HREOC's perspectives on Action Plans

Michael Small, Senior Policy Officer HREOC

Municipal Association of Victoria
April 2008

I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we are meeting.

I always enjoy receiving an invitation from Victoria to talk about Action Plans because I know that Victoria is a leader in the country in terms of organisational commitment to developing Action Plans.

Currently there are 18 State Govt; 62 Local Government and 119 Community centre/adult education centers along with a number of business and private organisations who have registered plans with the Commission.

It is not simply the numbers, however, I am also impressed by the continuing support and assistance offered to organisations by the Municipal Association if Victoria and Office for Disability.

While many here today will be well experienced in the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and Action Plans there are, of course, others in this room who are new to their role or just starting to bring together their first Action Plan. In order to set the scene for everyone and provide an overview of the Commissions role and views on Action Plans I will go over a bit of old ground for a few minutes.

As I am sure you know, while there may be State based legal or policy demands on you to produce a Disability Action Plan under the DDA Action Plans are a voluntary tool to pro-actively eliminate discrimination and plan for sustainable change.

In developing an Action Plan it was envisioned that service providers would benefit in a number of ways.

• First they would enjoy the recognition of making a public commitment to the equality rights of people with a disability.
• Second they would be progressively addressing their legal liabilities under both Federal and State laws.
• Third they would be able to plan for change in a way that took account of other responsibilities and commitments, particularly budgetary commitments.
• Finally they would provide themselves with added protection from successful complaints by having their Plan considered as part of a defense of unjustifiable hardship.

While it may sound a bit overstated my view has always been that the investment required to develop an Action Plan is not warranted unless it achieves all those benefits for an organisation.

It is also my view, and I suspect your experience, that an Action Plan is less likely to achieve those benefits if it is not done with the organisations full support.

While the Commission does not endorse Action Plans and has no authority to monitor their implementation we have, over the years, provided considerable informal input to service providers in the drafting process.

As a result we gained valuable experience in understanding the sort of factors that lead to effective plans. Some of these factors are:

• Obtain senior management commitment. If you have commitment from senior management for the development of the Plan, then you are more likely to ensure that sufficient timeframes and financial and human resources are allocated for implementation of the Plan.
• Identify one or two Councillors (preferably one who is not on the Access or Community Services Committee) who will 'champion' the plan and ensure it receives appropriate time on Council's agenda.
• Promote a sense of ownership. The actual process of development or review of Action Plans can be used to promote a sense of ownership among staff and managers, and consequently a commitment to effective implementation.
• Establish mechanisms for drawing on the expertise of staff and residents with disabilities to identify barriers and find solutions.
• Allocate Action Plan implementation responsibilities to specific individuals. Responsibility for implementation should be delegated to a position of some authority, such as a section manager, to ensure that it is viewed as a high level activity. Preferably responsibilities should be written into the job description or Performance Assessments of the delegated position rather than allocated generally to a Branch or section.
• Allocate priorities and ensure careful financial management. An Action Plan may include a large number of strategies and tasks to be performed. Some will be big ticket items involving considerable resource allocation over a period of time while others will be cost neutral. It is important that some system of prioritizing is included in the plan. It may sound obvious, but the commitments made in a plan have to be carefully budgeted for, and receive appropriate budget committee endorsement.
• Don't over commit. While an audit of services might identify a large number of issues to be addressed, it is important that the plan is realistic about what can be achieved over its life. Having said that, it is equally important that the plan vigorously addresses issues when commitments are made.
• Over time look at how you can integrate the Action Plan with other plans. Organisations have many plans, including Diversity Plans, Sustainability reporting, annual budget plans, business and strategic plans.

The greatest value of an Action Plan is that it is achievable and reflects a real commitment to ensuring all citizens can enjoy what a city or community has to offer.

Be FIRM

In thinking about the range of skills required by people involved in the development of Action Plans it occurred to me that there were at least four main foci of activity over time and I came up with an acronym that I would like to test out on you today. The acronym is FIRM which stands for fixing; innovating; refreshing and mainstreaming.

