Wednesday 18 July2012, 5:00 pm to 5:45 pm
Held in Beehive 8.5, Wellington
Present / Ministerial Committee on Disability Issues:
Hon Tariana Turia, Minister for Disability Issues (Chair)
Hon Tony Ryall, Minister of Health
Hon Judith Collins, Minister of Justice, Minister for ACC
Hon Simon Bridges, Associate Minister of Transport
Hon Peter Dunne, Associate Minister of Health
Human Rights Commission:
David Rutherford, Chief Commissioner
Paul Gibson, Disability Commissioner
Bruce Coleman, Disability Advisor
Office of the Ombudsmen:
Dame Beverley Wakem, Chief Ombudsman
Bridget Hewson, Assistant Ombudsman
Convention Coalition:
Rachel Noble, Chair
Barbara Hart
Mary Schnackenberg
Apologies / Hon Steven Joyce, Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment
Hon Hekia Parata, Minister of Education
Hon Paula Bennett, Minister for Social Development
Hon Phil Heatley, Minister of Housing
Hon Jo Goodhew, Minister for Senior Citizens
In attendance / Officials: Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Education, Office for Disability Issues.
Ministers' offices: Office of Hon Tony Ryall (Health), Office of Hon Paula Bennett (Social Development), Office of Hon Judith Collins (Justice, ACC), Office of Hon Steven Joyce (Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment), Office of Hon Phil Heatley, Housing), Office of Hon Jo Goodhew (Senior Citizens), Office of Hon Tariana Turia (Disability Issues), Office of Hon Hekia Parata (Education), Office of Hon Simon Bridges (Transport), Office of Hon Peter Dunne (Health).
Agenda / Discussion / Decisions
- Introduction
Minister Turia asked Jan Scown (Director, Office for Disability Issues) to outline government actions to address the five issues raised by the independent monitors in 2011 (see appendix 1).
Minister Turia acknowledged the independent monitors’ input to the Government’s priorities of promoting an accessible rebuilt Christchurch and in the development of possible work programmes on the three shared outcomes areas of the Disability Action Plan. Jan Scown outlined progress since the previous Ministerial Committee meeting with the proposed shared outcomes work programmes (see appendix 2).
Independent monitors’ priorities / Minister Turia invited the independent monitors to present their priorities (see appendix 3).
Rachel Noble noted that New Zealand’s ratification of the UN Convention was a major step forward for disabled people. The establishment and government funding of the Convention Coalition of disabled people’s organisations marked another major achievement. It has provided a focus for different disability groups to appreciate each other issues and collectively prioritise actions that will make the most difference.
Disabled people’s organisations are governed by disabled people and have links to similar international organisations, which allows best practice ideas from disabled people around the world to be shared domestically.
A priority for disabled people’s organisations is to realise what the UN Convention means in article 4.3, which calls for government agencies to involve them in the development of legislation and policy impacting on disabled people. A challenge for disabled people’s organisations is their limited capability. Investment is needed for disabled people’s organisations to effectively add value to government and help get better results for disabled people.
Mary Schnackenberg said that disabled people want to be responsible and contributing citizens. They pay taxes and rates like anyone else. They also want government agencies to spend public money in a efficient and effective way. For disabled people, this means making sure their needs are included from the beginning and not forgotten about. It costs less to ensure a service or facility is designed from the start to be accessible and inclusive than to try and retrofit it once running or built.
Disabled people’s organisations have shown they can add value when working with government agencies. For example, NZ Police worked with Deaf Aotearoa to establish the 111 emergency text system. Its benefits have gone wider than just Deaf people, and now include deafblind people. Another example is in the education sector, where BLENNZ worked with parents, consumers, teachers and government to get a state-of-the-art education facility in Homai, Auckland.
Paul Gibson added that the Better Public Service results need to deliver for disabled people as well as non-disabled people. The independent monitors acknowledge that the Government needs to act within current resources available. However, the involvement of the independent monitors will help identify where spending and the system could be changed so that the best outcomes are achieved for everyone.
David Rutherford noted that access in Christchurch is an ongoing issue. There is a gap in the vision for the Christchurch rebuild ensuring new buildings and spaces are accessible. The independent monitors are aware of new buildings since the earthquake which are not accessible for disabled people, despite the access requirements of the Building Act and Building Code. There is commitment from the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (CERA), but it needs help to ensure accessibility is delivered. What is needed are pragmatic and simple actions.
Residential homes need to have minimum standards for accessibility. The existing standard for publicly-accessed buildings, NZS4121, is good but needs to be reviewed and updated. Disabled people’s organisations have expertise in accessibility and should be involved.
