About accessibility

Accessibility and usability have been key elements considered in the development of this website, so we hope you can find, access and use the information you need. This website has been designed to meet the Australian Government standards, including those that relate to access for people with disabilities. This website aims to conform to Level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.0 (WCAG 2.0), developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

This site has been developed to display adequately on all commonly used browsers. Special features have been included to enable effective operation by persons using accessibility hardware and/or software.

Zoom

In most cases, browsers allow you to use the CTRL and + keys together to zoom into a web page and the CTRL and - keys to zoom out. This will magnify all elements on the page, including text, to make it easier to read.

Navigation using a screenreader

If you are using a screenreader program, there are a number of aids to help you find your way around the website.

Skip to main content

For people using screen readers each page has a link that says "skip to main content". Following this link will skip over the page header and skip over the navigation menu to take you straight to the content of the page. The page header and navigation are repeated on every page so this avoids hearing them again and again.

ARIA Landmarks

This website uses ARIA landmarks to programmatically identify sections of each page. These landmarks provide an easy way for users of assistive technology to skip over blocks of content that are repeated on multiple pages, to navigate from section to section, and to be notified of the programmatic structure of a page.

Search 

You can search the web site by typing one or more keywords into the search input box at the top right of any web page.

Help with downloading documents and files

There are documents and media files for download on the website. Some documents are published in more than one format. Web pages are made available in HTML where ever possible. Downloadable documents are available in both Portable Document Format (PDF) and Word formats.

To read PDF documents you need Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. Commonly this is already on your computer, installed with your web browser. But if you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader you can download it for free from adobe.com(Opens in a new tab/window).

Downloading documents

You can download documents and open them to read in your web browser or save them to your computer to read offline. To read a downloadable document in your web browser simply press the link to the document.

To save a downloadable document right-click on the download (PC) or shift + click (Mac) and select the Save link or Save target option.

Fillable forms

Fillable forms are available as a form you can fill in on a computer (Fillable PDF) and as a form you can print and complete with a black pen.

To use the Fillable PDF application form you must download it to your desktop.

Right click on the form icon and select 'save target as' or 'save link as' and download the form to your desktop.

Open the form on your desktop using Acrobat Reader, and read the instructions before starting to enter information into the form.

Make sure you save the application form regularly as you are filling it in.

The Fillable PDF form will not be fillable when it is open in a web browser, for example Microsoft Edge, Chrome or Firefox.

Acrobat Reader

Acrobat Reader is a free program that will allow you to complete the fillable forms from this website.

If you do not have Acrobat Reader go to the Adobe Acrobat Reader download webpage(Opens in a new tab/window) and click Install now.

When the file download message appears at the bottom of the browser window, click Run.

When you see the confirmation message saying that the installation is complete, click Finish.

You will now be able to open the Fillable PDF form in Acrobat Reader.

Text to speech

The website utilises ReadSpeaker(Opens in a new tab/window) to enable you to listen to a web page.