House of Representatives Committees

House Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs
Inquiry into the draft Disability (Access to Premises - Buildings) Standards Please note: the information on this page is also available in PDF format. To view the information in this file format you will need Adobe Acrobat® PDF Reader, which can be downloaded free of charge from Adobe®. For more information see Accessing files.

15 June 2009

Report on draft building standards to improve access for people with disabilities tabled tonight

The House Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee will table its report on the draft Premises Standards tonight at 8.55pm Monday 15 June in the House of Representatives.

The draft Premises Standards are intended to make public buildings more accessible for people with mobility, vision and hearing impairments. If introduced, the Premises Standards will have a widespread impact, improving building accessibility for new buildings and existing buildings undergoing significant upgrades.

In addition to providing better access to buildings, the Premises Standards are also intended to provide certainty to building certifiers, developers and managers that they are complying with their obligations under the Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act.

The Committee’s report makes a number of recommendations which would help the Premises Standards better achieve their object and purpose.

There is considerable interest in the Committee’s inquiry from both the disability advocacy and property and building sectors. The Committee has received 146 submissions in relation to this inquiry and held 6 public hearings.

An electronic version of the report will be available on the Committee website after tabling: www.aph.gov.au/laca.

Details of the tabling:

Date: Monday 15 June 2009

Time: 8:55 pm – 9.10 pm

Location: House of Representatives, Parliament House Canberra

Members of the public are welcome to attend or view the live broadcasting online at www.aph.gov.au.

For interview:

Contact the Committee Chair, Mr Mark Dreyfus QC, MP on (02) 6277 4305 (Canberra) or in his electorate on (03) 9769 1955. Or Mr Dreyfus’ media adviser, Tim Lisle-Williams on 0431 178 280. 

For background information, including the full terms of reference, please visit the inquiry website at www.aph.gov.au/laca or contact the Committee Secretariat on ph (02) 6277 2358 or fax (02) 6277 4427.

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