J & F. M. Homan
‘Phone: 07 4939 7189 P.O. Box 1019,
Mobile: 0408 211 734 E-mail: homan@rocknet.net.au YEPPOON - 4703.
Objection to
:Application for temporary exemption under Disability Discrimination Act section 55: Olympic Roads and Transport Authority
I object to the granting of an exemption to this and related applications on two grounds:
By not making a single reference to time lines in its application ORTA is pretending that it is dealing with a sudden, unforeseen and unexpected crisis, which can only be resolved by sanctioning breaches of the DDA anywhere but in Sydney.
ORTA, even though the DDA has been in force since 1992, and Draft Accessible Transport Standards were approved in mid 1996, has at no time been proactive in meeting its obligations under the DDA. Where South Australia has had a policy of fleet renewal with accessible buses only, at a rate of 50 per year
When it became known that Sydney was to host the Olympics and Para Olympics in 2000, more than 4 years ago, ORTA ignored the wake up call.
In March 1998 the National Disability Advisory Council (NDAC) – the principal advisory body to Federal Minister Jocelyn Newman – was represented at a workshop run by the Sydney Paralympic Organizing Committee (SPOC). NDAC raised a number of concerns relating to transport issues, and SPOC undertook to take this to ORTA. Regular contact between the NDAC and SPOC has been maintained since. In spite of this ORTA and Bus2000 slept on.
Or did they?
There is ample evidence to show that at least four years ago ORTA and Bus2000 embarked on a deliberate policy of meeting Sydney’s needs by creating needs elsewhere: Robbing Peter to pay Paul!
I find that:
To grant the exemption on the grounds that it solves the crises that ORTA and Bus2000 created for themselves, knowingly and voluntarily is totally unacceptable.
If this exemption is granted the status of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission will be much diminished, and its reputation as a protector and champion for human rights and equality will be irreparably damaged.
Granting the exemption asked for will also set a precedent that will make non compliance more the rule rather than the exception, reducing the DDA to a mere token act.
John Homan,
Member of the Disability Council of Queensland,
Vice President of the Capricornia Respite Care Association,
Member of the Endeavour Foundation's Rockhampton Branch Board,
Member of the Livingstone Shire's Equitable Access Committee.
19 May, 2000.