Disability Rights update: December 2009

Other recent editions: August 2009 | April 2009 | February 2009 . Material from older editions is incorporated in the Commission's annual reports available online.

About this update

This Update from Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes is a slightly edited version of his regular disability rights project report for meetings of the Australian Human Rights Commission. It is published as close as possible to Commission meetings, which are generally held 6 to 8 weeks apart. Events are notified first in the What´s New section of the Disability Rights home page, so check there if you want to keep fully up to date.

You can subscribe to our email list to be notified when new editions of this update are issued and when other major developments occur, by sending a blank message to join-drupdate@list.humanrights.gov.au

Your comments on any project or issue are welcome, preferably sent by e-mail. Contact us at: disabdis@humanrights.gov.au , or by mail to Disability Rights Unit, Australian Human Rights Commission, GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 1042.

Overview

Access to Premises: Technical references within the Premises Standards have been finalised. Formal government response to Parliamentary inquiry and the final Premises Standards are expected to be tabled early in 2010. A second universal housing forum is taking place on 17 December.
Media access: Minister Conroy has released a Discussion Report on media access seeking submissions by 29 January 2010. Finalisation of Subscription TV temporary exemption application has been delayed while industry considers recent developments and comments made in submissions.
DisCo: The Prime Minister has announced that the National Disability Strategy will be included on the COAG reform agenda. The Productivity Commission has been asked to inquire into feasibility of a National Disability Insurance Scheme. Second Pacific island nation capacity building workshop completed.
Migration and disability: The Commission made a submission on the Inquiry into the Migration Treatment of Disability and Commissioner Innes appeared before Joint Standing Committee on Migration.
Accessible public transport: Work is continuing on railway Code of Practice and the Aviation Access Working Group. The Review of Transport Standards still has not been released. Work on Bus Stop Guidelines delayed while further advice is sought on interpretation of Transport Standards.
Health access: The Commission has written to RACGP urging them to make height-adjustable examination beds mandatory in their review of GP Standards.
Accessible information: The Commission continues to monitor and provide input to reviews of pdf accessibility and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
Hearing impairment and deafness in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities: The Commission made a submission on the Inquiry into Hearing Health in Australia and Commissioner Innes appeared before the Senate Committee on Community Affairs .

Access to Premises

For more in this area see our access to premises page .

Premises Standards : Important progress has been made in finalising a number of technical documents referenced in the proposed Premises Standards. While there was some expectation that the Government response to the Parliamentary Inquiry into the draft and the final proposed Premises Standards might be tabled in Parliament before the end of the year this did not eventuate. It is hoped they will be tabled early in 2010.

Housing access : The Commission will be participating in a second meeting on a National Dialogue on Universal Housing on 17 December. The first meeting resulted in a broad agreement on the need for reform and it is expected the second meeting will focus on strategies for achieving change.

Convention on Human Rights and Disability

For more in this area see our Convention page.

National Disability Strategy : The Prime Minister announced at the National Disability Awards on 23 November that the National Disability Strategy would be included in the COAG reform agenda. This is a very welcome and extremely important step in ensuring that the Strategy for Australia 's implementation of the Disco has the high level and cross government involvement it needs. The Commission has commenced discussing with government how we can assist in the process in this changed context.

National Disability Insurance Scheme : The Prime Minister also announced that as a key component of the National Disability Strategy the Productivity Commission will be asked to inquire into feasibility of a National Disability Insurance Scheme, a concept which the Commission together with many disability and carer organisations has been supporting for some time.

International co-operation : The second of the 3-day training workshops of the Commission and Pacific Disability Forum's joint AusAID funded project Building capacity and knowledge of DPOs and government representatives in the Pacific to progress disability issues was conducted in November in the Solomon Islands. The project is also being delivered in partnership with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, People with Disability Australia and the Pacific Regional Rights Resource Team. Sharing of knowledge across the Pacific is also being achieved through the use of captioned videos of interviews with participants from other countries. In the Solomon Islands interviews with government and DPO representatives from Vanuatu were incorporated in the training program.

Employment and Disability

Resource for employers : The launch of the guide for employers which provides practical guidance on a range of workplace adjustments and accommodations for workers with mental illness has been postponed to early next year.

National Mental Health and Disability Employment Strategy : The Commission is awaiting a reply from the Minister of Employment Participation to meet with members of the Strategy Advisory Group to discuss further opportunities for working together to improve employment and participation of people with disability in Australia .

Audio description, captioning and media access

For more in this area see our captioning and media access page.

Departmental investigation into media access : The Minister for Broadband, Communication and the Digital Economy and the Parliamentary Secretary for Disability released the Access to Electronic Media for the Hearing and Vision Impaired: Approaches for Consideration report on 25 November asking for submissions by 29 January 2010. This long awaited report canvases views on a number of actions government is considering to improve access to electronic media in the areas of TV, cinema, DVDs and internet download.

