Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recently I met with Marie-Christine Lamy and her five-year-old daughter, Isabelle. Isabelle has been diagnosed with Rett syndrome, a rare genetic disorder affecting speech, coordination and the use of one's hands. As a result, Isabelle is dependent on an augmentative and alternative communication device, better known as an AAC device, to assist with her reading. Most digital books, reading platforms and mobile apps are not compatible with this device. With the right AAC features, people with physical print disability can turn the page at their own pace and as independently as possible. So Marie-Christine initiated a campaign titled '#canturnthepage'. The campaign seeks to modify the definition of a person with a disability in the Copyright Act and bring it in line with the definition set by the UN's World Intellectual Property Organization in 2013 and referred to as article 3(c) of the Marrakesh treaty. As part of the campaign, a petition has been signed by 137 people calling for the review of the definition of a person with a disability. It seems to me to be a non-controversial and sensible thing to do. I now table the petition, which has been considered by the Petitions Committee and found to be in order.

The petition read as follows—

The Marrakesh Treaty is an international treaty that was adopted almost 10 years ago, on 27 June 2013, to facilitate access to copyright material for people with print disability. There are 3 main types of print disability; learning, visual and physical. People with physical print disability, who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices to not only communicate but learn with, do not currently have access to a variety of mainstream books on their preferred devices. With the right AAC features, people (including my 5 year old daughter) with physical print disability can turn the page at their own pace and as independently as possible. To achieve this, the current definition of a "person with a disability" in the Copyright Act 1968 needs to be clarified as it doesn't specifically acknowledge physical print disability, that renders a person unable to hold or manipulate a book, as mentioned in the Marrakesh Treaty. We hope the new definition will give proper recognition to people with print disability and, ultimately, help raise awareness on the need to make a wide variety of mainstream books accessible on all AAC devices and with added AAC features.

We therefore ask the House to review the definition of a "person with a disability" (Part ll—Interpretation) in the Copyright Act 1968 and include "difficulty physically accessing" so it recognises people who have low and limited physical mobility as per Article 3(c) of the Marrakesh Treaty.

from 137 citizens (Petition No. PN5097)

Petition received.