Commission welcomes draft banking industry action plan
Deputy Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, today welcomed the banking industry commitment to improving access to ecommerce for older Australians and people with a disability.
Australian Bankers' Association (ABA) CEO David Bell today launched a draft industry action plan that promises to make ATM's, EFTPOS, telephone banking and the Internet accessible to older Australians and people with disabilities.
"This commitment to overcome the 'digital divide' will lay the foundation for Australia becoming a world leader in the area of accessible ecommerce," said Deputy Commissioner Innes. "I congratulate the ABA and its members for taking a broad and imaginative approach to the recommendations in the Commission's ecommerce report."
In 1999 the Commission held an inquiry into the barriers faced by older Australians and people with a disability to using new technology. The report said many Australians were missing out on the benefits of new technology because of design problems, such as physically inaccessible ATM's, or because web pages were not constructed in a way to allow blind customers to get information contained in them.
Following the release of the report the Commission and ABA jointly established a Forum including representatives from the banking and financial services industries, disability and aged sectors, Government, property owners and retailers, internet associations and telecommunication services.
"This Forum's task was to establish partnerships to find solutions," said Deputy Commissioner Innes. "The ABA's plan to work with other financial institutions, people with disabilities and older Australians will go a long way towards achieving real change. Talking ATM's and clear, easily usable internet banking systems will be some of the benefits arising from this commitment."
"The draft plan is available for public comment and I encourage everyone concerned with access to banking to comment on the plan," said Deputy Commissioner Innes.
For information on the ecommerce report and the Forum see the Commission's web site at http://www.humanrights.gov.au/disability_rights/inquiries/ecom/ecom.html
The ABA draft Industry Action Plan is at http://www.bankers.asn.com
Media contact: Margie Cook (02) 9284 9677 or 0418 637 230.
Last updated 2 December 2001.
