Celebration of the commencement of the Premises Standards

Graeme Innes
Sydney, May 2 2011

May I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, and pay my respects to their elders past and present.

On behalf of the Australian Human Rights Commission I would like to welcome you to this event to mark the commencement of the Disability (Access to Premises - buildings) Standards (Premises Standards).

Our invitation to this event was sent to a wide range of people who have been involved over the years in the development of the Premises Standards and others who have had a particular interest in their completion.

It's great that so many of you have been able to join us, but I do have a few apologies including from the Attorney-General, Minister Carr, Senator McLucas, Bill Shorten, Philip Ruddock, Mark Dreyfus, Max Murray, Robert Jones and the Commission's President Cathy Branson.

We're here today to celebrate that we got here.

While there remain differing views on what could or should have been the final content for the standards we are not here today to celebrate our wins or lament our losses over the many years of vigorous and at times difficult negotiation.

We're here to celebrate and acknowledge the enormous effort that so many people have put into the development of the Premises Standards over more than a decade.

We're here to celebrate the fact that for the first time in Australia, and perhaps the world, we have achieved the greatest possible consistency between the requirements of state and territory building law and federal discrimination law.

We're here to celebrate the commencement of the most significant changes to the way we design and construct buildings to improve accessibility Australia has ever introduced.

But most of all we're here to celebrate our contributions to improving the safety and accessibility of our built environment for all Australians.

The changes will of course over time have a profound effect on the ability of people with disability to engage as equal citizens in the economic, political, cultural and social life of our community.

The reality of exclusion from our buildings and the services that operate from them is not just a matter of inconvenience. It affects every part of our lives.

It can limit our opportunities for work and play and developing relationships and skills.

It exerts control over our spontaneity. It can make a simple outing to a restaurant or cinema a major operation.

It can, and often does, leave you with a feeling that only some people are valued and only some people can make a contribution to our community.

In a speech delivered to the Creating Accessible Communities Conference in Fremantle in 1996 Australia's first, and only full-time,  Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Hastings, captured the sense of frustration that many people with disability feel in our community. Elizabeth said:

It is easy to discourage any vision for social change as "utopian". It is easy to emphasise the solid, inevitable, natural quality of the existing order, of the world as we know it, however unattractive, against the imagined, idealistic, unpractical quality of what might be, however desirable.

What we experience is as solid as the steps you cannot get up. As inevitable as the newspaper print you cannot read; or the notice you cannot understand; or the rule you cannot comply with. As natural as all the things you cannot expect to do, the places you cannot expect to go, the economic and social and cultural and political life you cannot expect to be fully part of - because you have a disability.

The feel of all of this soaks into us like Sydney rain. It soaks into all of us: people who have a disability and people who don't have one, or at least not yet. It is easy to believe that it is all too hard, too expensive; too much to expect or to demand; that what is is what should be.

The work we have been involved in will have a progressively significant affect on addressing some of those experiences Elizabeth talked about.

Sadly Elizabeth died in 1998 and despite the years it has taken us to get here I am sure she would be happy to have seen this day come about.

Allow me for a few minutes to remind you a little of the history of the development of the Premises Standards.

In 1995 the ABCB established the Building Access Policy Committee (BAPC) with an initial membership of 9 people including the Chair Rudi Roodenrys and representatives from the ABCB, disability community, the Attorney-Generals Department and this Commission.

This committee and its larger technical committee worked for a number of years making progressive changes to the BCA to try and overcome some of the inconsistencies between building law and discrimination law.

While progress was made changes to the DDA in 2000, allowing for the development of a disability standard in the area of premises, paved the way for the development of a more systematic approach to the need for change.

On 6 April 2001 the then Minister of Industry, Science and Resources, Nick Minchin, wrote to Peter Laver the Chair of ABCB to formally request their assistance in the development of a disability standard.

In his letter the Minister said:

"The Commonwealth Government is committed to ensuring all Australians, including those with a disability, are able to participate fully in community life."

