The Australian
Electoral Commission has failed people with
disabilities who need access to polling booths
used by other members of our community.
"Electoral apartheid is
alive and well." says Ann-Mason Furmage,
President of the Physical Disability Council of
NSW. Equality of access to the democratic system
is the basic right of every eligible
voter.
Voting is the fundamental
act and responsibility of citizenship in this
country; it is so fundamental that we fine those
who fail to vote.
Despite the publication of
'A Guide to Voting for People with a Disability'
little progress has been made for people needing
wheelchair access to polling booths. Since the
State elections, six months ago, there has only
been a very modest increase of accessible booths
from 14% to 15% in November 2007.
Information available from
the Electoral Office indicates that citizens
needing wheelchair access may need 'assistance'
to access their local polling booth. This
assistance can mean that people using
wheelchairs must be lifted up stairs, an unsafe
and undignified method for those in manual
wheelchairs to enter a building. Power
wheelchairs are usually too heavy to be lifted
up stairs.
If appropriate assistance
is not available, these citizens have no other
option but to vote outside, reinforcing their
segregation from the general population of
voters.
Voting is the one single
activity that is the privilege and duty of all
Australians. Polling day is the one day when all
Australians come together to make their
choices.
As a right, every ordinary
citizen should be able to access their local
polling booth of choice, so why should ordinary
citizens who need wheelchair access be
excluded?
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