Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to amend general business notice of motion No. 519 standing in my name.

Leave granted.

I move the motion as amended:

That the Senate:

(a)

notes that:

(i)

the week beginning Sunday, 23 August 2009 is Hearing Awareness Week,

(ii)

one in six Australians has some form of hearing impairment, a total of 3.55 million people,

(iii)

noise injury is the single most common cause of hearing loss, with a total of 37 per cent of hearing loss due to noise injury, and

(iv)

captioning increases the ability of people with a hearing impairment to access broadcast messages; and

(b)

calls on the Government to:

(i)

ensure access to all suitable technologies to assist people with a hearing impairment,

(ii)

investigate the feasibility of expanding government-funded hearing services and aids to those over the age of 21, and

(iii)

undertake to expand captioning to include all government media.

Question agreed to.