Disability Rights update: April 2008

Other recent editions: February 2008; November 2007; September 2007; July 2007; May 2007; February 2007; November 2006. 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.

As noted in my previous report, I have written to the Attorney-General and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade recommending expedited ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities so that Australia has the opportunity to participate in the selection of the initial Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Processes to establish the Committee commence once 20 nations have ratified the Convention. We are advised that ratifications reached 20 on 3 April. The initial election of the Committee must occur within six months from the entry into force of the Convention and only States which are parties at that point would be eligible to vote. Moreover, the Secretary-General of the United Nations must invite nominations of candidates for election to the Committee at least four months prior to each election and nominations close two months prior to the election. Thus it appears that if Australia is to be part of the initial Committee selection process ratification would need to occur by 3 August at the latest.

Access to Premises

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

Work is now complete on a revised edition of the resource The good, the bad and the ugly and CDs will be available for distribution before the end of April. More than 4000 copies of this CD have been distributed and I am currently negotiating with one Council a partnership arrangement whereby copies of the CD will be distributed to every building development approval applicant. Once this partnership is finalised I intend to seek similar arrangements with other Councils throughout Australia .

The Disability Rights Unit is currently involved in a project with the Local Government and Shires Association of NSW focussing on Council responsibilities under the DDA and in particular strategies Councils can adopt to improve access to the built environment in their locality. This project will result in the production of material that can be downloaded from the internet and used by any Council as an educational tool.

I continue to have discussions with Government and the disability and building sector about finalising the Access to Premises project.

National Inquiry into Employment and Disability

I am pleased to report that the new Government has decided to implement the critical recommendation made by the National Inquiry into Employment and Disability; the development of a national disability employment strategy. On 15 February 2008 the Minister for Employment Participation, the Hon Brendan O'Connor MP, and the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children's Services, the Hon Bill Shorten announced the development of a ‘National Mental Health and Disability Employment Strategy'. Since that announcement, I have attended the first National Mental Health and Disability Employment Strategy Advisory Committee meeting with both Ministers and contributed to the development of the national consultation process and discussion paper. The aim of both processes is to encourage participation by people with disability, and other stakeholders, in the development of a national Strategy. Importantly, the Strategy aims to include policies and programs across portfolios and State, Territory and Commonwealth governments – a critical feature of our recommendation.

With regard to the work of the Occupational Health and Safety and Employees with Disability in the Open Workplace Working Group, a teleconference was held with employer peaks to discuss how best to engage and disseminate information to employers and employer promotional activities. The Working Group continued to work on the development of new fact sheets for employers, recruitment and on-hire companies, risk assessors and people with disability, amongst other capacity building activities. The working group is also considering the development of guidance material for employers regarding accommodating people with mental illness in the workplace. The absence of such guidance material was noted by the Australian Safety and Compensation Council in the report last year: Are people with disability at risk at report? This report was published in response to concerns identified in the Inquiry.

The Government has also recently initiated reviews into the delivery of employment services and the Job Capacity Assessment and Job Capacity Account initiatives. We lodged submissions in relation to both reviews and met with the Department of Human Services to fully discuss our submission in relation to JCA services.

We also contributed to the Commission's submission in response to the Government's discussion paper on National Employment Standards. In particular, we advocated the Government to consider extending the right to request flexible working arrangement to all employees with caring responsibilities (both parents and carers) and to employees with disability. The ability to work flexibility was identified during the Inquiry as essential to improve the employment rate and productivity of people with disability in open employment.

With regard to the scoping of issues and barriers to employment for Indigenous people with disability, research is continuing in this area and key contacts are being established.

With regard to wages for people with disability, a submission was made to the Australian Fair Pay Commission for consideration in the 2008 Minimum Wage Review. The Fair Pay Commission is also considering the approval of 10 new wage assessment tools for use by Business Services and we have raised concerns in writing and at the most recent Australian Fair Pay Commission Disability Roundtable meeting.

Mental Health and Human Rights

For more in this area see our mental health page

I recently convened a meeting with critical stakeholders to identify critical actions or structural changes necessary to improve the flexibility and capacity of services to respond to the needs of people with mental illness across Australia and to protect the rights of people with mental illness. The timing of this meeting was seen as critical by all attendees given the number of key opportunities to currently influence the reform of the delivery of services. The meeting was seen by attendees as a follow up by the Commission of the Not For Service report, which was conducted with the Mental Health Council of Australia and the Brain and Mind Research Institute. Both organisations attended and supported this meeting and the Commissions aim: to advocate for a human rights-based approach to the delivery of services to people with mental illness in Australia . Invitees included representatives of: peak mental health and disability organisations; consumers and carers; organisations that provide services in the community to people with mental illness; academics in health policy; and organisations to present views/needs of particular groups currently experiencing problems with regard to access to services and protection of rights (people with mental illness living in rural and remote areas; Indigenous people; young people; people form CALD backgrounds; people with mental illness in the criminal justice system; homeless people; refugees and asylum seekers; and people requiring mental health and drug and alcohol services). The group has committed to working together and framing advocacy for reform from a human rights perspective.

