From: Angus Downie [downieangus@stringline.com.au]
Sent: Saturday, 3 June 2000 16:16
To: disabdis@hreoc.gov.au
Subject: ORTA APPLICATION FOR STATE BY STATE EXEMPTIONS
        
                                SUBMISSION


From:    Angus Downie

To:        Deputy DDA Commissioner, Graeme Innes, HREOC

Subject:  ORTA APPLICATION FOR STATE BY STATE BUS EXEMPTIONS

Date:         4th June, 2000

Dear Sir -

I wish to bring to your attention commitments (and warnings) relating to accessible public transport for the Sydney Olympics and Paralympics. This was reported by the NSW Parliamentary Hansard during debate on the bill to establish ORTA (October 1998) and earlier (1995) - all briedly reproduced in the last (Autumn 2000) issue of "Quad Wrangle," officiual journal of the AQA.

However, as a resident of Tasmania and therefore not directly affected by the proposed exemption, I am making this submission in a separate capacity to provide some personal and historical perspective..

As a senior journalist, researcher and national advocate for accessible public transport since the late 1960's, I began asking the original Olympics and Paralympic Bid Committee the key questions in November - December 1992.  Since then I have been like "a dog at a bone" from the NSW Premier, Transport and Olympics ministers, their staffs,  down through OCA, ORTA, the NSW DOT other agencies, and even the then Sydney Lord Mayor (Doug Sutherland) all without success.

Immediately after the 1996 Atlanta Games with its transport stuff-ups, I began receiving questions about Sydney Games' transport at conferences (Florida 1996, Perth 1998, the UK, Europe and North America 1999) plus numerous faxes, emails and even phone calls from around the world, all asking the same questions. 

This was conveyed to NSW authorities in person, writing and by phone calls, to virtually no avail, except for one lengthy but totally unsatisfactory reply from the NSW Transport minister in 1998 about which I lodged a personal complaint with NSW Premier Carr's staff.

Finally a breakthrough came recently on 24th May, 2000 when the then acting Olympics minister conceded in a highly confidential letter to the Victorian premier that without 1,100 buses (including "low-floor accessible buses") from Victoria, the Olympic Games Bus 2000 fleet (estimated at 3,800) and ORTA's " task in meeting transport commitments would be exceedingly difficult." Surprise !

Now that the ACT has withdrawn its ACTION buses from the Bus 2000 fleet, it is virtually certain that ORTA may have to look to South Australia to assist. And following SA's recent transport privatisation and the government's contractual arrangements with operators, this can be expected to raise the same sort of operator concerns that Victorian companies such as Grenda and Ventura have raised with their state government.

Instead of detailing the whole sorry mess relating to Olympic transport arrangements and Bus 2000, I refer you to my views expressed in a detailed chronology and litany of errors in the Winter issue of Quad Wrangle due out this week and accessible via <www.aqa.com.au>  I wish this to stand as my submission
  
As a related but side issue to the above, the NSW Bus and Coach Association via its president, Jim Bosnjak, who signed the original BUS 2000 Memorandum of Understanding with NSW and Olympic authorities (and is also a key player in the national BCA which has fought accessible "mainstream" public buses from the outset), has finally seen the chickens come home to roost.

After 16 years leading the NSW BCA, serving as chairman and former partner of Westbus and the  National Bus Company (both sold), and as leader of Bus 2000, 'Big Jim" was recently reported as being likely to quit all positions after the Olympics.

However, I firmly believe that the question of trade-offs now in currency to win Federal Government agreement for the Accessible PublicTransport Standards in return for the NSW-based ORTA application is politically naive, will lead to more problems and has not been properly thought through by its proponents. This issue has also been partly covered by the journal, Quad Wrangle.
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Mr. Deputy Commissioner, I refer you and others intending to make submissions to read these  articles before putting pen to paper by 13th June.

Yours faithfully,

Angus Downie
8980 Channel Highway
Huonville   Tas.   7109




  




 

Kind Regards
Angus Downie
downieangus@stringline.com.au
Ph: +61 (0)3 62641321
Fax/Message +61 (0)3 62641919