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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 10 Hansard (23 September) . . Page.. 3099 ..

MR WHITECROSS (continuing):

Mr Speaker, I have indicated to the Minister, and I want to place it on the record here today, that some concern has been expressed to me that, in the light of these changes which will allow people with disabled parking status to park in short-stay car parks, there might be some reduction in the number of disabled car parking spaces. I have had assurances from the Minister and from his department, which I accept, that no such actions have been taken and that there are no plans along those lines to reduce or relocate disabled car parking spaces, other than as is required in the normal management of parking in the city. Mr Speaker, I am pleased by those reassurances. In the implementation of these arrangements we will certainly be monitoring the availability of disabled parking spaces to ensure that disabled parking spaces continue to be a feature of our parking strategy and that they continue to be available at at least the current level.

There are two reasons why we continue to need dedicated disabled parking spaces. One is that they provide some parking spaces which are not available to other members of the public. While it may be convenient on some occasions to be able to park in a metered parking space, disabled people will be competing with the rest of the community in parking in a metered parking space, whereas they will not be in relation to a disabled parking space. The other reason is that for some disabled drivers the additional space in a disabled parking space is necessary in order for them to effectively get in and out of their vehicle. So, Mr Speaker, I believe that the existing disabled parking is an essential part of an effective strategy for allowing people with disabilities in our community to move around the city and to take advantage of the same opportunities and same facilities in the city as the rest of us enjoy, but the strategies in this legislation provide some additional ways in which we can make the lives and the access of people with disabilities better. So, with those thoughts in mind, Mr Speaker, the Labor Party will be supporting the legislation.

MR MOORE (11.34): I rise to support this legislation. I think that the issues that we are dealing with are very important, and I congratulate the Minister for getting them on the table and dealing with them. I must say, as an aside, that the main reason why I stood to add my support was that the explanatory memorandum for this particular legislation was quite extensive and very easy to read. I think it is a good example of how explanatory memoranda should be dealt with. That was appreciated. It made the legislation easier to understand. I looked through it to see what else I could be critical of, but it just was not there.

MR KAINE (Minister for Urban Services) (11.35), in reply: Mr Speaker, I thank the Opposition and Mr Moore for their support for this Bill. I think it goes a long way to making life easier for those people amongst us who suffer from disabilities of one kind or another. Not only does it make additional parking spaces available for these people when the existing parking spaces are full, but the Bill extends to other classes of disabled people the facility to park in these spaces. That includes the visually impaired, who up until now have not had the right to park in such places. They now can, because the label will be given to the person and not to the vehicle. We are also extending it to include volunteers transporting people with disabilities. Again, since the label is being given to the person and not to the vehicle, those additional classes of people will have access to the parking spaces. I think that it is long overdue. It will make life easier for those amongst us who suffer from disabilities.

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