The tragic events in Queensland have demonstrated many of the strengths and unfortunately some of the weaknesses of Australia’s emergency services and warnings systems. This report explores one important dimension of our emergency management framework, namely access to emergency services and emergency information by people who have a disability, particularly those who are Deaf or have a speech or hearing impairment.

One critical consequence of the inundation in Brisbane was that the National Relay Service (NRS), an essential phone service for this sector of the community, was disrupted throughout Australia for a period of almost 24 hours from 12 January 2011. During this period emergency service calls remained available to some, but not all, NRS users.

ACCAN hopes that some good can, however, come out of the disaster, with improved access to emergency call services and information for people with disability. This submission includes recommendations for a number of agencies, to improve access to emergency call services and information for people with disability.

The Queensland flood disaster: Access for people with disability [Adobe PDF - 612 KB]

The Queensland flood disaster: Access for people with disability [Word - 867 KB]