NSW —
Wyangala
Waters State Park
management, staff and Trust Board are unanimous in their
anger at Telstra's removal of a disabled access public
phone from the park's main camping area.
Telstra technicians arrived
recently and removed the phone and booth located near the
kiosk at the main camping area - taking the only
wheelchair friendly phone in the area.
Two standard phone booths were
left.
With no mobile phone coverage, the
loss means that if you are in a wheelchair, you can no
longer access any communication in the park - unless you
ask someone else to make the call for you.
Already, park management and the
Wyangala Waters State Park Trust have protested to the
Minister, shocked and angry at the sheer callousness of
the decision.
"There was no consultation at all,"
said Joan Housden, Wyangala Waters State Park Trust
president.
"If they had just gone to the other
end, they could have taken one of those, but instead they
took the one that was easiest and closest."
Manager Gary Redman agreed.
He confirmed there had been no
consultation, although they had heard rumours and seen
media coverage about other phones removed.
However, it wasn't until they
provided directions to two lost technicians that they
realised it would happen to Wyangala.
"Fine, if they had to take one, but
why the disabled one?" Mr Redman said.
"This was a specially designed
phone booth, it was wider and shorter, allowing people in
wheelchairs to still reach the phone and be able to call.
Wheelchairs won't fit in the other booths.
"We did not even know it was the
disabled booth that was being taken out until it was
gone."
The manager said the park regularly
hosts disabled visitors, amongst the thousands who stay
during the warmer months and at present, its
accommodation is almost fully booked for Easter.
Another Trust member, Alan
Harcombe, was incensed at the action.
Adding to the hurt of losing the
phone was the fact the Trust had spent several thousand
dollars installing a concrete ramp to the phone, at the
its own cost.
The ramp has now been made useless,
with valuable and desperately needed funds that could
have been used elsewhere in the park gone.
Ms Housden said the loss of the
phone was of real concern to her and staff.
"We have real safety issues and it
is really worrying to me not having any mobile phone
coverage out there and now no disabled phone access."
She was also concerned about the
future of a phone located just outside the park.
"It's used a lot by the travelling
public if their car is broken down or any other problems.
We can't lose that one."
