Queensland citizens draws to the attention of the House the life threatening decision of the Gillard Labor Government to refuse to provide access to the '000' emergency service through an emergency SMS service.

This omission is literally a matter of life and death for deaf Australians and treats deaf people as second class citizens as well as being in breach of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with a Disability guaranteeing the right of safety.

The failure to include technology upgrades in ensuring the provision of access to essential mobile emergency services under the new National Relay Services (NRS) tender will mean that a deaf person will have to rely on a hearing person calling '000' for them instead of them being able to send an emergency SMS themselves.

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to condemn, in the strongest possible terms the failure of the Gillard Labor Government to provide an emergency SMS service for deaf Australians. They also request the Minister for Disabilities and the Minister for Police and Community Safety to lobby the Federal Government to review this decision by highlighting the fact that this decision will put the lives of deaf people at risk when they are in need of emergency assistance and their only form of communication is a mobile phone.