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Notice of further temporary exemption application: Airnorth

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission has received an application for temporary exemption under section 55 of the DDA regarding carriage of passengers with disabilities on low capacity aircraft, from Capiteq Ltd, trading as Airnorth. The application requests exemption from the operation of sections 23 and 24 of the DDA and from the operation of the Disability Standards for Accessible Public Transport, for a period of three years, regarding:

• Lack of access to aircraft seats for people requiring wheelchair access, where this is prevented by limited aisle width.
• Lack of access to aircraft or seats for passengers requiring lifting, where this cannot be performed in compliance with the requirements of applicable occupational health and safety laws due to space constraints of the particular aircraft.
• Requirements for notice of disability access requirements, where these requirements are reasonable in the circumstances.

This application follows an exemption granted in October 2003.

The application (MS Word format) is attached.

The exemption requested is proposed by the applicants to be conditional on Capiteq Limited:

1. Continuing to provide the Greater Freedom Fare as has been provided for the last two years.
2. Reporting during the exemption period to the Commission on any instances where a passenger has been unable to travel or has been required to travel with an assistant because of restrictions permitted by this exemption at a periodicity set by the Commission.
3. Reporting on any technical solutions which may be feasible to difficulties in passengers with disabilities boarding and being seated safely as and when they become apparent.

Call for submissions

In accordance with its policy on exemption applications, the Commission seeks to give interested parties an opportunity to participate in the process of considering this application.

Accordingly, the Commission seeks submissions by 7 November 2005, preferably by email to disabdis@humanrights.gov.au . Submissions may also be addressed by mail to Disability Rights Unit, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, GPO Box 5218, Sydney 1042. Where submissions are made by mail a copy on disc should be included if possible.

To promote open public discussion and exchange of views, the Commission intends to make submission publicly available by posting submissions made electronically on its Internet site. Requests for material to be treated as confidential should be clearly indicated.

David Mason

Director Disability Rights policy

26 September 2005

See now subsmissions in response:

• Accessible Public Transport Jurisdictional Committee (MS Word)
• PWD (MS Word)