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PALASZCZUK CALLS FOR CONSISTENT LAWS ON ASSISTANCE DOGS
Minister for Disability Services and Multicultural Affairs
The Honourable Annastacia Palaszczuk
11/09/2009
PALASZCZUK CALLS FOR CONSISTENT LAWS ON ASSISTANCE DOGS
Queensland Disability Services Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk has called for uniform national laws regarding guide, hearing and assistance dogs at a national forum today.
At the Community and Disability Services Ministers' Conference in Canberra today, Ms Palaszczuk said there were too many variations between states regarding public access for people who have guide, hearing or assistance animals.
"In some states, access laws only exist for people with guide dogs while in other states, the legal status of people with assistance dogs is spread across a bewildering array of Acts," Ms Palaszczuk said.
"For instance, there is very little reason for a person with an assistance dog to catch a bus from Brisbane to Sydney when the person can't get back on the a bus for the return trip because the bus company is within the law in NSW to refuse access to assistance dogs," she said.
"Queensland recently changed the law regarding public access for people with properly trained and accredited guide, hearing and assistance dogs and introduced one of the toughest regimes of fines for individuals and companies who break the law."
Ms Palaszczuk said she would like to see the same laws as Queensland's introduced across the nation.
"In Queensland, fines of up to $10,000 for individuals and up to $50,000 for businesses now apply for refusing access to someone with a highly trained and certified guide, hearing or assistance dog," she said.
"The new Act means that everyone now has the same access to shops, restaurants, cinemas and entertainment venues, as well as transport services such as buses, taxis and ferries.
"Although there have been laws banning discrimination against people with Guide Dogs since 1972, the new Act has been broadened to also include people with a properly trained assistance or hearing dog.
"These animals can make a huge difference to the quality of life of people with a disability and open up a new world of possibilities for them - provided they don't face discrimination from those operating transport services or public places."
Permanent Link: PALASZCZUK CALLS FOR CONSISTENT LAWS ON ASSISTANCE DOGS
Publish Date: 13 Sep 09
Sunshine Coast Office: Level 1, 12 King Street, Caboolture
Phone: 07 5431 2230
Non-fixed: 1800 177 120
Comments / Have your say
I have to say I'm disappointed in the way the new Qld laws about assistance dogs have been rolled out. The laws came into effect months ago, but they still onlly cover Guide Dogs and Hearing Dogs, as only the programs that train those dogs have been approved. It's being said in the media that the new laws give more rights to users of assistance dogs, but they have failed to approve any assistance dog organisations (other than Guide and Hearining) and as handlers, we are still waiting for our organisations to be approved and for our state issued ID cards and patches. The new law is there, but we are not protected by it until we have those things.
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