Launch of Cinema Access Implementation Plan and the establishment of the Accessible Cinema Advisory Group

17 July 2010

Graeme Innes

Dad's time with their daughters is special time, and I spent the afternoon last weekend watching a chickflick with Rachel. For me, the first five minutes consisted of the sound of waves on a beach, seagullls, the slam of a car door, and someone crying. In fact, the whole movie was a fine demonstration that there is much more to communication than speech.

As you might guess, over a milk-shake afterwards, my contribution to the analysis of the movie was pretty poor. My daughter didn't tell me she was disappointed, but I know she was. So for me, this launch is very personal- it helps me to make my daughter happy. For a dad, it doesn't get much better than that.

Improving cinema access in the form of captions and more recently audio description has been a major focus of work since 2000 when the Commission undertook a public investigation into captioning following a complaint from John Byrne in WA.

While a program of cinema access was established following that investigation further progress in recent years had been negligible, particularly compared to the expansion of access overseas in places such as UK, Canada and the USA.

In November 2009 the Commission received a Temporary Exemption application on behalf of four of the major cinema exhibitors (Hoyts, Greater Union, Village and Readings) proposing an expansion of cinema captioning and an introduction of audio description in a total of 35 cinema complexes over a 2 ½ year period. The application resulted in the largest number of submissions in opposition from individuals and organisations the Commission has ever received.

In April 2010 the Commission declined the application- we could not justify taking away people's right to complain in return for what was being offered. Subsequently Parliamentary Secretary Bill Shorten, with the support of Minister Conroy and the Commission, encouraged industry to develop a more substantial plan to addressing access needs in all the cinema complexes operated by the original applicants. The Commission was very pleased by the initiative taken by Government, and in particular Bill Shorten, on this matter, and we congratulate you Bill for your leadership in this area.

There is a rumour that Bill was successful in his negotiations partly because he made a personal commitment to stop quoting Winston Churchill if everyone agreed to a deal.

A particularly important message we heard from this action was that Government was taking its responsibilities under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities seriously. The Convention requires government: To take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination on the basis of disability by any person, organization or private enterprise; and Ensure that private entities that offer facilities and services which are open or provided to the public take into account all aspects of accessibility for persons with disabilities;

By the end of June 2010 negotiations achieved broad agreement between industry and the disability community for a plan that would ensure access in each of the 132 cinema complexes operated by the original applicants. While there will be ongoing discussions and consultation about the best means of delivering access when the roll-out is completed at the end of 2014 Australia is on track for having one of the highest per capita rates of cinema access in the world based on today's figures.

This is a great outcome for people with disability, a welcome and forward thinking proposal from exhibitors, a fine example of achieving progress through negotiation and dialogue and something all of us will enjoy in years to come as all of us benefit from these access features.  And for me, chickflicks will no longer be the guessing game they are today.