On 8 April Peter Laver wrote back to Minister Minchin to accept the request saying:

"I agree with you that a critical dimension of the Committee's work will be the need for on-going consultations with disability groups, industry and the wider community to ensure that the Board and Ministers obtain a robust and, as far as possible, consensus outcome.

Because of this, I do not anticipate an early resolution to the many issues involved."

Never a truer word was said and the rest as they say is history.

Under the subsequent Chairmanship of Max Croxford and then Garry Fielding, who I am pleased to welcome here today, the BAPC expanded to a group of more than 30 people representing the disability community, design professionals, developers, building certifiers, regulators, the construction industry and all levels of government.

Now after more than 10 years development, including 5 years of negotiations, three national consultations, a number of Regulation Impact Statements and Parliamentary scrutiny the Premises Standards are finally due to commence.

I said earlier that today's event is to celebrate the contributions made by so many people to the finalisation of the standards.

Everyone's contribution has been valuable but, as George Orwell said, while all of us are equal, some are more equal than others and I want to finish by acknowledging the particular contributions made by some people.

In all areas of social and regulatory change leadership plays an important role, but leadership takes many forms.

Without political leadership the Premises Standards would not have come about, and I want to thank the former Attorney General Philip Ruddock, the current Attorney General Robert McCelland, Minister Kim Carr and Mark Dreyfus for their commitment to steering this through the political process.

The leadership shown by advocates from all sectors including the Australian Institute of Architects, the Australian Institute of Building Surveyors, Local Government, the Property Council of Australia and state and territory regulators cannot be underestimated, but the leadership and commitment shown by two of the disability sector representatives warrants special mention.

Robert Jones and Max Murray, who unfortunately cannot be here today, played a pivotal role in contributing their professionalism, their passion and their personal time over many years of negotiation.

Their tenacious advocacy, attention to detail and stamina over five years of meetings deserves our sincere thanks and respect.

Robert added something else to the meetings by always bringing a couple of bottles of fine wine from his cellar and there was often a queue of people volunteering to accompany him to dinner at night.

The spin-off from this was that many committee members experienced first hand the frustration and difficulty in finding an accessible restaurant.

The Premises Standards would have faltered many times without the leadership shown by Ivan Donaldson from the ABCB. Ivan understood the importance of completing this project, not just as the head of ABCB, but also as someone with a strong sense of what is right and just. Many times he steered us through the dangerous minefield of state, territory and Commonwealth relations and helped convince all parties to come onboard at critical times.

Finally there was the quiet leadership shown by the many staff from the ABCB, Attorney Generals Department, Department of Innovation Industry Science and Research and this Commission.

The leadership shown over many years by Kevin Newhouse, Greig Ryan, Stephen Fox, who are all here today, and their predecessors and colleagues who are not here, was often unseen, but nonetheless crucial to the completion of the standards.

Finally, I want to acknowledge the contribution made by Michael Small from the Commission. Michael has chosen this day- 18 years and two days after he commenced with the Commission - to celebrate his departure from the Commission, and it is completely in character that Michael would not leave before the completion of this task.

Michael fits my view of the consumate public servant - he has served Australians with a disability, and the many others who will benefit from these standards, in the true sense of the word serve. He has, with the contributions of many others I have described, committed a significant part of his working life to this success, and Michael you have every reason to be proud of that. It has taken a mix of attention to detail- detail after bloody detail- an ability to stay focused on the broad policy outcome, to build and maintain relationships, to cajole, persuade, find compromise and ways forward. But most of all, Michael has kept his eye on the prize, and passionately maintained his commitment to Australians with disability, and the benefit we will gain from this work.

I know when David Mason gets on an accessible train or bus he smiles quietly with satisfaction at the work he and others did to make this happen. I am confident we will see that same quiet smile on Michael's face when he walks into an accessible building. That is, if he hasn't got his tape measure out to check the width of a doorway.

To all of you, thank you for getting us here. We've contributed to changing the world we live in, a change from which all Australian's will benefit.