Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Website

Disability Rights update: February 2007

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

I have written to the Prime Minister and to the Attorney-General to express my appreciation of the role which the Australian Government played in the conclusion of the international Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; to offer our co-operation in the next steps to be taken in relation to this Convention, and to suggest that the approach of including representatives of the disability community which was adopted in Australia's contribution to the drafting of the Convention should be continued in further steps towards adoption and implementation.

The Convention is expected to be open for signature in March. When the Convention was approved by the United Nations General Assembly in December we issued a press release suggesting that Australia should be among the first countries to sign.

Employment issues

The necessity of a national disability employment strategy has continued to feature highly in my work on employment and disability and the follow-up of the Inquiry recommendations. Most recently, I met with advisers to the Queensland Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations (the Hon John Mickel) to discuss such an approach. Further discussions were also held with the Victorian Office for Disability and the Mental Health Council of Australia. Growing support for such an approach, and especially from the disability and employment services sector, led me to convene a working group to examine this option in more detail and discuss ways to realise the most important of the Inquiry recommendations: the development and implementation of an overarching national strategy which seeks to simultaneously address the critical barriers for people with disability, employers and services providers.

A working group was also convened to examine the current model of employment support services for jobseekers and employees with disability and employers. Several Inquiry recommendations focussed on the need to improve the delivery of support services. The aim of this working group is to identify changes to improve the flexibility and capacity of services to respond to needs of job seekers and employees with disability and their employers in the open workplace.

With regard to the improvement of employment support services delivered by the private sector, we recently met with the Recruitment and Consulting Services Association (RCS), the peak body of the employment services industry in Australia and New Zealand . In particular, we discussed the extent to which Inquiry Recommendation 27 (specific to the private recruitment industry) had been implemented. Other strategies to improve the ability of private recruitment agencies to successfully place people with disability in employment and engage and address employer concerns were also canvassed at this meeting.

Progress has also been made by the occupational health and safety working group which met late last year to address employer concerns about perceived increased exposure to legal and financial risks related to occupational health and safety. As reported previously, the Inquiry found that this was one of the main impediments to the employment of people with disability in the open workplace.

I am also pleased to advise that I had the opportunity to have the findings of the Inquiry considered in an international review being conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD). The OECD is conducting a thematic review on Reforming Sickness and Disability Policies to Improve Work Incentives. I met with three representatives of the OECD and discussed the Inquiry in particular and disability policy and programmes in Australia more broadly.

I also attended the Prime Minister's Employer of the Year Awards in December. These awards recognise excellence in the employment of people with disability by large, medium and small employers.

Access to Premises

Following the national forum on Universal Housing at the end of November 2006 I have met with representatives of the Australian Network for Universal Housing Design and am looking at ways to raise the issue of access to housing at all levels of Government.

I have received no further information on progress in relation to the Access to Premises Standard but continue to discuss the importance of completing this project with relevant Federal, State/Territory Ministers and community groups.

Following work undertaken with the Department of Human Services on access to buildings and services I have drafted a checklist for use by service providers, Government agencies and businesses. Work is nearly complete on re-drafting following feedback and I intend to make the material available through the Commission's website before the end of February.

Audio description, captioning and media access

I will be holding a Roundtable discussion on access to DVDs later in February. The Roundtable will look at issues such as captioning of DVDs for Deaf people or people with a hearing impairment and audio description for people with a vision impairment. Representatives from the DVD industry, community sector and Government will be attending the Roundtable.

Information and communications technology

Mr Maguire continues to participate in the discussions of the US Access Board committee reviewing the standards on information and communications technology under s.508 of the US Rehabilitation Act.

Productivity Commission review of the DDA

The Bill to implement the legislative components of the Government's response to the Productivity Commission review of the DDA is listed among those scheduled for introduction in the Autumn sittings, but is not yet available.

Accessible electronic financial services

Work is nearly complete on the Australian Bankers' Association guidelines on accessible authentication systems which will be launched early this year. These guidelines will assist organisations providing financial services to ensure that any authentication systems used by customers are as accessible as possible to all customers including customers with disabilities.

Accessible public transport

All jurisdictions now have information (to varying levels) available online on progress against the compliance targets in the Standards.

The Department of Transport and Regional Services has announced that appointment of a consultant to conduct the 5 year review of the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport will shortly commence with a view to completion of the review by October this year. I have expressed some concern to the Department about whether an effective review, including the degree of consultation with industry and disability community experts, can be conducted within this timeframe and will be discussing issues regarding the review further at this month's meeting of the Accessible Public Transport National Advisory Committee (APTNAC).

Exemptions

The Commission's decision on the Australian Railways Association application for exemptions in relation to the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport was released last month. On a number of matters decisions were deferred pending further consultation between industry and community representatives. We will be discussing how that consultation may best occur at this months APTNAC meeting. As indicated in the decision I expect that this consultation, and reporting and consultation on other issues where exemptions were granted on conditions, will assist the process of the 5 year review of the Standards.

An exemption application has been received from Hervey Bay RSL Club regarding two courtesy buses and a notice of inquiry has been released for consultation.

Recent meetings / speeches / media

Commissioner Innes except where otherwise indicated

24 Nov: Mike Adams, UK Disability Rights Commission, re education issues
30 Nov: ABC radio interview re disability and communications and media regulation
30 Nov: Keynote, special education conference, Camden
1 Dec: Meeting Employers Network on Disability, Sydney
1 Dec: Meeting Disability Council NSW, Sydney
4 Dec: ABC radio interview re International Day for People with Disability
6 Dec: Meeting Mental Health Council of Australia , Canberra
6 Dec: PM's Employer of the Year awards, Canberra
16 Jan: Mtg CASA and aviation industry re overlaps between DDA and air safety regulation, Melbourne (Mr Mason)
23 Jan: Employment supports working group meeting (Cmr Innes, Ms Ricci), Sydney
29 Jan: National disability employment strategy working group , Melbourne (Cmr Innes, Mr Mason, Ms Ricci)
30 Jan: Mtg Minister Justin Madden, Melbourne
30 Jan: Meetings on employment issues, Melbourne (MS Ricci)
2 Feb: Meeting RACGP re health access issues, Sydney
2 Feb: Interview ABC radio re sport and disability action plans
2 Feb: Sydney City Council re action plans (Mr Small)

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