I endorse Mr. Maurice Corcoran 14-point submission, and would like to add
the following comments.
1. With respect to his second argument, Commissioner
Innes' logic puts people with physical disabilities into a no-win situation. My
understanding is that in law a compainant cannot make a general compaint against
a system, but can only make a complaint about a specific situation and therefore
has no choice but to make a complaint against a specific service. Yet the
Commissioner seems to be implying that HREOC will not act on specific
situations, and that because compaints following ORTA's commandeering of buses
will more than likely be about specific situations, he will likely grant the
exemption. Catch 22 - Yossarian lives!
2. With respect to his first argument, Commissioner Innes
seems to imply that bus operators bought accessible buses over the last few
years because they figured that they would be making a profit contracting out to
Bus 2000 for the Olympic period. If this is so, then the implication is that
once there are no more Olympics in Sydney, we can look forward to no more
purchases of accessible buses.
Is that the signal HREOC wants to be endorsing? Surely the signal should be
that "you bought accessible buses to provide transport in Victoria, Brisbane,
Maroubra etc. because that is where people with disabilities go to work, shop
and play. You can't just withdraw the ability of people to go about the things
they have adjusted to just so that a few people in Sydney can go and
play".
Any company that makes an investment based on a one-off short-term event
such as an Olympics is not sustainable. The notion that companies that have
accessible buses will suffer more than companies that have not bought accessible
buses will suffer if the exemption is not granted is convoluted logic. It begs
the question of why ORTA did not ensure four years ago that there would be
enough accessible buses all round and that no buses would have to be
withdrawn.
3. There is nothing to suggest that these buses will
actually be used by wheelchair users. My experience over the "test" period is
that ORTA couldn't manage its way out of a paper bag. They anticipated road
closures for the trial marathon for periods well in excess of that required;
similarly for the half-marathon. They have never managed to get their timtabling
right for the Easter Show and have therefore never managed to have much
patronage. I expect they are involved in overkill on getting in accessible buses
from all over Australia, and then they will screw up the timetabling and it will
all amount to nothing but a withdrawal of service rather than a reallocation.
4. Personal evidence relating to buses and the
Paralympics - My daughter's school is going one day to the Paralympics and
the teacher concerned has been trying to arrange an accessible so that my
daughter - the only wheelchair user in the school - can go with her classmates
to this disability showcase. The teacher has rung SOCOG, ORTA, Sydney Buses
and private bus companies - but guess what? She can't get an accessible bus!!!!!
The only wheelchair user in the school will be isolated
from her classmates.
Wheelchair users on non-Olympic routes will be worse and there is
absolutely no guaranttee that wheelchair users on Olympic and Paralympic routes
will be better off. The exemption should not be granted. ORTA and State
government agencies should face the music of their incompetence and lack of
planning.
(On the other hand, maybe the planning is perfect. Maybe authorities
anticipated some years ago that the exemption card was there for the picking -
after all, who would dare stand up to fight the 5-ring circus - and it was
calculated that there was no need to do anything. ORTA's risk was minimal
because if the exemption is granted, terrific and if it is not granted, then
there would be no shortage of journalists and radio talk-back hosts to blame the
anti-sport anti-fun crips and do-gooders from HREOC.)