- From: Charles McCathieNevile <charles@w3.org>
- Date: Sun, 2 Jul 2000 18:56:40 -0400 (EDT)
- To: WAI EO <w3c-wai-eo@w3.org>
With thanks to Peter Batchelor -- Charles McCathieNevile mailto:charles@w3.org phone: +61 (0) 409 134 136 W3C Web Accessibility Initiative http://www.w3.org/WAI Location: I-cubed, 110 Victoria Street, Carlton VIC 3053 Postal: GPO Box 2476V, Melbourne 3001, Australia ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Taken from http://www.dcita.gov.au/cgi-bin/graphics.pl?path=5092 Ministers from the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments met in Adelaide today for the seventh Ministerial meeting of the Online Council. JOINT MEDIA STATEMENT Friday 30 June 2000 Governments were represented by: Commonwealth Senator the Hon Richard Alston (chair of Council) Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Senator the Hon Ian Campbell Parliamentary Secretary to Senator Alston South Australia The Hon Dr Michael Armitage MBBS, MP Minister for Government Enterprises and Minister for Information Economy New South Wales The Hon Kim Yeadon MLA Minister for Information Technology, Minister for Energy, Minister for Forestry, and Minister for Western Sydney Victoria The Hon Marsha Thomson MLA Minister for Small Business, Minister for Consumer Affairs Western Australia The Hon Hendy Cowan MLA Deputy Premier Minister for Commerce and Trade; Regional Development; Small Business Northern Territory The Hon Dr Richard Lim MLA Queensland Mr Michael Cook General Manager, Department of Communications and Information, Local Government and Planning Australian Capital Territory Ms Roslyn Hughes Senior Director, ACT Chief Minister's Department Tasmania Ms Maria Jeffries Project Manager, Department of Premier and Cabinet (observer) ALGA Cr John Ross President, Australian Local Government Association The meeting provided an important opportunity for governments to work cooperatively, and develop national approaches to assist communities participate in the burgeoning information economy. <snip /> COMMON MINIMUM WEBSITE ACCESS STANDARDS The Council agreed to the adoption of the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines as the common best practice standard for all Australian government websites. This decision should ensure that people with disabilities or technical constraints can use online resources provided by Australian governments. The Guidelines are widely recognised internationally, and have the support of Australia's Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, disability groups and rural groups. Adoption of common standards by all Australian governments will promote the confidence of users in online services, and the accessibility of online government information and services. The guidelines set out ways to present information which will enhance access, for example, by providing website material on a text only basis to facilitate the use of screen readers by those with visual impairments, and reducing the use of graphics to enhance download times. REGIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS Affordable access to telecommunications by all Australians is a high priority for all Australian governments. The Council's Regional Telecommunications Working Group has focused on improving coordination between the three tiers of government, and has worked jointly on key projects. The Council supported the Working Group's proposal to conduct a series of case studies around Australia and overseas, and to develop a regional telecommunications models toolkit. The toolkit will contain practical information to assist regional and rural organisations improve access to telecommunications services for their communities. The information will be widely disseminated to regional communities, to enable a much broader appreciation among regional decision makers of the opportunities offered by these new telecommunications models, and the issues associated with their implementation. The Council also supported the decisions to tender for untimed local calls and untimed Internet access in extended zones, and the proposed USO contestability trials. <snip to end /> Peter Batchelor Research and Technology Division MelbourneIT
Received on Sunday, 2 July 2000 18:56:42 UTC