11 December 2006
HREOC welcomes Westpac commitments
Human Rights Commissioner and Commissioner responsible for Disability Discrimination, Graeme Innes AM, today welcomed the release of Westpac"s 2006 Accessibility Action Plan which makes a number of new commitments to improving access to its service for customers with disabilities.
"This is the third Action Plan developed by Westpac," said Commissioner Innes.
"In addition to a number of ongoing actions to improve access in areas such as buildings and electronic banking it is particularly good to see new commitments to the captioning of customer information videos, redesign of queuing systems, mental health awareness training and a number of employment related strategies.
The Commissioner said the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) has developed guidelines to assist organisations such as banks to identify barriers to buildings, information, internet sites or ATMs and then develop Action Plans to remove those barriers over time.
"One of the encouraging things about this latest Action Plan from Westpac is that they are clearly moving away from looking at access as a special "add-on" to their services towards making sure access is built into the way they do business," Commissioner Innes said.
"Changing the culture of any organisation towards one where access is routinely considered as part of the development of any new product is a difficult process and I must congratulate Westpac on making the commitment to making those changes."
Westpac has lodged their Accessibility Action Plan with the Commission and it can be found on the Westpac website at http://www.westpac.com.au/internet/publish.nsf/Content/WICRCU+Disability+Action+Plan or on the Commission"s website at http://www.humanrights.gov.au/disability_rights/action_plans/Register/register.html#business
Media Contact: Louise McDermott 02 9284 9851 or 0419 258 597
Last updated January 31, 2008
