been used in Tasmania for the University of Tasmania to employ an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander to the position of senior executive officer in the indigenous Support Program and the State Government to employ graduates with disabilities under the Tasmanian State Service Graduate Program for People with Disabilities.

Ms Banks said the exemptions were allowed when she knew they were consistent with “equal opportunities defences” under the Act.

“We would like to avoid the problem of having to deal with a complaint,” she said.

Ms Banks said the Cat Cafe proponents, who were well ahead of the game, had thought that an area they had planned to set aside for the cats would not work if dogs were allowed in.

“I consulted with Guide Dogs Australia and Tasmania and they agreed it was a sensible exemption to grant,” she said.

“Guide dogs are trained to be around other animals

“They are not trained to be in an environment full of cats.”

Hobart Cat Cafe proponent Adam Honeyman said the cafe would offer services to people who needed a guide dog but also wanted access to the cat cafe, which would have a room purpose-built for cat lovers.

“It is only for the cat room, to keep the dogs and the cats separate,” he said.

“It is more from the angle of the cats not liking the dogs.

“Guide dogs are very well trained, but cats are not.”

Mr Honeyman said he hoped the cafe would open in June at the latest.