Page 1855 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 2 May 2012
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(b) review the design of the disability parking spaces which are being implemented in accordance with the Australian Standard for Off-street parking for people with disabilities, in thorough consultation with the ACT disability sector, to develop an appropriate standard for the ACT;
(c) finalise scheduled works to bring all town and group centre carparks to the new reviewed standard for parking for people with disabilities;
(d) ensure that all local centres meet the revised standard for parking for people with disabilities;
(e) increase enforcement of illegal parking in disability parking spaces, including after hours; and
(f) report to the Assembly by the August sittings on:
(i) progress on the 2008 ACT Disabled Parking Study recommendations; and
(ii) progress on the issues in this motion.
I have brought on this motion today because over the years that I have been in the Assembly there has been a steady stream of constituents who have written to me or rung up about disabled parking issues. It is a real issue. In passing, I want to make it clear that, despite things which are said about the Greens by various other parties, the Greens do acknowledge that the car is an integral part of Canberra’s current transport system and that there are people, particularly disabled people, who are dependent upon car transport and it is really important that we get a transport system working properly. An appropriate parking provision for disabled people is a seriously important part of that.
As well as having raised this issue, all Green MLAs over the years that we have been here—I am of course going back to our predecessors as well—have consulted with a number of Canberra’s disability organisations about this issue and people with a disability are particularly concerned about the lack of parking spaces for people with a disability. Robert Altamore, who is the executive officer of People with Disabilities, pointed out the bleedingly obvious, that if disabled people cannot park their car, they cannot do their shopping, they cannot get their prescriptions, they cannot meet up with friends for coffee. These are things that people like us take for granted. We are in a position that we can, if we are taking a car, walk a distance or we can walk, we can catch the bus, we can cycle.
I briefly mention buses which can be used by disabled people. Those buses are a great idea. However, such a bus fleet is not an adequate substitute for parking spaces for disabled people. There are quite a few disabled people who are not ever going to be able to catch a bus which can be used by disabled people, I fear. My mother certainly is one of those.
The ACT government, to their credit, have increased the standard for the number of disabled spaces above the national minimum. It has been increased to three per cent.
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