Disability Rights update: August 2008

Other recent editions:April 2008 | February 2008; November 2007; September 2007; July 2007 . Material from older editions is incorporated in HREOC'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 Human Rights and Equal Opportunity 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, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 1042.

Convention on Human Rights and Disability

For more in this area see our Convention page.

Following Australia 's ratification of the Convention on 18 July, which we and disability organisations had recommended and strongly welcomed, Commissioner Innes has provided evidence on implementation issues to the second phase of the inquiry on the Convention by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties.

National Disability Strategy

In his evidence to the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties Commissioner Innes emphasised the importance of the proposed National Disability Strategy and that it cover all areas and levels of government.

The Government recently established the Disability Investment Group (DIG) to explore opportunities to increase private sector involvement and investment in the funding of disability services and related infrastructure. Commissioner Innes has written to the Chair, Ian Silk and recently met with a member of DIG, Bruce Bonyhady, to discuss potential work for this promising initiative.

Amendments to the DDA

The Attorney-General has announced that amendments to the DDA to implement the reforms recommended by the Productivity Commission, including express provision for a duty to make reasonable adjustments, and a number of associated reforms, will be introduced in the Spring 2008 parliamentary session.

Access to Premises

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

We continue to receive frequent requests from local government bodies and building and property industry participants for advice on how to deal with the present lack of clarity in the relationship between discrimination law and building and development law, highlighting the importance of a successful conclusion to the process of review of the Building Code and development of a Disability Standard on Access to Premises. It is hoped that Ministers will be able shortly to make decisions on remaining issues. .

National Inquiry into Employment and Disability

National Mental Health and Disability Employment Strategy : We have continued to engage with Government to identify critical issues to be addressed and potential solutions to be considered for inclusion in the Strategy. This has primarily been achieved through direct correspondence and meetings with the Minister for Employment Participation, Brendan O'Connor and Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children's Services, Bill Shorten, during the initial consultation phase to identify barriers and solutions. That phase has now ended and the drafting phase has commenced. We recently attended the second National Mental Health and Disability Employment Strategy Advisory Committee meeting and participated in initial discussions to inform the shape of the Strategy.

Employment related inquiries : We have continued to raise issues of concern for people with disability in a number of other employment-related inquiries and reviews. We raised arguments outlining the benefits to be obtained for mothers and babies with disability with the introduction of a paid maternity, paternity and parental leave scheme in HREOC's response to the Government's Paid Maternity, Paternity and Parental Leave Inquiry.

We also raised issues for concern for job seekers and employees with disability in the current review of employment services (Job Network) through correspondence with the Minister for Employment Participation. The review is examining how employment services can be improved to meet the needs of job seekers who are highly disadvantaged and the long-term unemployed. For many reasons, people with disability feature highly in both these groups.

We also participated in follow-up meetings of the review of job capacity assessment services with the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs in relation to concerns about the sharing of medical information during the referral process to employment service providers.

Employment for Indigenous people with disability: In our correspondence outlining issues for consideration in the review of employment services, we also raised issues of concern for Indigenous people with disability and reforms necessary to ensure better outcomes, enhanced access and improved service delivery. We also raised concerns for Indigenous people with disability in HREOC's response to the Government's discussion paper on Indigenous Employment reforms. General research and consultation with critical stakeholders regarding issues and barriers to employment for Indigenous people with disability is continuing.

Occupational Health and Safety and employees with disability : In response to evidence presented in the Australian Safety and Compensation Council's report Are people with disability at risk at work? A review of the evidence , noting “little focus in the literature” for employers on accommodating people with mental illness, we have agreed to develop guide material for employers. A request for tender was distributed, a consultant selected and work has commenced to develop a resource for employers which provides practical guidance on a range of workplace adjustments or accommodations for employees with mental illness to enhance successful participation and productivity in the workplace. This is a joint project with the Australian Safety Compensation Council and a project plan has been developed with a view that the resource will receive endorsement by both the Heads of Workplace Safety Authorities and Heads of Workplace Compensation Authorities.

