Accessibility

The Office of the Independent Regulator is committed to making information accessible to everyone.

Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, the Independent Regulator is required to ensure information and services are provided in a non-discriminatory and accessible manner.

Web content accessibility

Our aim is to be compliant to Level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Version 2.1 (WCAG 2.1).

Quick Exit

Use the Quick Exit button to quickly leave the website. You can also close this site by using the ESC key on your keyboard. Using the Exit button or the escape key method doesn’t clear the website from your browser history. It won’t prevent a person from going through your browser history or from knowing you were on our website if they are monitoring your device or internet activity.

When you use the Quick Exit button, it immediately redirects your browser to another website and opens two new tabs.

Clear your browser history

Web browsers keep track of your online activity through your browser history, cookies and caching. This is so you can find websites you’ve visited before, but it also means other people can see this data.

To protect your privacy, it’s a good idea to clear your browsing history regularly. You can choose to delete everything or only some things.

How to clear your browsing history in:

Use private browsing

Private browsing will not log your browsing history or save, or ‘cache', any web pages, images or cookies as you are browsing. Your browser will not remember the pages you visit or your search history.

However, the sites you visited during your current browsing session will record your browsing activity. Your internet service provider will also record this information. Any files you download using private browsing won’t be deleted, so other people can access them if they use your device.

How to enable private browsing in:

Browser compatibility

This website is fully functional for all modern visual browsers, text-only browsers, screen readers, and mobile devices, and has been found to operate optimally in the latest two versions of Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari, and Mozilla Firefox. Most of these browsers update themselves to the latest versions automatically.

There are many other web browsers on the market, too many for us to reasonable test. However, most of these have been built on top of the technology of Chrome, Safari or Firefox. If it works in these three, it should work in most other browsers.

Navigation

Our website has navigation features to help you find what you need.

Main menu

Across the top of every page are links to Home and Search.

All our pages feature a main navigation menu. This can be accessed using the keyboard as follows:

  • When the focus is on a top level menu item, pressing the tab key will move the focus forward along the top level items. Pressing Shift + Tab will move the focus backwards
  • Press Enter to get to the hyperlinked destination

Breadcrumbs

Our desktop website uses breadcrumbs. These are a series of links showing the trail back to the homepage from wherever you are in the site. Breadcrumbs sit just underneath the top navigation bar on every webpage. To return to the previous page you were viewing, click on the 'Back' button in your browser or use one of the navigation tools to go directly to the page you want.

At the bottom of each page, you will find legal information regarding copyright, privacy and a disclaimer and the site map of pages.

Headings

This website makes proper use of heading tags, allowing screen reader users to easily navigate to the section of the web page they are interested in.

Available tools

Text re-sizing

Text can be re-sized or zoomed within the tools or preferences of most standard web browsers, or you can increase and decrease the size using the following key shortcuts:

  • to make text larger:
    Windows: Control (Ctrl) and plus ( + )  
    Mac: Command and plus ( + )
  • to make text smaller:
    Windows: Control (Ctrl) and minus ( - )   
    Mac: Command and minus ( - )

Simplified View

  • If using the Microsoft Edge browser, use Reading view mode to unclutter your screen. Hit the book icon in the menu to turn it on/off.
  • If using Firefox, select the Toggle reader view icon or press the F9 button on your keyboard.
  • Or, in any browser, select Print from the drop-down menu. It unclutters the page and allows you to re-size the page's text as well.

Magnification

  • Windows magnifier: Under your computer's Start menu, run “magnifier” and this will make your entire screen view larger. To stop using magnifier in most browsers, exit the program by selecting the X at the top corner.
  • Mac: Select Apple menu then System Preferences. Open the Accessibility panel, and then press Zoom.

Narration

Windows Narrator: Under your computer's Start menu, run “narrator” and this will read the content to you (works on other programs and other websites too). To stop using narrator in most browsers, exit the program by clicking on the X at the top corner.

Mac VoiceOver: Select the Apple menu button in the top left corner of your screen, then System Preferences and press the Accessibility button. Select VoiceOver. Alternatively, you can press Command-F5 to enable VoiceOver.

You can find more information about the tools to make your computer or device easier to use on the AbilityNet website.

Forms and publications

This website has forms and publications that may not be in HTML format. To assist users to download and share content, most documents are available in Adobe PDF (PDF) or Microsoft Word (Word) format. Most computers already have the software to open these document formats. However, if your computer does not, you can:

At times, we may publish documents and publications received from third parties and host content on third-party platforms. These documents and platforms may not adhere to our standards. If you are unable to access this resource via our website, please email us to request an alternative format.

Third party content

At times, we may publish documents and publications received from third parties and host content on third-party platforms. These documents and platforms may not adhere to our standards. Therefore we cannot take responsibility for the accessibility of documents provided by third parties.

Problems with accessibility

If you have any problems using our website please contact us.

Seeking help?

We encourage anyone affected by, or with concerns about, child sexual abuse or other types of child abuse to access advice and support.

Tasmania:

  • For information about child wellbeing and safety, contact
    Strong Families, Safe Kids Advice and Referral Line:
    • Phone: 1800 000 123
  • For free and confidential support for people who have been affected by sexual violence, contact the Tasmanian Sexual Assault Support Line (24 hour response state-wide):
    • Phone: 1800 697 877
    • This line is run by the Sexual Assault Support Service in the South, and Laurel House in the North West.
  • For information and support for children, young people and adults affected by family violence, contact
    Family Violence Counselling and Support Service:
    • Phone: 1800 608 122
  • For free and confidential support for people impacted by crime, contact Victims of Crime Service:
    • Phone: 1300 300 238
  • For support for relationships and to live positive lives, contact Relationships Australia Tasmania:
    • Phone: 1300 364 277
  • For culturally appropriate, trauma-informed legal and non-legal services and assistance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander victims/survivors of family violence and sexual assault, contact SIS.
    • Phone: 1800 747 827

National:

  • For domestic, family, and sexual violence counselling and support, contact
    1800RESPECT:
    • Phone: 1800 737 732
  • For short-term support if you are feeling overwhelmed or having difficulty coping or staying safe, contact Lifeline:
    • Phone: 13 11 14
  • For free professional phone and online counselling for anyone affected by suicide living in Australia, contact Suicide Call Back Service:
    • Phone: 1300 659 467
  • For information and support for anxiety, depression and suicide prevention for everyone in Australia, contact Beyond Blue:
    • Phone: 1300 224 636
  • For information and support for anyone who is affected by complex trauma, contact
    Blue Knot Foundation:
    • Phone: 1300 657 380
  • For counselling and support for Australian men, contact MensLine Australia:
    • Phone: 1300 789 978
  • For advice for men about family violence, contact Men's Referral Service:
    • Phone: 1300 766 491
  • For free 24/7, confidential and private counselling service specifically for children and young people aged 5 to 25 years, contact Kids Helpline:
    • Phone: 1800 55 1800
Last updated: 22nd November 2023