Regulatory reform and information-sharing are to be prioritised after a federal departmental review of national disability premises standards.
To ensure the standards continue to meet their objectives, the Commonwealth will undertake to:
- improve regulations for accessible car parks, automatic doors, and the dimensions of openings;
- help people understand their rights and responsibilities under the standards;
- improve the data available for future reviews; and
- increase consistency between the Premises Standards and other disability standards.
The review of the Disability (Access to Premises – Building) Standards 2010 – commonly known as the Premises Standards – was conducted by the federal Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources.
The Premises Standards ensure that Australians living with disability (and their family, carers, and friends) have equal and dignified access to public buildings and that the building industry can fulfil its obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.
Several themes and issues emerged during stakeholder engagement across the stages of the review, including:
- access and egress (mentioned by 42 percent of respondents);
- compliance (mentioned by 48 percent respondents);
- communication and wayfinding (mentioned by 22 percent of respondents); and
- toilet and change room provisions (mentioned by 27.5 percent of respondents).