One proposal of particular interest to the Commission is that the Government is considering updating the Broadcasting Services Act captioning targets for free to air broadcasters and then prescribing the relevant parts of BSA under the DDA to ensure progressive improvements in captioning and to address concerns about regulatory certainty.

Television captioning : Commissioner Innes convened a meeting of representatives from the Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association (ASTRA) and representatives from the community sector on ASTRA's application for temporary exemption and proposal for further increases in captioning levels. Following the meeting ASTRA requested the Commission delay making a final decision on the current application in order to consider a possible revision of the application in the light of recent industry developments and ongoing discussions with interested parties. The Commission expects a revised application by the middle of January 2010 after which interested parties will be asked to provide final comments.

Cinema Temporary Exemption application : Submissions on the current application close on 7 December. This application has resulted in a large number of submissions which will be considered over the next few weeks prior to Commissioner Innes reporting to the Commission. A recommendation may be put to the Commission for consideration out of session.

Accessible public transport

Five year review of standards : The release of the report of the initial five year review of the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport continues to remain pending.

Rail access: We have continued to assist the Australasian Railways Association in its development of a Code of Practice on achievement of access to rail services.

Aviation issues: Media reports last month of unsatisfactory incidents affecting several people with disability when travelling by air appear likely to give added impetus to the work of the Aviation Access Working Group in which the Commission is participating with Government, industry and disability community representatives.

Bus stops: Further advice is being sought on a number of interpretation questions raised in submissions to the Commission on the Guidelines on Accessible Bus Stops

Migration and disability

The Commission appeared in November before the inquiry by the Joint Standing Committee on Migration into the migration treatment of disability. We noted that in its interpretative declaration lodged with Australia's ratification of the DisCo, the Government had committed itself to ensuring that disability related distinctions would be made in migration decisions only where this could be shown to justified by reasonable, objective and legitimate criteria and urged the Committee to apply this test in developing recommendations for reform in this area.

Electoral access

Commissioner Innes has continued to participate in the Australian Electoral Commission's working groups on improving access to independent and secret voting for people with disability.

Health access

Height adjustable examination beds : The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) review of its Standards for General Practices provided the Commission with an opportunity to write to RACGP urging them to make the provision of height adjustable examination beds a mandatory requirement.

The Commission met with representatives from the disability and ageing sectors to discuss how best to achieve change in this area and we understand that over 100 organisations have endorsed a joint submission from the community sector.

Indigenous people with disability

The Commission appeared in November before the inquiry by the Senate Community Affairs Committee into hearing health in Australia . We noted the disproportionately high incidence of hearing impairment and deafness in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, the wide ranging negative impacts and the enormous disparity in access to the necessary treatment and support services compared to the general community. The Commission urged the Committee to consider solutions that are broader than hearing services and hearing health and implement measures that ensure adequate provision of accessible, affordable and culturally appropriate services; address socio-economic issues such as housing, diet and education; address race and disability discrimination issues; and support further research in Indigenous hearing and communication.

Information accessibility

The Commission continues to monitor the progress of the review of pdf accessibility and is involved in ongoing discussions with the Australian Government Information Management Office as government moves closer towards finalising a position on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines v2.

Recent meetings / speeches / media

As at 3 December 2009

Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes

Date	Event
2 Nov	Ausaid Disability Reference group, Canberra
9 Nov	Lunch with Rt Hon David Blunkett MP in Sydney
10 Nov	Meeting with the Hon Maxine McKew in Sydney
11 Nov	Appearing before the Senate Committee on Community Affairs about submission to Committee inquiry into Hearing Health in Australia in Sydney
12 Nov	Appearing before the Hearing for the Joint Standing Committee on Migration's inquiry into migration treatment of disability in Sydney
17 Nov	Meeting with Irene Khan, Secretary General, Amnesty International in Sydney
20 Nov	Speaking at the Victorian Legal Aid Civil Law Conference in Melbourne
21 Nov	Speaking at the White Ribbon Day Ball in Tamworth
23 Nov	Attendance at National Disability Awards Ceremony, Canberra
26 Nov	Participate in the Access to Technology Roundtable in Canberra
27 Nov	Meeting with the Hon Robert McClelland in Sydney
29 Nov	Speak at the Amnesty Annual Conference Panel Discussion in Sydney
1 Dec	Meeting with UN Special Rapporteur, Mr Anand Grover in Sydney
1 Dec	Speak at the Employers Network on Disability International Day of People with Disability Cocktail Party in Sydney
2 Dec	Speak at the Diversity NSW Annual General Meeting in Sydney

Commission staff

Date	Event
24-27 Nov	Disability rights capacity building workshop 2, Solomon Islands , Ms Ricci

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