Human Rights Commissioner and Commissioner responsible for Disability Discrimination, Graeme Innes AM, today welcomed the release of the draft report on the review of the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport.The report was released by the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Anthony Albanese and the Attorney-General, Robert McClelland along with an invitation for interested stakeholders to provide comments by the end of March.
“This draft report provides us with valuable information on the effect of the Transport Standard since it was introduced in 2002 and the degree to which the aim of significantly improving access to public transport has been realised,” said Commissioner Innes.
“It is clear that while some areas of public transport have seen significant improvements in overall accessibility for people with a disability in some areas, such as air travel, the general level of accessibility may have actually declined.”
The draft contains a number of recommendations aimed at clarifying technical questions raised over the first five years of operation of the Standards and proposes a number of changes to extend their scope to cover transport systems such as school bus services and community bus services.“I particularly welcome the recommendation that HREOC be given the power to refer cases of breaches of the Standards to the Federal Court and look forward to reading stakeholder views on this recommendation,” said Commissioner Innes.
“I congratulate the Government on the decision to release the report as a draft and would urge all interested parties to take this opportunity to provide final comments,” said Commissioner Innes.
The report can be found at http://www.ddatransportreview.com.au/
Posted by rollingrains at January 13, 2008 04:51 PM