Tomorrow is International Day of People with Disability and at Telstra we’re proud to support a range of diversity and inclusion initiatives. As a Group Managing Director at Telstra I have oversight of our disability program of work and hope you don’t mind me sharing some of the ways we are working to address accessibility issues for customers, communities and employees with disability.

Accessible telecommunications is important for people with disability because it enables them to participate fully at work and in the community. As Australia’s leading communications provider, we are uniquely positioned to be able to provide affordable, innovative and accessible products and services which improve the quality of life for all of our customers.

We celebrate International Day of People With Disability 2011 with a mid-term review report on our fifth Disability Action Plan covering the period from 2010 to 2012. I’m proud to say we were one of the first major Australian corporations to develop and lodge a Disability Action Plan with the Australian Human Rights Commission in 1996. Our fifth Plan has three aims:

• For our customers – to provide affordable, innovative and accessible products and services…
• For our communities – to support and create opportunities for people with disability and carers to participate in our community…
• For our people – to improve Telstra’s attraction, recruitment, engagement and retention of people with disability and carers…

I’d like to share some of our achievements over the past 12 months:

• Telstra’s EasyTouch Discovery 2 postpaid and EasyCall 2 prepaid mobiles launched. These offer an extensive list of accessible features at a low entry price.
• Large data allowance and credit towards the purchase of a mobile phone, including video at voice rates and SMS/MMS in the monthly allowance, through our new Freedom® Connect Mobile plans.
• Real-Time Text access to Telstra consultants 24/7 for people who are deaf, or have severe hearing or speech impairment launched. These include online features such as @Telstra on Twitter, a “Live Chat” and a 24 hour turnaround “support request” customer service contact point on Facebook.
• A new process that ensures customers who receive braille bills now also receive correspondence about changes to their phone service in braille.
• The Disability Equipment Program brochure now includes details on how to get information about the program in nine community languages.
• We revised and continued with our employee disability awareness training, which is mandatory for new employees to complete at induction and every two years.
• Our Directory Assistance Helpline provides access to an average 14 new users each month.  It offers a live, operator assisted service that includes addresses as well as phone numbers information for people who are unable to read, use or hold White or Yellow Pages directories and are unable to use the standard Directory Assistance service (1223).
• We have created employment opportunities for 170 people with a disability across Australia through contractual arrangements as part of a supplier diversity initiative.
• We supported improved telecommunications access for Australians with disability through submissions to the Productivity Commission’s Public Inquiry into a National Disability Insurance Scheme. We were principal sponsor of the National Disability & Carer Congress held in May in support of this inquiry.
• We supported the establishment of The Newell Network, a Web2.0 initiative that provides people with complex communication needs who find it hard to use the phone independently with information about how to use telecommunications more easily.

We continued with a number of initiatives including:

• Our employee Payroll Giving charity partners included Cerebral Palsy League Qld and Technical Aid to the Disabled.
• Our sponsorship of the Christopher Newell Prize for the best papers offered to the Telecommunications Journal of Australia (TJA) for publication that demonstrate the tangible benefits that the innovative use of broadband or other telecommunications technology can deliver for people with disability.
• Our Disability Forums to talk to the community about how we can continue to enhance the accessibility of our products, services and information.
• Our sponsorship of the Australian Paralympic Committee which has continued for over 13 years.
• Our partnership with the national Disability Recruitment Coordinator to enable access to and adjustment within our recruitment processes for candidates with disability.

This is just a sample of our ongoing support for our customers, communities and employees with disability.

On behalf of my colleagues at Telstra, I would like to thank all those who have shared their ideas, suggestions and recommendations with us, and to my colleagues who have helped us deliver such a wide range of initiatives.

Please join me in marking International Day of People With Disability 2011.