CITY’S ACCESS SHAME
Esplanade’s lack of facilities for people with disabilities
A SHAMEFUL oversight means a visit to the Esplanade is a distant dream for people with a major physical disability. The Esplanade dining precinct’s $28m upgrade lacks disability-accessible change facilities but 12-year-old Emma Deede (left) and mum Doreen Deede are campaigning for a solution.
“I can’t fathom why they would put money into a project like this and not include an accessible toilet,” Ms Deede said.
A SHAMEFUL oversight means a swim and meal on the Esplanade is a distant dream for Cairns families and tourists whose loved ones live with major physical disability.
The Esplanade dining precinct’s $28m upgrade was supposed to make the strip welcoming to all – but somehow no disability-accessible change facilities were built in the area.
Cairns Regional Council has no such facilities in the CBD despite years of campaigning by local families.
Emma Deede, a bubbly 12year-old with quadriplegia stemming from a brain injury during birth, is one such resident who deserves a fair go.
Her mum, Doreen Deede, wants Cairns to be best place for anyone to live, including people with disability.
There is a long way to go. “Imagine if it was your wife, your daughter or your parents and you couldn’t take them for a swim on the Esplanade or to dinner,” she said.
“Imagine having to drive all the way home halfway through a meal because they do a poo and there’s nowhere to change them.
“I can’t fathom why they would put money into a project like this and not include an accessible toilet, especially if they want to make Cairns a high-profile tourist spot.”
The infrastructure is a fairly simple arrangement – basically a hoist and a bed – but it would change Emma’s life.
A Tourism Research Australia study in 2018 found the annual spend for disabled travellers and entourages was $1.9bn in Queensland, with potential to effectively double the spend if transport, accommodation and other facilities were improved.
“There’s money to be made, especially now with the
NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) coming in,” Ms Deede said.
Division 5 councillor Amy Eden has been campaigning to get the measure into the budget since last year.
“It’s hard to fathom that in a city our size and with our tourist numbers, this facility isn’t available,” she said.
“Without this facility members of the community are not able to fully participate in what our city offers as there is no where to go to the toilet, meaning their time and expenditure in the city is capped at a few hours.
“Where is our commitment to access and inclusion if some members of our community have nowhere to go to the toilet?”
The council’s lifestyle and community director Destry Puia would not guarantee a change facility, estimated at $280,000, would be in the 2022-23 budget.
Coalition Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch sympathised but said public toilet facilities were a matter for the council, while Labor candidate Elida Faith said she would “speak to (her) colleagues”.
“We don’t care who does it, we just want it to happen,” Ms Deede said.