{"id":668998,"date":"2026-05-13T21:17:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T21:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/668998\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T21:17:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T21:17:26","slug":"agnes-water-accommodation-provider-fined-after-refusing-to-allow-woman-to-stay-with-guide-dog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/668998\/","title":{"rendered":"Agnes Water accommodation provider fined after refusing to allow woman to stay with guide dog"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Queensland accommodation owner has been the first to be prosecuted under the state’s guide dog laws, after refusing a woman and her guide dog lodging and imposing an additional cleaning fee.<\/p>\n

Brendan Farrugia pleaded guilty last month to declining Janice Whittle, who has a disability, and her guide dog to stay at his Central Queensland villa.<\/p>\n

The 41-year-old also pleaded guilty to imposing an extra fee on Ms Whittle because of her guide dog.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Janice Whittle is legally blind. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Legislation was introduced in 2009 to allow guide, hearing and assistance dogs and their handlers to go almost anywhere.<\/p>\n

Until last month, no one had been prosecuted under the state law.<\/p>\n

Guide Dogs Queensland CEO Jock Beveridge said the case was “very significant” and hoped it would send an important signal to venue owners that “you can’t discriminate”.<\/p>\n

‘He didn’t like dogs in the house’<\/p>\n

The matter was heard in the Bundaberg Magistrates Court on April 30, the day after International Guide Dog Day.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Janice Whittle booked the accommodation in December 2024.\u00a0 (Supplied: Janice Whittle)<\/p>\n

The court was told Ms Whittle, who is legally blind, booked to stay at Mr Farrugia’s Agnes Water accommodation in December 2024.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor said when Ms Whittle arrived at the property, she was told she was not allowed to stay there.<\/p>\n

“That refusal occurred despite Ms Whittle telling the defendant that he couldn’t refuse her accommodation because she was accompanied by her guide dog,” the prosecutor said.<\/p>\n

The court heard Mr Farrugia offered Ms Whittle the option to stay there if she paid a $100 cleaning fee.<\/p>\n

She declined that offer.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Agnes Water is a popular coastal tourist destination. (Supplied: Gladstone Area Promotion and Development Limited)<\/p>\n

The prosecutor said the accommodation normally charges a $20 fee for animals to stay there.<\/p>\n

The court heard Mr Farrugia assisted Ms Whittle in finding new accommodation and gave her a full refund.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor said Mr Farrugia was interviewed by investigators in March 2025, where he told them he refused Ms Whittle, “citing that he didn’t like dogs in the house”.<\/p>\n

In the interview, he said the cleaning fee was offered because he would have to “scrub the ceilings, the fans and every light” if the guide dog stayed in the accommodation.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor argued Mr Farrugia’s action “should be denounced by the court.”<\/p>\n

“My submission is that a sentence imposed on the defendant has to make it clear to the community that this sort of conduct can’t take place,” she said.<\/p>\n

‘Ignorance’ not an excuse\"A<\/p>\n

The defence argued the guide dog laws were not well known.\u00a0 (Supplied: Janice Whittle)<\/p>\n

The defence lawyer for Mr Farrugia said his client was “misinformed” about the laws, and it was a “very regrettable incident”.<\/p>\n

He said the rules around guide dog access were not well known to the public.<\/p>\n

“This is the first time in the state of Queensland that there’s been a prosecution,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Obviously, this is a litmus test to some degrees.”<\/p>\n

The defence lawyer said Mr Farrugia was “contrite” over the incident, participated in a recorded interview, and a plea was “entered at the earliest opportunity”.<\/p>\n

He asked that the matter be dealt with a “modest fine”.<\/p>\n

In handing down his sentencing, Magistrate John McInnes said the whole situation stemmed from Mr Farrugia’s “ignorance of the law”.<\/p>\n

“Ignorance of the law is not an excuse,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Accommodation providers are expected to be up to date with the essential rules that apply to offering accommodation. This is one of them.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The matter was heard in Bundaberg Magistrates Court.\u00a0 (ABC Wide Bay: Grace Whiteside)<\/p>\n

Magistrate McInnes said he took into account Mr Farrugia’s plea and that he held the booking until alternative accommodation was found.<\/p>\n

“That makes it less serious and less insulting than a situation where someone was just told, ‘no, you can’t come in, and you’re on your own,'” he said.<\/p>\n

But Magistrate McInnes said the second charge added to the “criminality” of the offence, as it suggested that “an assistance animal is a burden as opposed to just being part and parcel of a human being exercising their rights”.<\/p>\n

He said he expected Mr Farrugia would “do the right thing” if he was confronted with this situation again.<\/p>\n

The 41-year-old was ordered to pay a $2,200 fine for refusing accommodation and a $600 fine for attempting to impose an additional cleaning fee, but no conviction was recorded.<\/p>\n

‘Pretty pathetic’<\/p>\n

Ms Whittle left the court feeling mixed emotions.<\/p>\n

“His fine was pretty pathetic, but I’m happy that he did get a fine,” she told the ABC.<\/p>\n

“Personally, I would have thrown the book at him”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ms Whittle’s guide dog, Keegan, has since retired.\u00a0 (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Ms Whittle’s guide dog, Keegan, has since retired.<\/p>\n

“He was a great mate. He helped more than anything,” she said.<\/p>\n

Keegan helped guide Ms Whittle through the community and could alert to seizures caused by her epilepsy.<\/p>\n

While Keegan made her life easier, Ms Whittle said the community made it hard.<\/p>\n

“I will never, ever get a guide dog again with the amount of refusals I’ve had,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I’m just not going to put myself through that trouble again.”<\/p>\n

Many cases don’t go to court\"A<\/p>\n

Guide Dog Queensland CEO Jock Beveridge said the case was very significant. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Mr Beveridge said refusals were very common among people with guide, hearing and assistance dogs.<\/p>\n

“Most don’t make it to court, and in many cases, [they] don’t formally make a complaint,” he said.<\/p>\n

If venues were unsure if a dog was a “genuine” guide, hearing or assistance animal, Mr Beveridge encouraged them to ask the handler for their identity card.<\/p>\n

“They certainly have a right to ask for that information,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Queensland accommodation owner has been the first to be prosecuted under the state’s guide dog laws, after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[25352,64,63,17956,62897,10934,322890,89346,322891,322892,322893,142052,94,701,322889,85,40679],"class_list":["post-668998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-agnes-water","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-blind","tag-bundaberg","tag-discrimination","tag-eye-dog","tag-guide-dog","tag-international-guide-dog-day","tag-janice-whittle","tag-keegan","tag-magistrates-court","tag-qld","tag-queensland","tag-seeing-dog","tag-sports","tag-visually-impaired"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}