On 18 November 2011, the Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Senator the Hon Kate Lundy, announced the establishment of an independent panel of eminent community leaders to conduct an inquiry into Australian Government services to ensure they are responsive to the needs of Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

ACCAN's submission focuses on the need to include access to interpreting services for people with disability and people who are Deaf, and also encourages the Australian Government to make information accessible to Deaf people by providing online Auslan translations. 

Summary: ACCAN hopes that the Australian Government will take this opportunity to ensure that all Australians, including those of CALD background, will be able to use telecommunications, including the internet, to access Government services and information.

ACCAN makes the following three recommendations:

  1. That the Australian Government ensures that people with disability can use phone-based interpreting services in order to access government services
  2. That the Australian Government ensures that members of Australia’s Deaf community can use Auslan-English video interpreting and relay services in order to access government services
  3. That the Australian Government requires that Auslan be included amongst the community languages considered when materials are translated for CALD groups.

Submission to: Department of Immigration and Citizenship's Access and Equity Inquiry

Status: Submitted

Download:Access and Equity Inquiry [Word Document - 929.5 KB]

Download: Access and Equity Inquiry [Adobe Acrobat PDF - 142.61 KB]