Consultative Workshop for the Maroondah Forum for People with Disabilities and Carers

The Maroondah Forum for People with Disabilities and Carers, which currently meets on a quarterly basis, provides an opportunity for council and the community to discuss issues relating to accessibility. While the forum has been successful in creating dialogue and improving accessibility within Maroondah, it is timely to undertake a review to strengthen this forum and the level of community dialogue.

Today’s workshop included approximately 40 community members, with a mixture of occasional and regular participants at the forum, as well as new attendees. This strong attendance provided a range of different experiences with accessibility issues within Maroondah.

The ability for networking between individuals and groups, the information that is shared and the ability to provide faces and a contact point for organisations, were identified as positive aspects of the forum. As an example, the ongoing attendance by companies such as Invicta and Connex has enabled direct communication in regard to transport and this has delivered improvements for our community.

The two-way dialogue between council and the community and the opportunity to provide either verbal or written comments were also seen as strengths. This dialogue has been critical in providing council with first-hand experience of the accessibility within the municipality and a number of infrastructure related projects, such as realigning pedestrian crossings, accessible parking improvements and the regrading of footpaths have been actioned as a direct result of this feedback.

Unfortunately the quarterly frequency of the forums has meant that some of this momentum is lost due to the delays between each meeting and also makes it difficult for people to remember issues that they wanted to discuss. As a result there was strong interest in the idea to increase the frequency of these meetings so that they are held every two months. This would also provide the added advantage of providing some flexibility for alternating meeting times, such as providing an evening forum for people that are unable to make day-time events. The forum is currently held between 10 am and 12 pm on a Monday and this makes it difficult for people who work during the day or for students to attend. While not everyone is comfortable with evening meetings, a more frequent schedule would allow for alternating times to give more people the opportunity to attend.

The need for ongoing promotion of the forum was also discussed and there is a clear need to increase community awareness. Details of the forum should be prominently featured on the Maroondah City Council website and it should also be included within council’s publications as well as the local newspapers.

There was much discussion in regard to the role of the forum in regard to whether it should include a strategic focus, such as exploring policy and advocacy, as well as providing a greater degree of structure through a terms of reference. The current informal and open nature of the forum provides an opportunity for people to attend as many or as few of the forums as they wish. Likewise the inclusion of engineering and operational issues provides mechanisms to raise issues directly with council.

It is certainly important to discuss strategic issues, particularly around the area of advocacy, such as ensuring affordable housing for people with disabilities, where local government can fulfil a critical role in lobbying other levels of government. It is important that Maroondah provides the right balance to ensure that strategic, as well as operational issues are discussed.

In this regard there may be merit in the formation of an accessibility committee, with a more formalised structure that would involve Council and the community within these broader issues. This would also provide the opportunity for peak accessibility groups to be involved in the decision making process. In addition it would mean that the forum would remain available to discuss more localised and specific concerns so that informal interaction with the community would continue.

I certainly see merit with increasing the frequency of the forum meetings with alternating times to allow for a greater level of input and to ensure more frequent dialogue with the community. Likewise I also believe there is a need for a more formalised committee that operates alongside the forum so that we can cover a wider range of accessibility issues.

Maroondah’s forum for people with disabilities and carers is generally well regarded by the community, although there is obvious scope for improvement. The discussion generated from this workshop will assist council in planning the future of this forum to ensure that we improve the level of accessibility within Maroondah.