Mental Health and Human Rights

For more in this area see our mental health page

Many States and Territories are examining innovative solutions to address the high number of people with mental illness who come into contact with the criminal justice system. Commissioner Innes recently met with Queensland Chief Magistrate, Judge Marshall Irwin, to discuss the multi-disciplinary innovative courts and programs being piloted in Queensland and people with mental illness in particular.

HREOC's submission to the Government's Green Paper on Homelessness included material on recognition of people with disability and in particular people affected by mental illness, as being at particular risk of homelessness .

Audio description, captioning and media access

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

The Department of Broadband Communications and the Digital Economy is now considering submissions in response to the Discussion Paper on media access issued in April.

A recommendation for decision on an application by free to air TV broadcasters for a short term exemption pending the results of this review will be submitted separately for decision at this meeting.

Subscription television providers have provided a draft proposal for further increases in captioning, as required by the revised exemption granted by the Commission on 11 June. The proposal would involve providers continuing to increase captioning by 5 per cent annually for a further five years, in line with the conditions of the existing exemption. One significant difference would be to give providers flexibility in how to measure the amount of captioning – permitting them the option of measuring captioned programming by proportion of viewing if they choose to, rather than only by proportion of scheduled time – at the expense of delivering an additional 10% captioning so measured. This flexible approach to compliance targets may have implications worth considering in other areas under the DDA, including public transport.

Accessible public transport

For more in this area see our transport page.

Five year review of standards : We are still awaiting finalisation of the report of the initial five year review of the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport which is to be submitted to the Attorney and the Minister for Infrastructure.

Aviation issues: CASA will shortly be providing proposals for resolution of uncertainties in the relationship between access and air safety requirements, which will then be considered by a working group convened jointly by HREOC and CASA.

Exemptions: A recommendation for further action on the exemption application from the Queensland and Western Australian Taxi Councils will be submitted to the Commission this month. Regional Express (REX) have submitted a revised application in response to issues raised in public submissions on their application and a recommendation on this matter will also be submitted this month. An application from Buchan Bus ‘n Freight was granted on 27 June.

Bus stop access : A draft resource on accessible bus stops will be ready later this month for release for comment.

Web access

In July we met with staff of the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO), which is responsible for many aspects of the Commonwealth Government's IT policies and procedures, including guidelines for E-publishing and website accessibility. The meeting discussed issues including the increase in the amount of Government material being published on the Web in inaccessible formats, and the need for a strategic approach to the implementation of the Worldwide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, which will be finalised later this year.

Telecommunications access

In July Mr Maguire gave a presentation (available from our Telecommunications page) to the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association's (AMTA) Access Committee on the progress of work by the US Access Board to update the (Rehabilitation Act) Section 508 public procurement standard and harmonise it with the accessibility requirements of the US Telecommunications act. As previously reported the Commission was invited to participate in the committee established to carry out this work. The presentation to AMTA focussed on the relevance of the US work to the Australian context and the next steps in the update process.

Indigenous people with disability

The Commission's Social Justice Unit and Disability Rights Unit have been working to identify areas for collaborative work to better promote and protect the rights of Indigenous people with disability. As part of this work, a meeting was recently held with the NSW Aboriginal Disability Network and People With Disability Australia, with both Commissioners and staff of both Units present, to identify critical issues of concern. Preparatory work has also commenced for both Units to oversee a project examining human rights issues for hearing impaired and deaf people in Indigenous communities.

Violence against women with disability

Following the recent establishment of the National Council to Reduce Violence Against Women and Children, Commissioners Broderick and Innes have written to the Minister for the Status of Women, Tanya Plibersek, urging the Minister to appoint a woman with disability to the National Council. We view representation of the perspectives of Australian women with disability as critical in view of the higher rate of violence against women with disability and the scarcity of appropriate services to protect and support women and girls with disability who experience violence. Commissioners Broderick, Calma and Innes have also jointly written to the Chair of the National Council, Libby Lloyd, to raise this concern again and identify issues for consideration in the development the National Plan, including issues for women and children with disability experiencing violence.

