Introducing Mary Durkin - ACT Disability Commissioner

Mary Durkin, the ACT Health Services Commissioner and Disability & Community Services Commissioner visited WWDACT on 24 February for discussion about issues affecting women with disabilities in the ACT.

Since the formation of the ACT Human Rights Commission (HRC), each person who has filled the role of Disability Commissioner has been concerned at the low number of complaints received from people with disabilities. Reasons for this are, without doubt, complex, but include lack of information about the powers of the HRC. The HRC can:
* investigate both sides of a complaint,
* call all parties together to resolve it through conciliation and
* make recommendations for actions which an organisation MUST take to fix the situation (where the complaint is found to be valid).

The Commissioner is streamlining the complaints process so that the ‘conciliation’ phase is reach more quickly, and a solution put in place. Good news for us.

Unlike many other national and state ombudsmen-type bodies, the ACT HRC can call for systemic changes when it gets a number of complaints in a particular area. It has the power to make those changes happen. There is more about the HRC at: http://www.hrc.act.gov.au/. One limitation is that the Disability Commissioner is can only investigate complaints about ‘Disability Services’. But this can include things like the Wheelchair Accessible Taxi Service, as well as service from Carer organisations. Commissioners do try to interpret ‘Disability Services’ as widely as possible.

The complaint issue you have may turn out to be the concern of the Health Commissioner or the Human Rights Commissioner. It is always worth giving the HRC a phone call for advice as to whether your issue could be formally lodged with them. Phone: 02 6205 2222; Fax: (02) 6207 1034; TTY: (02) 6207 0525