MEDIA RELEASE

Published report: Inquiry into access to services and information in Auslan

Today the Standing Committee on Education and Community Inclusion has tabled its report on the inquiry into access to services and information in Auslan.

The report is a response to the petition concerning Auslan rights presented to the Assembly on 8 February 2022. The report is informed by 33 submissions, a public hearing as well as the Committee’s visits to schools that catered for deaf students both interstate and in Canberra.

The report makes 25 recommendations including the Committee’s overarching proposal that the ACT Government establish an Auslan taskforce to ensure a consolidated approach to Auslan policy review.

The Chair of the Committee, Mr Michael Pettersson MLA said, ‘The evidence presented to the Committee overwhelmingly shows that members of Canberra’s Deaf community are unable to access a range of services and fully participate in life in the ACT because of the lack of recognition of their primary language – Auslan’.

‘The Committee cannot find solace in any defence that may suggest that the inability to access information in Auslan is justified on the basis that it only affects a small number of ACT residents. Because the fact is: Auslan rights are human rights’, Mr Pettersson said.

‘The Committee also asks the ACT Government to contemplate the cost to the ACT of not acknowledging the contributions ofDeaf adults and children and their shared language and culture’, Mr Pettersson said.

The report and more information on the Inquiry are available on the Committee’s website: https://www.parliament.act.gov.au/parliamentary-business/in-committees/committees/eci/inquiry-into-access-to-services-and-information-in-auslan

9 February 2023
STATEMENT ENDS.

Committee Chair, Mr Michael Pettersson MLA on (02) 6205 1436

Committee Secretary, Dr Adele Chynoweth OAM, on (02) 6207 5498 or by email to: LACommitteeECI@parliament.act.gov.au