On 26 May 2009, the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children’s Services, the Hon Bill Shorten MP, released the Harmonisation of disability parking permit schemes in Australia discussion paper. This included a form to enable interested stakeholders to make a submission about the proposals outlined in the paper.
National consultations were undertaken by the Commonwealth, States and Territories commencing on 3 June and concluding on 31 July 2009. These involved stakeholder sessions in 19 locations (capital cities, regional and rural areas), public information sessions (capital cities, Alice Springs, Townsville and Cairns) and a submissions process.
The public meetings were attended by 277 people and 3,675 people contacted the call centre hotline to receive a copy of the discussion paper. Submissions were received from 687 individuals/organisations.
The main issues raised in the submissions were that:
- there is widespread support for a national disability parking scheme, including the introduction of a national permit and nationally consistent eligibility criteria and concessions;
- people who require various aids and support to assist with their mobility should be eligible for a parking permit;
- further work is required to develop nationally consistent eligibility criteria, an assessment tool and minimum standards for concessions; and
- there should be more done to stop ineligible people using reserved parking spaces and/or using parking permits that are not valid.
In addition to the information received about the development of the national scheme, the submissions raised a number of other key issues related to the experience of respondents when using their permit:
- there are accessibility issues with many parking environments, including parking meters and ticketing machines;
- there should be greater enforcement of reserved parking spaces at shopping centres, in local government and street parking spaces as well as increased fines; and
- there needs to be drop-off points for carers and maxi taxis at public places.