Exemption Application by ORTA Individual Comment
reasons why we do not support an exemption:
1. The DDA has now been
in existence since 1992 and Draft Accessible
Transport Standards were first
approved by the Australian Transport
Council as 'technically feasible' back
in June 1996 - four years ago.
2. Some State and Territory Governments
have used those Standards as
benchmarks and have been purchasing only
accessible buses since late
1994 early 95.
3. Why is it, given that
NSW Dept of Transport knew in August 1994
that they would be hosting the
Olympics and paralympics, that they
did not instigate a similar purchasing
policy as for example South
Australia.
4. Since late 1994, South
Australia has purchased only accessible
buses. Their total fleet is 750 and
they re-stock at approximately 50
new buses per year or 1 every week.
5. You don't have to be real smart to work out that the total
replacement of the fleet will take about 14 & 1/2 years or that in 4
years they will have approximately 200 accessible buses.
6. NSW has
a much bigger fleet I understand, so the number of buses
purchased each year
would be greater than a small State like South
Australia. Why is it that
they have not purchased more accessible
buses? How many excuses have
you heard about the terrain being very
difficult or
not being sure about
which ramps to purchase, or calming devices
preventing them from getting
accessible buses??
7. I don't believe they have been genuinely
trying to address
accessibility issues in transport and infrastructure to
the full
extent possible. In fact, there has been considerable pressure from
particular lobby groups on the NSW Government to relax from the
Transport Standards.
8. This same lobby has also been the same
isolated group which has
opposed the Accessible Transport Standards moving
forward even though
all States and territories approved the Standards in
April 1999. This
same lobby has been very active in Canberra with Ministers
an senior
public
servants.
9. 8 years after the DDA, 4 years
since the Transport Standards were
approved by the ATC as technically
feasible and 12 months down the
track since they were 'finally' approved by
ATC, we do not Accessible
Transport Standards in Australia.
10. Our
understanding is that all Federal government Departments
supported the
Accessible Transport Standards moving forward except
1. Further, that
this delay in one government Department is due to 1
individual who is linked
back to the lobby group mentioned above.
11. The disability community is
getting more frustrated and angrier
by the day as these long and
discriminatory delays hinder the long
term development of a fully accessible
transport system for
Australia.
12. An accessible transport system
is vital for our aging society
where there continues to be a proportional
growth of our entire
population with mobility disabilities.
13. If
we don't plan to cater for this expansion (in the same way we
have done so
with superannuation etc to promote self funded
retirees), transport
operators are ignoring their biggest growth
market in off-peak travel and at
the same time cause long term
isolation and waste of considerable human
resources.
14. An accessible transport system is essential if this
Commonwealth
government is serious about 'Welfare Reform' and enabling the
full
participation of people with a disability in employment, education
and training and recreation.