Page 3712 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 21 November 2006
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In addition to this, TAMS has undertaken an access audit of Civic to which all future refurbishment work must respond. A recent example has been the City Walk-Garema Place-Alinga Street works, which have seen these busy thoroughfares made significantly more accessible. Earlier this year the department also worked with People with Disability Australia Inc to develop a website to help people with access difficulties to plan their entertainment, shopping and business transactions in the city. The project raised awareness among those businesses audited of the difficulties some people encounter when attempting to access goods and services. It gave them an opportunity to benefit by becoming aware of how to improve access to their goods and services.
Improving accessibility was a key consideration of the recent refurbishments to Woden, Erindale and Belconnen libraries. They now feature significantly improved internal layouts. Our ACT government shopfronts are also made as accessible as possible for the elderly, with concierges greeting customers, ticketing machines in place to allow people to sit down while waiting, and accessible counters for people in wheelchairs. The Canberra Connect call centre also has teletype operators and telephone interpreter services, while the websites have accessibility provisions for the vision impaired.
The Stanhope government recognises the direct relationship we have with the community and the need to ensure our city is as accessible as possible, although I imagine this will continue to be a vexed issue. Mr Mulcahy, wake up!
MS PORTER (Ginninderra) (4.27): As the minister said, the government has appointed the Ministerial Advisory Council on Ageing to provide it with advice on matters relating to older Canberrans. In its most recent strategic plan, the council has identified transport as one of the key themes. The council recently facilitated a series of community forums to elicit community views on issues relating to older people and transport in the ACT. Approximately 40 people attended the forums in person, with 120 respondents providing information via forms distributed by email. A number of responses received were in relation to wider mobility issues. A thorough analysis of information received is currently under way.
As my colleagues have just said, mobility is about much more than the mobility of the body. It includes mobility of the mind and continued participation and engagement in the community. In my former role as CEO of Volunteering ACT, I was fully aware of the importance of participation. The government is well aware that population characteristics have a major impact on many areas of policy, on the economy, on types of housing and related infrastructure, on government services and on lifestyle choices of our population.
Housing ACT has a strong record of providing accommodation that supports aged tenants and those with mobility problems, including carrying out modifications to existing homes and the construction of purpose-built dwellings. In 2006-07, Housing ACT will construct seven adaptable housing units in Kambah and Ainslie, with a budget of $2.15 million.
In this instance, close liaison was maintained with a community housing provider, TAS Housing, to provide valuable input into the design and construction. A dual-occupancy unit is being purchased in Chifley to provide accommodation for two public housing tenants who have mobility issues but who are capable of independent living.
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