HREOC's comments on the Government's 4th report on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child included comments on unlawful sterilisation as a form of violence and the prevention of unlawful and unnecessary sterilising procedures being performed, particularly on girls and young women with disabilities.

Exemptions

For more in this area see our exemptions page.

See discussion of exemptions under subject headings in this Update.

Action plans

There are now over 500 action plans available electronically on our online register. We have had preliminary discussions with the project team working on the framework for the National Disability Strategy on possibilities for making broader and more effective use of the action plan concept as part of the strategy.

International co-operation

As part of our work to facilitate and support “…capacity-building, including through the exchange and sharing of information, experiences, training programmes and best practices” (as envisaged in Article 32 (b) of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities), we recently hosted the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) Disability Coordination Officer, Fred Miller, for a two-day visit . Mr Miller was able to meet with staff across the Commission to discuss the work of National Human Rights Institutions generally and in particular HREOC's work in promoting and protecting the rights of people with disability in Australia .

We have also submitted a proposal for the AusAID Pacific Governance Support Program 2008-2009. The objective of the proposal is to build the capacity of national Disabled People's Organisation's (DPO's) in 9 Pacific countries to enable each DPO to more effectively engage and advise Government and the public sector on appropriate responses to deal with the myriad issues facing people with disability, including ratification and implementation of the CRPD.

Additional submissions

We have also continued to raise issues of concern for people with disability in a number of other national inquiries and reviews. For example, in HREOC's response to the Government's discussion paper “Australia's Children – Safe and Well, A National Framework for Protecting Australian's Children” we noted that children of parents with disability, and parents with intellectual disability in particular, will require access to specific preventative and early intervention support services throughout any engagement with child protection systems to ensure protection of the rights of the child and the family.

In relation to the Government's Inquiry into Better Support for Carers, we advocated that a strategy to ‘assist carers to access the same range of opportunities and choices as the wider community, including strategies to increase the capacity for carers to make choices within their caring roles, transition into and out of caring, and effectively plan for the future' is to improve access to supports and services for people who are receiving care. This will not only enable many carers to participate in employment and have wider opportunities and choices due to a reduction in caring responsibilities, but also potentially enable more people with disability to participate in the social and economic life of the community.

In addition to comments noted above in relation to sterilisation of children in HREOC's comments on the Government's 4 th report on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, we also provided comments with regard to adolescent mental health, juvenile justice and the high representation of young people with mental illness in the criminal justice system and the educations standards for students with disability.

Recent meetings / speeches / media

Human Rights Commissioner and Commissioner responsible for Disability Discrimination, Graeme Innes

5 June	Disability Employment Network conference, Canberra
6 June	Special Education Leaders' conference, Parramatta
6 June	Launch Sydney Film Festival accessible cinema strand
6 June	Briefing for national disability NGO staff, Sydney
11 June	Meeting ACMA, Sydney
13 June	ABC radio re disability convention
20 June	Qld Chief Magistrate Irwin, Brisbane, re mental health
23 June	Meeting NSW Aboriginal Disability Network, Sydney
25 June	Interviews re federal funding for cinema captioning
30 June	Meetings APF donors, New York
2-5 July	National Federation for the Blind convention, Dallas
18 July	Meeting Disabled Surfers of Australia
22 July	Communications Consumer Dialogue, Sydney
23 July	JSCEM hearing on 2007 election, Sydney
23 July	Interview – Cynthia Banham re leadership and disability
24 July	Meeting, Disability Investment Group, Sydney
29 July	JSCOT hearing on disability convention , Sydney
30 July	National Mental Health and Disability Employment Strategy Advisory Committee, Melbourne
30 July	Meeting with Parlt. Sec. Shorten re access to premises, Melbourne
6 August	Communications Alliance awards
7 August	Employment and Workplace Relations Law conference, Sydney

DRU staff

10 June	Meeting Medicare re accessible queuing: Mr Small, Canberra
23 June	Meetings re premises standard: Mr Small, Canberra
24 July	Presentation to AMTA conference: Mr Maguire

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