Robert McClelland (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I present copies of the draft Disability (Access to Premises—Buildings) Standards 2009, the Disability (Access to Premises—Buildings) Standards Guidelines 2009, The protocol: a model process to administer building access for people with a disability—the protocol by the Australian Building Codes Board, the draft Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport Amendment 2009, the regulation impact statement and a summary of the main Australian standards referred to in the access code.

Today, the Rudd government took an important step as part of our long-term plan to achieve better outcomes for people with disability and their families. On the eve of International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the government tabled draft Disability (Access to Premises–Buildings) Standards in the House. The government will move to refer those draft standards to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs. The premises standards are tabled on behalf of both me and the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. We propose to ask the committee to conduct consultations on the draft and to report to parliament in the first half of 2009.

The premises standards are an important part of the Rudd government’s social inclusion agenda. They will ensure that people with disability have improved access to a wide range of public buildings. Improved building access will give people with mobility, vision and hearing impairments greater opportunities to access employment and other services, helping them to better connect with family, friends and the local community. Greater accessibility of public buildings will also benefit older Australians with mobility constraints, which is increasingly important as our population ages. Indeed, from a commercial perspective it is in the interests of those institutions catering to older Australians to have regard to these standards.

The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 currently contains a broadly stated obligation to provide non-discriminatory access to premises that are accessible to the public or a section of the public. The obligation in the act is enforced by individual complaints of discrimination. In practice, however, this has resulted in a lack of clarity and a low level of improvement in access to premises. The complaints process in particular can be costly, stressful and time consuming. While a resolved complaint can lead to an individual remedy, it will not achieve systemic change, which is desired by the government.

The premises standards are intended to achieve more consistent, systemic and widespread improvements in non-discriminatory access for people with a disability to publicly accessible buildings. The premises standards will specify the type of access that will comply with Australia’s disability discrimination system. This in turn will help to reduce red tape by harmonising the requirements with the Building Code of Australia, which in turn is adopted by state and territory building laws. In practice, this will mean a building constructed in compliance with the Building Code will also be compliant with the non-discriminatory requirements that will be contained in the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. This will provide certainty to building owners, managers and also developers.

The premises standards recognise the practical realities of what can reasonably be required and enforced. They will apply to new buildings and existing buildings but only to the extent that those existing buildings are undergoing significant upgrade work. In other words, they will not have retrospective operation. They will not apply at all to private residences. They also contain an exemption to cover situations where meeting the standards would cause unjustifiable hardship for the person undertaking the upgrade.

The premises standards have been a long time coming. It is with some regret that the former government was unable to deliver on those standards. On coming to office, the Rudd government has made this a priority. We have made significant progress in being able to table these draft standards in 12 months, as I have mentioned. It has involved considerable consultation. This is a further demonstration of the Rudd government’s strong commitment to recognising the human rights of all Australians. Both the Australian Building Codes Board and the Australian Human Rights Commission should be congratulated for the significant role they have played in the development of the standards. Their approaches have respectively been balanced and constructive. Various representatives, individuals and organisations from the disability and industry sectors have also made important contributions.

At the end of the day, I suppose no-one will be entirely satisfied with their own advocacy being delivered, but in terms of the overall outcome I think people will concede that they are fair, reasonable and solid. I specifically acknowledge the work and commitment of the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator the Hon. Kim Carr, and also the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children’s Services, the Hon. Bill Shorten MP. Both have done an outstanding job on a project that has involved considerable work.

The premises standards are an important step in removing discriminatory barriers for people with a disability. The Rudd government has a long-term plan and is committed to being a regional and international leader for people with disabilities and their families. The government worked very hard to ensure Australia became one of the first Western countries to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and that occurred earlier this year. We are also proud to support Professor Ron McCallum AO as Australia’s successful nominee for the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and I wish to place on record our congratulations to Professor McCallum.

The premises standards will also complement the government’s work to improve the rights of people with disability at home here in Australia. The Rudd government is committed to a whole-of-government national disability strategy to increase participation, social inclusion and support for people with a disability as well as their carers. And tomorrow I will introduce long overdue amend-ments to improve the operation of the Disability Discrimination Act. We must work harder to fully include people with disability in the social, economic and cultural life of the country. This is an important step in the right direction. I thank the House.

I ask leave of the House to move a motion to enable the member for Farrer to speak for eight minutes.

Leave granted.

I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent Ms Ley speaking for a period not exceeding eight minutes.

Question agreed to.

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