Audio description, captioning and media access

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

While I am assured the proposed Investigation into Media Access, announced by the last Government, will go ahead it is disappointing that it is taking so long to finalise a proposed Discussion Paper on this matter. I have held discussions with the relevant Departments and Ministers and will continue to push for a speedy release of the Discussion Paper.

In the meantime I am continuing to have discussions with the disability sector, sections of the cinema industry and representatives of TV broadcasters to identify ways in which further improvements can be achieved.

Use of technology in queuing systems

I have begun negotiations with a Government Department to look at access issues arising out of the use of new technologies, and in particular touch screen technology, in customer queuing systems. These new technologies are being used more and more in the Government and business sectors and they present a number of access difficulties for people with a range of disabilities. I am hoping this work will result in some best practice guidelines for the use of technology in queuing systems.

Accessible public transport

For more in this area see our transport page.

We are continuing to contribute to the five year review of the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport through involvement in discussions between the review team and the Accessible Public Transport National Advisory Committee.

A positive meeting on aviation access issues was co-chaired by myself and Parliamentary Secretary Bill Shorten on 7 April. More detail on outcomes of that meeting will be available shortly.

Exemptions

For more in this area see our exemptions page.

Tiger Airways: As previously reported, on 1 February the Commission granted a very brief (one month) exemption to Tiger Airways regarding physical access to aircraft, pending delivery of their passenger lifting devices and on condition that they work with disability representative organisations to address access issues more broadly. Tiger have advised they have now complied with the conditions of the exemption.

Queensland and Western Australian Taxi Councils: Taxi industry representative bodies in these two States have applied for their member radio co-operatives to be exempted from the requirement under the transport Standards to ensure equal response times for accessible cabs as for other taxis. A decision on this matter was deferred pending receipt of submissions from transport jurisdictions. The Accessible Public Transport Jurisdictional Committee has now provided its input (1 April) and further action will follow shortly.

Queensland Rail Tilt Train : Queensland Rail have been granted an exemption for five years permitting them to maintain current levels of provision of allocated spaces on their tilt train services – largely on the basis that it was highly likely that QR were in fact complying with the requirements of the Standards already, but were prepared to commit to additional measures in return for certainty on this point.

Regional Express (REX) : REX Airways applied in October 2007 for temporary exemptions to permit Rex placing a range of restrictions and requirements on the carriage of passengers with specific disabilities on its SAAB aircraft. REX has requested time to consider and respond to issues raised in public submissions on the application and a decision has been deferred accordingly.

Amendments to the DDA

We are hoping to see introduction in the Winter parliamentary session of amendments to the DDA to implement the reforms recommended by the Productivity Commission over two years ago, including express provision for a duty to make reasonable adjustments, and a number of associated reforms including regarding recognition of assistance animals.

Recent meetings / speeches / media

Date
2 April	Local Government Association NSW workshop
1 April	University of Newcastle forum on Disability Standards for Education
31 March	Mental health and human rights forum, Brain and Mind Research Institute, Sydney
28 March	National mental health and disability employment strategy advisory committee meeting, Melbourne
28 March	ABC radio re Commission funding
26 March	Meeting of Reference Group on Universal Housing Design
19 March	Meetings with Ministers' offices and Cth officials re access to premises; accessible procurement; Convention; Canberra
19 March	Interviews ABC, 2UE re Commission funding
18 March	SMH re Commission funding
14 March	ABC radio re disability and political office
12 March	ABC regional radio re cinema access
12 March	Forum on financial security and chronic illness, Sydney
10 March	Australasian Railways Association re access issues, Sydney
7 March	Government Business Conference re accessible procurement, Brighton
4 March	Deaf Australia re captioning issues, Sydney
3 March	ACOSS re social inclusion issues, Sydney
3 March	QANTAS access forum meeting, Sydney
28 Feb	TIO Action Plan launch; meeting with Senator Conroy's office re communications access issues, Melbourne
27 Feb	Homelessness NSW presentation
25 Feb	Access to premises reference group meeting, Sydney
19 Feb	AFDO annual meeting, Sydney
19 Feb	Waverley Council meeting presentation
18 Feb	ABC Law report re disability and education
18 Feb	Accessible Public transport national Advisory Committee, Melbourne

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