FIXING

This is about identifying and addressing those obvious issues that even the most reluctant can understand. The inaccessible Council Chamber; the website that does not provide accessible information to blind people; the Customer Service section that does not provide a TTY or access through Relay Services for Deaf people or the failure of a council to address barriers to safe passage along the pavement are all examples of the typical ‘fix-it' things in Action Plans. Some of these things to be fixed might involve little expenditure and some might involve considerable planning and time to achieve, but essentially they are pretty obvious. The major debates within councils are about timeframes and tensions between those who want to fix it and those who want to undertake a risk analysis into why it shouldn't be fixed. One of the most important skills required in this part of the process is the ability to build up a power base and a network within council that can be called on to push issues through to elected member endorsement.

INNOVATING

This is about fostering a willingness in the organisation to move beyond the obvious and into the realms of more creatively thinking about sustainable communities, participation and citizenship for people with a disability. Developing innovative recruitment strategies; ensuring people with a disability are seen in leadership roles; using planning and building authority to encourage a more accessible built environment and sustainable housing market and using procurement and contractual tools to push innovation and accessibility are examples of the type of activities that might be considered. Getting support for these type of strategies probably involves a different set of skills from those responsible for Action Plans as they require a commitment from council that is more visionary than reactive.

REFRESHING .

It's quite clear to us that while Action Plans may be registered with the Commission following an intense period of advocacy and internal activity maintaining that energy to deliver on the commitments is a long term struggle.

A couple of years ago we lightheartedly suggested there were a number of acronyms to describe Action Plans, one of which was the Nobody's Action Plan or NAP, this type of Action Plan tends to take a nap at the back of a filing cabinet.

And there was the Floundering and Lost Action Plan or FLAP, this is the sort of Action Plan that struggles to integrate itself into the organisations general business activities, it tends to flap around like a fish out of water.

Ensuring an Action Plan remains fresh and active requires considerable attention and energy. While to some extent this is helped by ensuring responsibilities and accountabilities are clearly identified in the development phase, particular skills and strategies need to be developed to make sure the plan does not decide to have a nap.

MAINSTREAMING

We have on a number of occasions said that we would like to see the contents of Action Plans integrated into mainstream organisational planning and reporting systems. Our aim in suggesting this is to encourage organisations to work towards maximizing the inclusion of access issues within the broader culture of the organisation.

There are dangers in this however, not least of which is the danger of loosing the energy and commitment to access within the broader demands of competing issues. For example, environmental sustainability is a hot issue at the moment, and rightly so, but if access issues did not have a particular priority because of a stand alone Action Plan there is always the danger it will become a distant cousin.

A move towards mainstreaming of access issues must be assessed by those responsible for them against the maturity of the organisation and the leadership that will ensure issues do not get lost.

A first step could be a simple cut and paste job where elements of an Action Plan are repeated within other planning and reporting tools of council. For example, all those issues identified as being the responsibility of the Manager of Building Services are copied into that Departments workplan, or the Personnel Manager has employment strategies integrated into their reporting and accountability systems.

The vital skill in relation to moves towards mainstreaming are those associated with an assessment of whether or not the council is ready for such a move.

Where to?

I would like to finish by mentioning a number of areas where we would like to see Action Plans develop.

Accessible procurement policies – organisations can drive the development of accessible procurement through their purchasing power. Any procurement contracts should include a requirement for built-in accessibility.

Employment strategies – the proposed Federal disability employment strategy may offer opportunities to develop innovative approaches to recruiting and retaining employees with a disability.

Contracts and events – most organisations issue contracts and provide approvals for things such as festivals or street markets or promotional campaigns. These contracts or approvals could ensure access features as a condition.

Pro-active strategies in relation to the built environment – think about developing a strategy whereby, for example, every development application receives a copy of The good, the bad and the ugly (which can be ordered from publications@humanrights.gov.au ).

Sustainable housing strategies – while we still awaiting State Government decisions in relation to accessible/visitable housing the future is sure to offer some opportunities for pushing for more sustainable housing.

Leadership roles for staff and community members – look for ways in which people with a disability who are leaders or who can develop leadership skills can be recruited to positions on committees or advisory bodies that are not ‘disability' focused.

Conclusion

I know you will ask me some difficult questions from the perspective of people doing the hard work and I know that it is hard work it requires creative alliances and partnerships; it necessitates occasional compromise and strategic withdrawals and it involves a difficult balancing act between the proverbial carrot and stick.

I am looking forward to listening to the experience you have all had in developing and maintaining Action Plans and get ideas about the additional resources or support you might need in the future