Sydney Road was blocked on June 17 by campaigners calling for accessible tram stops before any more level crossing removal works on the Upfield line.聽The protest was organised by .
Led by campaign organiser Christian Astourian, a Brunswick resident and disability rights advocate, and supported by a wide range of organisations and individuals, the crowd consisted of parents with prams and strollers, people with mobility issues, the blind and a contingent of wheelchair users.
鈥淚鈥檝e had my disability聽for 50 years and have never been able to get on a tram,鈥 one protester in a wheelchair said.
The crowd heard from Christian, Ally Scott, a campaigner from the Disability Resources Centre and Bramble Heinrich-McPartlan, chair of Merri-bek Disability Reference Group and ambulant wheelchair user, before taking to the streets.
鈥淎ccessible tram stops is not just a matter of convenience, but also a matter of dignity, basic human rights and inclusion,鈥 Astourian told the rally.
鈥淧eople with disabilities, or anyone who faces mobility issues 鈥 have been excluded from the public transport聽system, forcing聽them to rely on expensive or unreliable alternatives.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 take all that much work, when we do things right from the start, to make things more accessible. [It鈥檚] a tiny extra cost to make tram doors that slide into a cavity so there鈥檚 no gap.
鈥淪afer crossings and stops: it doesn鈥檛 have to be this hard. The lack of consultation has caused this issue and the [government鈥檚] lack of compassion has forced our hand.鈥
In two years time, the government will shut the Upfield train line for between 18 months and two years to remove eight level crossings in Brunswick.
As Merri-bek聽councillor Sue Bolton told the crowd聽鈥渨hen that happens Christian [Astourian] loses his ability to go to work or visit his elderly mother on the other side of the city鈥.
The rally called on the Labor to make Sydney Road accessible to all between now and the start of the level-crossing removals. Organisers promised more protests and direct action if this did not happen.
鈥淧olite advocacy hasn鈥檛 won us accessible tram stops because [politicians] don鈥檛 think there are any votes in the issue,鈥 Bolton said.
is that it would cost about $75 million to install accessible tram stops on Royal Parade and Sydney Road between Parkville and North Coburg, a 5-kilometre stretch with only one accessible tram stop. That is about 1/20th聽of the estimated $1.5 billion being spent on removing the Brunswick level crossing.
Monica Harte, a Merri-bek councillor and former president of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, described how disability rights activists had blockaded the Upfield train line in the early 1990s to stop it from being shut down.
鈥淲e won that campaign, that campaign was also backed by the Brunswick council,鈥 Harte said.
Bolton said 鈥渨e will win this鈥, adding that the rally is just the beginning. 鈥淭wo years is sufficient time to build accessible tram stops. If the government dares to shut the train line without聽having accessible tram stops already installed, we will be taking direct action.鈥
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