By ANEEKA SIMONIS
CARDINIA Council has flushed away exclusive rights for people with a disability to access a purpose-built toilet in Kooweerup.
It comes as residents lobby the council for equal access to the disability toilet, which was previously only accessible to those who held a Master Locksmith Access Key (MLAK).
The key is only available to people with a disability and provides 24/7 access to public facilities including toilets.
In March, the council’s building and facilities manager Stephen Fernee said the general public was not allowed access to the toilet as it needed to remain available for people with a disability.
Further, the disability toilet, located at Cochrane Park, was surrounded by a number of other 24/7 access toilets including at the local pool, community centre and V/Line bus interchange.
However, council has dumped that idea – instead opening up public access to the bathroom during daylight hours.
Mr Fernee said that the council changed access to the accessible toilet in Kooweerup to include access to the general public between 7am and 7pm when it became aware that the MLAK key system could be programmed to be open to the general public for prescribed times as well as remaining accessible to MLAK key holders.
He said there was no reason to restrict access to the public during normal daylight hours when the programmable option became available.
“Opening the accessible toilets to the general public between the hours of 7am and 7pm will mean that like the V/Line toilets (which are unlocked in the morning and locked at night by the bus drivers), the public will have enhanced access to all public toilets.”
However, it will remain locked overnight to anyone without an MLAK key to reduce the risk of vandalism.
The plea for equal access was raised by Kooweerup Township Committee during their February meeting.
They reasoned that disabled toilets are routinely used by women with infants and toddlers, and should be made available to all.