Dame Beverley Wakem said that the concerns with the Christchurch rebuild are significant. The Office of the Ombudsmen, the Office of the Auditor-General, the Serious Fraud Office and the Insurance and Savings Ombudsman are working together to ensure consistent approach to problems arising in Christchurch. Experience is showing that a one-size-fits-all approach does not work for everyone.
As a separate issue, the Office of the Ombudsmen will be asking about the disability responsiveness of government agencies’ operational policies. This stocktake will enable a better understanding of how disabled people’s needs are dealt with by government agencies, for example with complaints.
Minister Collins acknowledged that one-in-five New Zealanders have an impairment, and that this population will increase. It makes sense for the Christchurch rebuild to get it right from the start by ensuring accessibility is included. Inclusive and accessible buildings need to become business-as-usual and ordinary. Accessibility benefits everyone, and not just disabled people. The justice sector in Christchurch is working together on opportunities in the rebuild. This work should take accessibility into account.
Minister Dunne was interested in what was practically needed to ensure the Christchurch rebuild delivered on accessibility. David Rutherford noted that building developers were a key stakeholder, and leadership needed to be shown by CERA and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
Dame Beverley Wakem invited Ministers to increase their collaboration across government agencies on disability issues. If unintended consequences are to be avoided and future costs minimised, then disabled people need to be involved early on, if not from the beginning, in matters affecting them. Rachel Noble added they are keen to work with government agencies at all levels, but a co-ordinated approach would work better.
Paul Gibson noted that New Zealand has been regarded around the world as a leader on disability issues since the 1990s. There are great, positive stories to be told about the value and achievement of disabled people, including in the development of the UN Convention itself. More needs to be done to promote the positive contribution and value of disabled people to society.
Brendan Boyle, Chief Executive, Ministry of Social Development, noted that accessibility could be added into the tender requirements for the government anchor buildings in Christchurch. The Office for Disability Issues can liaise with the independent monitors to ensure the specifications are right.
Minister Turia closed the meeting by noting that progress in accessibility would be achieved if the current minimum standards of NZS4121 were consistently applied. There needs to be greater promotion of lifetime design standards for homes, such as with Lifemark. This will save the government money in the longer term.
The Ministerial Committee will be paying close attention to progress by government agencies and monitoring results. It is useful to have the independent monitors meet annually with Ministers to ensure the right priorities are being focused on. Later in 2012, the Ministerial Committee will release its priorities for government agencies over the next couple of years.
Next meeting / Ministerial Committee meets on 11 September 2012
Appendix 1: Progress on issues raised by the independent monitors in 2011
1The independent monitors raised five issues during their 2011 meeting with the Ministerial Committee on Disability Issues. Government action to address these issues is provided under each issue heading.
(a) Ensuring that the voice of disabled people is heard and included in the Christchurch recovery and rebuild.
2The Ministry of Social Development’s Think Differently campaign has provided funding for a consortium of disabled people and their organisations to influence the Christchurch rebuild by:
- in 2011/2012, providing a submission on the CERA recovery strategy
- in 2012/2013, developing a project that builds engagement with key decision-makers who can make the rebuild inclusive of disabled people.
3The Office for Disability Issues is meeting regularly with disabled leaders in Christchurch, and with CERA, as part of the Disability Action Plan development.
(b) Making an individual’s experience with the government system easier by having a “joined up” approach to services and service delivery, perhaps involving a one-stop-shop and a “unique identifier” across the system.
4In August 2011, an independent working group presented their Enabling Good Livesreport to the Minister for Disability Issues. The report advised on a new way for how Government should provide support for disabled people during the day when they are not working. The report proposed that centre-based day services should be incrementally replaced with facilitation-based support and informal supports in the community.This would mean changing from providing separate facilities and activities for disabled people to enabling them to participate in a range of mainstream activities, including part-time or full-time employment if possible.
5The Ministries of Social Development and Health are working together on the Enabling Good Lives report approach. Demonstrations are being explored in partnership with the disability sector in Christchurch, Wellington, and the Waikato.
6The Ministry of Health is continuing to demonstrate its New Model for Supporting Disabled People. The initiatives include the demonstration in the Western Bay of Plenty and the demonstration of Choice in Community Living in Auckland and Waikato. These initiatives all have the common aim of ensuring disabled people have more choice and control over their lives and the disability support services they use.
7The Ministry of Health is currently exploring options to progress the 2011 National Party Manifesto commitment to “develop user friendly, ‘one-stop shop’ needs assessment agencies with disability, health, welfare and housing services working together”. This aims to streamline assessment processes experienced by disabled people and provide a simpler, better integrated system. It will be linked with the above initiatives.
(c) Improving the accessibility of official information, including information being available in a variety of accessible formats and government websites being fully compliant with government web standards.
