From:
Dave Davis [d3com@home.com]
Sent:
Saturday, 20 May 2000 14:23
To:
disabdis@hreoc.gov.au
Subject:
No subject was specified.
Re:
Notice of application for temporary exemption under Disability
Discrimination
Act section 55: Olympic Roads and Transport Authority
To
whom it may concern:
As
a soon-to-be Australian resident (moving to QLD from Canada in
August),
and having followed accessibility issues (I use a power
wheelchair)
in Australia since prior to our visit (my wife's an
Australian)
in 1997, I would like to express my views on the above
application
for exemption.
I'd
like to place the following points on record to support why I feel
this
temporary exemption should NOT be granted:
1.
The powers in Sydney have known since 1994 that the Olympics was
coming
their way.
2.
Many of the powers in Sydney, and NSW, have been instrumental in
fighting
the implementation of the Transportation Standards.
3.
Some of the physical roadblocks to accessible transit, such as narrow
sidewalks,
kerb height, etc., that have been used to put off accessible
transport
in Sydney are still in existance. Now everything would be ok,
if
the more progressive states would allow the loan of the needed
low-floor
buses.
4.
There was an almost total lack of accessible public transport when I
visited
in 1997, 3 years after the Olympic Committee decision to hold
the
games in Sydney, and 3 years prior to their pressing need now.
5.
What was offered in 1997, the monorail and taxis, were woefully
inadequate,
especially the access cabs, as we were stood up numerous
times
during our 7 days there (Sydney). Sydney, a world-class city of 4
million,
is where Victoria, BC, pop. 250,000 now, was in 1991 prior to
implementing
the accessible bus only program, where it is now at least
60%
accessible, including 11 new double decker, low-floors buses from
Dennis
of the UK. It–BC Transit-Victoria–has twice won the best transit
service
award in Canada, and this will continue until 100% access is
achieved
by around 2003.
6.
Hard-won gains by persons with disabilities in the more progressive
states
should NOT be compromised by pandering to Sydney's need, real or
otherwise,
to "borrow" from these fleets their newest and most
accessible
buses, just so Sydney can look good in the eyes of the
international
community at the expense of others throughout Australia.
7.
Sydney has had plently of time to make accessible the majority of its
fleet,
had it made the decision to do so. Sydney, and NSW, will be the
major
beneficiaries of the windfall that follows the Olympics, and
should
have planned accordingly, not to fall back on the gains made by others.
8.
Sydney has made great strides in making public transport inclusive to
ALL
its citizens since I visited in 1997, but it was too little, too
late,
thus their need to borrow from others to overcome their shortage.
9.
I realize that the Olympics would place an extraordinary strain on
the
most accessible of transit systems, but seeing as accessible transit
is
very much in its infancy in most parts of Australia, I would find it
incomprehinsible
to take from those needing accessible, inexpensive
transport
to get to work, attend classes, and participate in their
communities.
I'm sorry, but Sydney should live with its own
shortcomings,
with the hope that someday these shortcoming will no
longer
be valid.
In
agreement with my collegue, Maurice Corcoran, who's statement below I
adopt
100%.
"The
only way that I could be persuaded to support the exemption would
be
for a real commitment by the NSW and Commonwealth governments to
accessible
transport. 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."
Maurice
Corcoran
IN
SUMMARY:
I
don't believe Sydney should receive this temporary exemption for all
the
reasons stated above. There has been sufficient time to ready itself
for
the Olympics, and the fact that much of this time has been wasted in
the
politics of the situation, rather than providing access as has
happened
in other jurisdictions, should not be ignored in allowing
Australia's
largest and most powerful city to borrow from the rights of
its
fellow citizens.
Thank
you for listening.
Yours
truly,
Dave
Davis
Canadian
citizen, soon to be an Australian resident
former
board member of the Victoria Accessible Transportation Advisory
Committee–BC
Transit-Victoria
former
board member of the Victoria Independent Living Centre
Member
of the Muscular Dystrophy Assn. of Canada (MDAC)
Member
of Physical Disability Council of Australia
and
Jeanette
Hollier
Australian
citizen
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