From:
Carmel Williams [carmelw@sportingwheelies.org.au]
Sent:
Monday, 22 May 2000 18:00
To:
disabdis@hreoc.gov.au
Subject:
WE WILL RIDE - COMPROMISE OR COP OUT?
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 and 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. 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.
Summary
If
the disability sector is being asked to comment on this proposed
exemption
for the purpose of supporting this exemption, we believe there
will
be a very negative response. Why should the disability sector support
this
embarrassing situation where both the ORTA and the NSW government have
demonstrated
a lack of real commitment to implementing accessible transport
and
infrastructure? Why? The NSW government have also stated at ATC
meetings
that they would only support the DDA Transport Standards
conditional
to Commonwealth funding. This is seen yet again as a low
levelcommitment
to accessible transport. This one opportunity to showcase
to
the world via the Olympics, a fairer, smarter and equitable transport
system
is now going to be lost. That
commitment could be demonstrated by
the
immediate promulgation of the Accessible Transport Standards in Federal
parliament
as they were approved by the Australian Transport Council (ATC)
on
April 30, 1999. therefore, do not
support the granting of the exemption.
Perhaps
consideration could be given to contracting some of the South
Australian
buses for the period of the Olympics and Paralympics, as is
happening
with buses from other Eastern states.
WE WILL RIDE - AND WITHOUT
COMPROMISE!