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Media Release
BILL SHORTEN MP
Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Childrens Services
Parliamentary Secretary for Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
National Dialogue Agrees to Improve Accessible Housing
Options
Participants in
a National Dialogue on Universal
Design
have agreed to work
together towards a national approach to promoting Universal Design
and to provide
Australians with a greater range of homes.
Universally Designed homes are those which include features which meet the
changing needs of occupants across their lifetimes, as they age or acquire a
disability.
Participants in todays dialogue, convened by Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities
Bill Shorten
and
held
at Kirribilli House in Sydney, unanimously agreed that more
work was needed to make Universally Designed homes more available and to
educate the community about their benefits.
Mr Shorten said the agreement showed the strong support for the principles of
Universal Design and its role in making housing more accessible for people with
disability.
I would like to thank all participants in todays dialogue for their contributions, and
their desire to find a way to improve provision of Universally-Designed housing, Mr
Shorten said
People with disability face serious challenges when finding housing that meets their
needs.
Universally Designed homes, which are built for the whole of the population to live in
for their whole lives, give people with disability greater independence and choice
about where they live.
A lot of great work has been done in universal design, but the building industry and
governments need to work together to make this kind of
housing more widely
available.
Today we began a much needed discussion, with some excellent ideas to tackle the
effects of the rising prevalence in disability, and Australias ageing population.
Representatives at the forum included those from disability organisations, as well as
representatives from the building industry.
They were:
Amelia Starr;
National Convenor, Australian Network for Universal Housing
Design
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Rhonda Galbally; Chair, National People with Disabilities and Carers Council
Ivan Donaldson; General Manager, Australian Building Codes Board
Graeme Inness; Race and Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Australian
Human Rights Commission.
Michael Small; Senior Policy Officer, Disability Rights Unit, Australian Human
Rights Commission
David Waldren; General Manager-Carlton Brewery, GROCON
Rod Fehring; CEO, Lend Lease Primelife
Mike Zorbas; General Manager Government Relations, Stockland
Ron Silberberg; Managing Director, Housing Industry Association
Peter Verwer; Chief Executive, Property Council of Australia
Wilhelm Harnisch; CEO, Master Builders Australia
David Parken; CEO, Australian Institute of Architects
Chris Lamont; Group Manager, FaHCSIA
Dougie Herd; Executive Director, Office of the Disability Council of NSW
Angela Jurjevic; Executive Director, Housing and Building Policy, DPCD
(Victoria)
Representatives
unanimously agreed
on the need to codify a national approach to
Universal Design which would incorporate:
The value of universal design to the community
A definition and a set of principles of universal design
What its features are in relation to housing.
The forum expressed a commitment to form a high-level working party to achieve
substantial progress within six months.
It was agreed that there is a need to work closely with industry and the community,
including around education and training. It is understood that all participants need to
be included and that change wont be instantaneous.
As an aspirational goal, all new homes will be of agreed universal design standards
by 2020, with interim targets and earlier completion dates to be determined for some
standards.
Australian Bureau of Statistics research shows that between 1981 and 2003, the
number of people with a disability more than doubled from 1.9 million to 3.9 million.
The ABS estimates that the number of Australians with disabilities will continue to
increase through the first half of this century, due to the ageing of Australia's
population.
Mr Shorten said he hoped builders and developers
would expand the
range of
Universally Designed houses and apartments in recognition of this growth.
A few simple design features, such as a reinforced bathroom walls, and easy-to-
operate windows can make a home suitable for a person with a disability at minimal
cost.
For builders, that means their potential market is expanded.
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Homebuyers today recognise that environmental sustainability is an important factor
in buying a new home.
We need to ensure that consumers become aware of the importance of social
sustainability as well, and the advantages of having a home that can be easily
adapted as they age or if they acquire an impairment.
The full statement of the forum is as follows:
There was a clear consensus about the critical nature of the issue of universal
design.
Universal means designing Australian homes to meet the changing needs of their
occupants across their lifetimes.
We all agree that we need to provide Australians with choice about housing design
and work harder to explain the benefits of universal design. In other words that
universal design is about making life easier for young families, people who have
short term injuries, as well as senior Australians and people with disability.
We agreed on the need to codify a national approach. This would incorporate:
1) The value of universal design to the community
2) A definition and a set of principles of universal design
3) What its features are in relation to housing, of which there is already a fair
amount of recognised consensus.
We agreed it is important to have a national approach, in other words the code
should apply nationally to allow harmonisation across the country.
The code will deal with the minimal or basic solutions to design, through to more
aspirational features for homes. Essential elements on which consensus was
achieved are: wider doorways and passages; wet areas, such as bathrooms, on an
entry level; and reinforced bathroom walls to allow grab rails to be easily fitted in the
future.
More than 15,000 public and social housing dwellings are being built under the Rudd
Governments economic stimulus plan that incorporate universal design features.
This will provide important feedback about universal design and lessons for the
future.
It was agreed that there is a need to work closely with industry and the community,
including around education and training. It is understood that all participants need to
be included and that change wont be instantaneous.
Everyone is committed to forming a high level working party to achieve substantial
progress in the next six months.
Part of the document to be developed by the group will be technical in nature and will
be accessible to designers, builders and consumers.
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0407 030 808
As an aspirational target, all new homes will be of agreed universal design standards
by 2020, with interim targets and earlier completion dates to be determined for some
standards.