The Tasmanian Parliament is facing calls to improve its accessibility for deaf and hard of hearing people.
Currently, parliamentary proceedings are only streamed through a “webcast” that lacks live captioning and, unlike platforms like YouTube, the ability to rewind instantly.
This forces individuals with hearing impairments to wait several hours for the Hansard transcript to become available, making it difficult for them to follow debates and discussions in real-time.
Labor Leader Dean Winter believes the parliament should follow the lead of other jurisdictions like New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, which have taken steps to enhance accessibility for the deaf community.
“Approximately 20,000 Australians use Auslan to communicate every day,” he said.
“Parliaments are home to some of the most significant debates and speeches in our society and we should be doing everything we can to ensure that everyone in our community can participate in equal use in our democracy.”
“I’d really like to see the parliamentary broadcast to include closed captions as part of our daily broadcast of Parliamentary proceedings.”
Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff also voiced her support for the improvements, acknowledging the challenges faced by deaf people in a world that is “ableist”.
“While Members of this parliament don’t have the lived experience of not hearing, we all have the capacity to listen and learn and act,” she said.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff acknowledged the important role played by language professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly Auslan interpreters.
“These individuals ensured that life-saving health updates, restrictions and measures were accessible to all, reinforcing our commitment to inclusivity,” he said.
