Parents of Vision Impaired NZ has joined with seven other national disability organisations to issue a joint media statement expressing serious concerns about the process being used to progress the Disability Support Services Bill through Parliament.
This statement has been released by Disabled Persons Assembly NZ – DPA, People First New Zealand, Carers NZ, Complex Care Group, CCS Disability Action, Home and Community Health Association (HCHA), and New Zealand Disability Support Network – NZDSN.
Together, our organisations represent hundreds of thousands of disabled people, family carers, advocacy groups and disability support providers from across Aotearoa.
We are united in our concern that disabled people, family carers, their representative organisations, and the wider disability sector have not been provided with a fair and accessible opportunity to participate in the development and scrutiny of legislation that will directly affect them.
In particular, we are concerned about:
- The absence of meaningful involvement by disabled people and their representative organisations in the Bill’s development.
- The extremely limited notice provided to the disability community before the Bill was introduced.
- The short timeframe provided for submissions.
- The significantly compressed Select Committee process.
- The concentration of hearings in Wellington, with no hearings elsewhere in the country.
- The very limited time allocated to organisations representing thousands of New Zealanders.
Our joint statement sets out that these Select Committee arrangements create significant accessibility barriers and do not reflect the level of participation that disabled people, families and the wider sector should be able to expect when legislation affecting them is being considered.
We are calling on Parliament to take these concerns seriously, halt the rushed progress of the Bill, and ensure meaningful engagement with the communities most affected by it.
We have also called for the Select Committee process to be extended to allow disabled people, family carers, providers and representative organisations a genuine opportunity to participate.
You can read the full joint statement below.
Joint Media Statement
Disabled People, Families, Carers and Providers Unite; Parliament Denying Disabled People and Their Families a Fair Say on Laws That Shape Their Lives
Eight national disability organisations – Disabled Persons Assembly (DPA), People First New Zealand, Carers NZ, Parents of Vision Impaired NZ, the Complex Care Group, CCS Disability Action, Home and Community Health Association (HCHA) and the New Zealand Disability Support Network (NZDSN) are calling on Parliament to halt the rushed progress of the Disability Support Services Bill and ensure meaningful engagement with the communities it affects.
Collectively, our organisations represent hundreds of thousands of disabled people, family carers, disabled people’s organisations, advocacy groups, and support providers across Aotearoa.
Disabled people, families and the wider disability support sector are being denied a meaningful opportunity to have their say on decisions that directly affect them.
“While we support legislation that protects and strengthens the rights of disabled people and family carers, we are united in our concern that the process being used for this Bill fails to meaningfully involve disabled people, families, and the disability sector in its development,” says Debbie Hughes, Chief Executive of the NZDSN.
The group disputes Ministerial assurances that the Bill responds to consultation with disabled people and families.
“This Bill has been extremely reactive and has not been developed with the knowledge, involvement, or seriously needed expertise of disabled people and their representative organisations,” says Kera Sherwood-O’Regan, National President of DPA.
“Only a handful of our organisations were briefed by the Minister about the Bill’s existence – with our call finishing just 15 minutes before the public announcement. We directly raised serious concerns about the need for robust, accessible engagement and an extended consultation period. Instead, this process has been rushed, sloppy and inaccessible. We consider this a breach of the government’s obligations under the United Nations Conventional on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).”
The parliamentary process has compounded these failures. The Select Committee has scheduled only three and a half days of hearings, all in Wellington, with just a few hours available each day for public participation – and no hearings anywhere else in the country.
“To make things worse, organisations representing thousands of New Zealanders have been allocated as little as five minutes to present, including time for questions from Committee members. Five minutes is simply not enough time to convey the concerns, experiences, expertise and aspirations of the communities we represent,” says Mel Smith, Chief Executive of CCS Disability Action.
The Disability Support Services Bill may not technically be proceeding under urgency, but from the perspective of disabled people and their families it has that effect.
“New Zealand has obligations under the UNCRPD to closely consult with and actively involve disabled people, through their representative organisations, in decisions that affect them,” explains Desrae Turvey, National Chairperson of People First New Zealand Ngā Tāngata Tuatahi.
“Meaningful participation cannot occur when people are given almost no time to understand proposals, engage with their communities, organise accessible responses, prepare submissions, and present their views.”
“For disabled people and their families, participation requires accessible formats, time to understand and discuss proposals, support to formulate responses, and opportunities to engage in ways that accommodate different communication needs.”
Disabled people and their families deserve better.
“Parliament should not be making decisions about disabled people and families without disabled people and families having the opportunity to have input,” says Laurie Hilsgen, CEO of Carers NZ.
“A Bill that potentially has such major impacts for New Zealanders in caring situations should not be progressed without fair input from disabled people and family carers” says Lisa Martin, Director Complex Care Group.
“New Zealand deserves legislation that has been developed with the community it affects.”
ENDS
