Page 2844 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 16 August 2017
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(a) ABS statistics show that over 20 percent of Canberrans have some form of disability;
(b) the ACT also has a growing ageing population;
(c) the Territory Plan’s Parking and Vehicular Access Code of 2014 has a requirement that the ACT provide three percent minimum of disability parking spaces; and
(d) the 2017-2018 Budget has outlined measures to review and increase penalties for the misuse of mobility permits; and
(2) calls for the ACT Government to:
(a) start the promised review of mobility permits within the first quarter of the new financial year in line with the timeframe for introduction of increased penalties;
(b) include in that review an assessment of eligibility criteria for mobility permits to ensure informed, appropriate use of disability parking spaces;
(c) increase surveillance and enforcement of illegal parking in disability parking spaces in support of the new penalties; and
(d) assess whether the minimum disabled parking provisions in the Territory Plan’s Parking and Vehicular Access Code for all public places for which the Government is responsible, are sufficient for the number of permit holders.
In this year’s budget it was announced that the government was going to target the use and misuse of mobility parking permits. They plan to do this by increasing the penalty for misuse, although exactly what constitutes “misuse” is yet to be clarified. The budget papers also indicate that this is “a first step in signalling the Government’s intention to tighten compliance by monitoring this concession and reviewing its operation”.
As my motion indicates, we have in the ACT upwards of 20 per cent of all Canberrans with some form of disability. We also have an ageing population. This is not to say, of course, that everyone with a disability drives a car or is in need of a mobility parking permit, and the same can be said for older Canberrans. However, from the number and range of complaints, feedback and concerns I receive in my capacity as shadow minister for disability, there is clearly a need to review the current regulation of mobility parking spaces. I have spoken to a number of people in the disability community who use mobility parking across Canberra on a daily basis and who depend on the functionality, the location and the availability of disability parking spaces to carry out their day-to-day activities.
First, with regard to the number of available mobility parking spaces, as my motion indicates, the Territory Plan’s parking and vehicular access code of 2014 has a
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