00:00Car park closures in Civic have come at a human cost.
00:07For Cook resident Joanne Sheehan, who lives with conditions including cerebral palsy and arthritis,
00:13a lack of disability parking has made the city inaccessible.
00:17I need to get a friend to drive me,
00:21which means even though I've got the total capacity to do this myself,
00:27I lose my agency and my independence.
00:30The Car Park on London circuit, next to the Canberra Museum and Gallery,
00:35has been taken over by construction since mid-October.
00:39It won't reopen until 2028, when work on Canberra's new 2,000-seat Lyric Theatre is due to finish.
00:46Civic GP Dr Adrian Wright says patients are finding it harder to see him.
00:52We moved over to this particular building 32 years ago because I loved the access.
01:00We had a big car park there, it was flat on the ground,
01:04so anyone in wheelchairs or prams and strollers or wheelie walkers had no steps involved.
01:12The Government has acknowledged the issue, suggesting some loading zones
01:16could be temporarily converted to accessible spaces.
01:20We do need to balance, of course, the purpose of loading zones
01:23and we're not looking to make life any harder for businesses,
01:27but that's effectively where the opportunities are for us in the available car parks in that area.
01:34But loading zones aren't necessarily where parking spaces need to be.
01:38It's people with mobility issues need parking near the services that they need.
01:46For me it's the physio.
01:48For other people it's doctors, GPs, other health professionals, the public advocate.
01:54You know, there's no point really in having these where the services are not.
02:03The opposition says the needs of businesses should be factored in.
02:07I know that there are some businesses and musos, for example,
02:11who have raised concern about the lack of loading zones as well.
02:15So there does need to be a balance.
02:17But of course we want to make sure that there are sufficient disability parking spots,
02:22especially for those accessing medical services in the precinct.
02:25A balancing act during civics transformation.
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