An accessible website is one that people with disability can use as easily as anyone else, whether they rely on a keyboard, a screen reader, captions or zoom. In Australia the practical benchmark is WCAG 2.2 at Level AA, which the Australian Human Rights Commission now recommends as a minimum. Most organisations can make real progress by fixing their templates first, testing by hand and building checks into the way content is published.
Why website accessibility matters in Australia
The audience is large. The ABS Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (opens in a new tab) estimated that 5.5 million Australians, or 21.4% of the population, had disability in 2022. Many more benefit from accessible design, including older users and people with a temporary injury.
There is also a legal dimension. The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) makes it unlawful to discriminate on the basis of disability when providing goods, services and facilities, and a website is often the main way an organisation provides those services. People can lodge complaints with the Australian Human Rights Commission, which usually tries to resolve them through conciliation.
In April 2025 the Commission published its Guidelines on equal access to digital goods and services (opens in a new tab), replacing its 2014 advisory notes. The guidelines are issued under the DDA but are not legally binding. They recommend conforming with WCAG 2.2 at a minimum of Level AA, and they make clear that the expectation covers digital products and services broadly, not only websites. Whether and how the DDA applies to your organisation depends on your circumstances, so get legal advice if you are unsure.
What changed from WCAG 2.1 to WCAG 2.2
The W3C published WCAG 2.2 in October 2023. It keeps almost everything in WCAG 2.1, removes one obsolete criterion (4.1.1 Parsing) and adds nine new success criteria. W3C's summary of what is new in WCAG 2.2 (opens in a new tab) explains each one. At a high level:
- Focus Not Obscured (Minimum) (AA): when an item receives keyboard focus, it must not be completely hidden by sticky headers, cookie banners or chat widgets.
- Focus Not Obscured (Enhanced) (AAA): no part of the focused item is hidden.
- Focus Appearance (AAA): the focus indicator must be large enough and have enough contrast to see.
- Dragging Movements (AA): anything done by dragging, such as a slider or a sortable list, must also work with a single tap or click.
- Target Size (Minimum) (AA): buttons and links must be at least 24 by 24 CSS pixels, or have enough space around them.
- Consistent Help (A): if you offer help such as a phone number or contact link on several pages, it appears in the same place each time.
- Redundant Entry (A): users should not have to re-enter information they have already given in the same process.
- Accessible Authentication (Minimum) (AA): logging in must not depend on a memory or puzzle test without an alternative, such as allowing password managers and paste.
- Accessible Authentication (Enhanced) (AAA): a stricter version with fewer exceptions.
Six of the nine are Level A or AA, so they are part of the recommended minimum.
What government websites are expected to meet
Commonwealth non-corporate entities must follow the Digital Transformation Agency's Digital Service Standard. Criterion 3, Leave no one behind (opens in a new tab), asks agencies to comply with accessibility legislation and the latest version of WCAG, and the Australian Government Style Manual sets Level AA as the baseline. The standard has applied to new services since 1 July 2024 and to existing public-facing services since 1 July 2025. If you supply websites or digital services to government, expect accessibility requirements in tenders and contracts.
Why automated accessibility checkers only find part of the problem
Automated tools quickly catch missing alternative text, low contrast and empty links across many pages. W3C's own guidance on evaluation tools says they cannot check every aspect of accessibility, can produce misleading results, and that human judgement is required.
A tool can tell you an image has alt text, but not whether the text makes sense, and it cannot tell you that keyboard focus disappears behind a sticky header or gets stuck inside a pop-up. A clean automated report is a good start, not evidence of conformance.
The most common website accessibility failures
These issues are common on small and mid-sized organisation websites:
- Colour contrast. Light grey text on white, or white text on a pale brand colour. Body text needs a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1.
- Missing form labels. Placeholder text used instead of a proper label, which disappears once someone starts typing and is often not announced.
- Keyboard traps. Menus, video players or pop-ups that a keyboard user can enter but not leave.
- Invisible focus. Designs that remove the focus outline, so keyboard users cannot see where they are on the page.
- Vague link text. Multiple "Click here" or "Read more" links that make no sense when a screen reader lists links on their own.
- Poor heading structure. Headings chosen for their size rather than their meaning, or bold text used instead of headings, which breaks navigation for screen reader users.
- No captions or transcripts. Videos without accurate captions, and audio content with no transcript.
- Inaccessible PDFs. Scanned or untagged PDFs with no usable text or reading order. Often the best fix is a web page instead.
A practical plan for website accessibility
You do not need to fix everything at once. A sensible order of work looks like this:
- Audit a representative sample. Include your home page, key templates, main forms, any booking or checkout process and a few typical pages. Combine an automated scan with manual checks against WCAG 2.2 AA.
- Fix the templates first. Header, menus, footer, forms and page layouts appear everywhere, so one template fix can resolve a problem across hundreds of pages.
- Test with a keyboard. Put the mouse away and use Tab, Shift+Tab, Enter, Space and the arrow keys. Can you reach and operate everything, see where focus is and get out of every menu and dialog?
- Test with a screen reader. NVDA on Windows is free, and VoiceOver is built into Mac and iPhone. Check that headings, labels, buttons and error messages are announced clearly.
- Publish an accessibility statement. Say which standard you are working towards, what does not yet meet it, what you are doing about it and how people can ask for help or an alternative format.
- Build checks into the publishing workflow. Train editors on headings, link text, alt text and captions, add an accessibility check to content approval, and scan new pages automatically.
- Review regularly. Repeat a manual review at least yearly and after any redesign.
Website accessibility checklist
- Text meets WCAG 2.2 AA contrast requirements
- Every form field has a visible, properly linked label
- Everything works with a keyboard, with no traps
- Focus is clearly visible and never hidden behind sticky elements
- Link text makes sense out of context and headings follow a logical order
- Images have meaningful alt text, and videos have accurate captions
- Key documents are accessible web pages or tagged PDFs
- Login works with password managers
- An accessibility statement with a contact method is published
Getting started
Accessibility is easier and cheaper to build in than to fix afterwards. If you are planning a new site or redesign, make WCAG 2.2 AA a written requirement in the brief and ask your developer how they test for it. Our web design and development services include accessibility as part of the build.
If you would like help auditing your website or fixing the issues you find, get in touch with our team.