NRS Poll

Hello! We would like to share an update with you about the NRS. The National Relay Service is under the responsibility of the Australian government. This means that the government will contract one company to manage the NRS for all people around Australia.

Every three years (sometimes extended) the government creates a new contract through a tender process. The government will pick a business and continue NRS. The contract is responsible to provide services to all people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech communication difficulty.

We can see that the NRS still has some issues. We (being a group of key disability organisation stakeholders) and us (Deaf Australia), are disappointed with the government because they didn’t follow proper procedure during this latest tender process. They didn’t consult with us prior to launching the tender regarding any issues. Unfortunately the tender process has already begun.

We are working on a collaborative approach to advocate for the best quality, because we can see how it is dropping each year. Don’t worry because we are currently working with ACCAN who are the peak national advocacy group for Australian communication consumers, similar to us at Deaf Australia. Also, they are knowledgable about what to do when communication issues arise and liaise with the government on possible solutions.

We have full spreadsheet of all the areas we want to improve, remove or add to regarding the NRS. Now, we are asking you all, the deaf community, to let us know if you support our work and respond if you’re happy. Then we can show the NRS our proposal and make sure it’s right and we have picked through the proposal with the relevant deaf topics.

I will give you a list and you let us know if it’s all good! This is a list of different types of support and services like:

Funding of NRS – need to keep ongoing funding, not less.

NRS chat 24/7 – keep this service the same, no changes.

VRS (video relay service) – right now has limited time and day we want to expand this to 24/7 availability.

TTY Services – keep this the same.

SMS Relay – keep this the same.

Captioning Services – like accessible captioned telephone for people who are oral – keep this the same.

Also we want to add education and training program to teach hearing people how to use NRS, and visit schools and teach deaf students how to use it.

Also to educate general hearing public about NRS and to avoid such incidents and misunderstandings when they receive NRS call and hang up or think it is a scam.

Also, how to improve 000 emergency calls though NRS.

Oops, there is one more! We want to remove NRS registration before using service. Meaning no requirement to register or login. You can start using NRS chat and video right away anytime. You won't have to log in or create an account to use service. It will be automatic and easy.

We also want to make sure this is an accessible platform for deafblind people and include them for any issues, discussion or design collaboration.

That is all for now. If you are happy with this proposal so far please fill out the poll to show your support. If you have any feedback or to raise another matter, please add it in the poll, we will be collecting all further notes. I will use to prepare for the next meeting and present. I want to show the connection to you, our community, and present to the government that the deaf community supports this advocacy endeavor!

Just to let you know, the poll closes Thursday 29th February 5pm AEDT. Meaning Sydney / east coast time. Thank you!

Shirley Liu is wearing a black t-shirt and standing in front a plain green and blue gradient background. Her hair is pulled back . She is signing in an engaging way towards the camera.