8The Department of Internal Affairs continues to promote government agencies’ compliance with the Government Web Standards, which include accessibility features for disabled people.
9In September 2011, the Office for Disability Issues, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Development, published Make your communications more accessible: Quick tips for writers, communicators, designers and production houses. It provides practical advice on how to make government information and communications reach a wide audience, and be accessible to disabled people. It was developed in consultation with disability sector organisations.
10The Office for Disability Issues is considering options to promote access by Deaf people to government services as part of the Disability Action Plan. This follows on from the 2011 review of the New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006, which found that while no change to the Act was needed, further action was needed due to Deaf people reporting inconsistencies across government agencies in information and services being accessible to them.
11In September 2011, the Office for Disability Issues released a New Zealand Sign Language translation of the New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006.
(d) Improving support provided by the justice system to disabled people, particularly for deaf people and people with intellectual disabilities, so that they maintain their dignity and independence on an equal basis with others, such as when giving evidence in courts and voting in general and local body elections.
12The Electoral Commission promoted access to voting in the 2011 General Elections through its Access Plan, which was developed following consultation with disabled people. A substantial review of the 2011 General Election included a post-election survey of disabled people. The review and survey results will feed into consultation during 2013 on the 2014 General Election Access Plan.
13A new resource released in 2011 and developed with IHC was Get Ready and Vote, a DVD targeted at people with intellectual disabilities. It follows a group of friends as they learn about New Zealand's government, find out where to get the information they need to make their choices, and experience enrolling and voting. Other resources had information in New Zealand Sign Language and in formats accessible to vision impaired people.
14In 2012, the Electoral Commission enabled submissions to the MMP review to be made in New Zealand Sign Language.
15In 2012, the Government decided to defer work on options for internet and telephone voting for a limited class of New Zealanders (for example, overseas voters and blind and disabled voters), due to limited resources available to the Electoral Commission and prioritisation of other work.
(e) Progress on ratifying the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
16The Optional Protocol allows individuals to submit a communication (or complaint) alleging a breach of rights under the UN Convention to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This can happen only when domestic remedies relating to the alleged breach have been exhausted. The Government would be obligated to respond to the UN Committee on complaints accepted and any recommendations made.
17The Office for Disability Issues has been exploring the possible impacts of New Zealand proceeding to ratify the Optional Protocol. Initial discussions with the independent monitors confirm that they continue to rate ratification as a priority, as it would provide the full range of protections available to disabled people and demonstrate the Government’s commitment to them.
18The independent monitors also said that the resourcing available (to them and to government agencies) could impact on the timing of the ratification process. It is possible that they might prioritise other work (such as implementing the Disability Action Plan) or support a longer time-frame for the ratification work if they had a better understanding of possible trade-offs.
19The Office for Disability Issues is working with the VictoriaUniversityLawSchool to explore what might be needed in domestic processes to meet obligations of the Optional Protocol.
20While complaints cannot currently be made under the UN Convention, any NewZealander can submit a communication to the UN regarding an alleged breach of their rights under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Appendix 2: Progress with the Disability Action Plan’s shared outcomes work programmes
On 2 May 2012, the Ministerial Committee on Disability Issues:
- noted that putting a disability lens across current government initiatives could be an immediate action to identify opportunities to promote gains for disabled people, such as in Christchurch
- noted that the Government’s top priorities will not be fully achieved if disabled people are left out
- noted that reporting on current activity is not enough, and opportunities for new initiatives need to be explored.
- agreed to adopt a results focus for the Disability Action Plan 2012 to 2014
- noted that the shared outcomes priorities for action will be “Enabling Good Lives”, “Employment”, and “Rebuilding Christchurch”
- directed the Chief Executives’ Group to lead development of work programmes for each shared outcome, with actions, targets and timeframes for delivery.
The Office for Disability Issues has been leading the development of the three shared outcomes work programmes with government agencies. Strong consensus has been reached on a common approach across government on each shared outcome. Officials are now focused on getting to concrete results and detailing actions and targets.
Engagement with the disability sector to date includes:
- consulting with the independent monitors and key disabled leaders in Christchurch on the April 2012 report to Cabinet on progress with the Disability Action Plan in the Canterbury recovery
- regular meetings with disabled leaders in Christchurch
- a workshop on 2 July with the Disability Employment Forum and government agencies to discuss actions to promote the employment of disabled people
- disabled people, families and providers are involved in the development of the Enabling Good Lives projects in Christchurch, Wellington and Hamilton.
The Minister for Disability Issues is proposing to take the Disability Action Plan’s shared outcomes work programmes to the next meeting of the Ministerial Committee, which is being explored for mid-September. If Ministers agree, the Disability Action Plan’s shared outcomes work programmes will be submitted to Cabinet later in 2012 for approval.