Priyanca Radhakrishnan
Wellington, July 19, 2024
It is often said that the hallmark of a healthy society is measured by how it cares for the most disadvantaged.
The coalition government made it quite clear earlier this year – on March 18 to be precise – that it doesn’t care about disabled New Zealanders, their carers and the wider disability communities.
The Responsible Minister at the time, Penny Simmonds decided to remove flexible funding, and this was announced and implemented with immediate effect on March 18.
Many disabled people have told me that the changes turned their lives upside down overnight and their world shrank as a result.
In December 2023, Minister Simmonds was made aware that Whaikaha, the Ministry of Disabled People was likely to experience a funding shortfall.
At this point, she should’ve gone straight to the Finance Minister and the Prime Minister, informed them of this and asked for a funding top-up for the Ministry.
This is how these funding shortfalls have been dealt with by successive governments.
Instead, she decided to narrow the eligibility criteria for this funding such that carers of severely disabled people, including children, can no longer use their funding for respite care – to take a break and catch up on sleep.
Disabled people have less access to the equipment they need and can no longer use their funding for travel outside of their immediate community, thereby increasing isolation.
Disabled children can no longer access this funding to attend programmes during school hours that help them develop the skills to be able to cope with school.
I have been visiting cities and towns across New Zealand, meeting disabled people and the organisations that support them.
People commonly tell me that this government is taking the sector 20 years backwards – to a time before society recognised that disabled people should have more choice and control over the support services they accessed.
Many are angry that there was no consultation before these changes were made or announced, and that disabled communities were blindsided by the changes.
Deciding to dig her heels in deeper, Minister Simmonds said in Parliament in response to questions I asked, that carers were misusing the funds and using them for manicures, massages, alcohol and so on. She has never been able to back these claims up with evidence.
It is clear that the coalition government is bent on cutting funding just so they could give tax breaks for landlords, without a care that it’s disabled people paying the price.
I have met many people from our ethnic communities who are either disabled themselves or support a disabled family member.
I recently spoke to a solo mum with an autistic child who works two jobs – often night shifts – just to manage their expenses.
She told me she takes her child to a disability support provider for day activities and while he is occupied, she sleeps in the hallway. Previously, she could have used her funding to pay for a motel nearby to catch up on sleep.
One could argue that such parents could just leave their child at a facility for a few days to catch up on sleep at home.
Sadly, most autistic children won’t cope with such an arrangement with someone they don’t know and also, such facilities are few and far between.
Disabled people from ethnic communities face additional problems in accessing support. This includes stigma around disabilities, language barriers, not knowing where to get information about in existing services and hardly any providers with culturally appropriate services.
Since these changes, Minister Simmonds has lost this portfolio, and Budget 2024 included just enough funding for Whaikaha to keep the lights on.
The fact remains that there is so much more work that needs to be done to create a more accessible and inclusive society.
Sadly, this government is taking us backwards instead of making any progress for our most disadvantaged communities.
Priyanca Radhakrishnan is a Member of Parliament on Labour List (Maungakiekie). She is the Party’s Spokesperson for Conservation, Disability Issues, NZSIS and GCSB.
