I know you were expecting a blog about taking a group of young people up to Whakapapa, but, in the week leading up to the house rising Grant Roberston pulled a stunt, that once again shows that disabled people, 25% of the population are not worth putting the money and effort into.

I don’t usually write while I am really angry, but this time I am making an exception. With that in mind, everything expressed in this blog is my opinion and not that of any of the organisations or groups that I work with. This blog may not have the refinement you’re used to as I have written it pretty quickly. I’ve tried to keep it reasonably short and sweet; feel free to share!

The recent cost-cutting measures that Minister Grant Robertson announced last week are nothing more than a pre-election vote grabber. Never mind the implications for some of the least served sectors of the country.

A screen shot of a table of figures from the NZ Herald. In red is circled MSD (Excludes Whaikaha)
We’re still MSDs poor- cousin
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/government-to-announce-cost-savings-as-economy-slows/RUK5QUIFQBEMHODX3HTZHML5EI/

As Grant Robertson announced a raft of savings the week ahead of Parliament rising I held my breath to see if it was going to affect the work of Whaikaha – Ministry of Disabled People and getting Enabling Good Lives out to the rest of the country. I was initially hopeful when I saw that Whaikaha was one of the “off-limit” areas, but I had a feeling that was too good to be true. As I dug for more information I was made aware of a breakdown of the figures of where the savings were coming from, and there is was; $52 million coming out of the Enabling Good Lives contingency fund held by Treasury, “due to a rephasing of the roll out”, technically it hasn’t come from the Whaikaha current budget.

I’m pissed, this is going to slow down the progress of Enabling Good Lives. Since I have been involved I have seen a lot of resistance to change within the different agencies that were supposed to be supporting EGL. I have lost count of the number of times I have heard “we just need to do this before we can do…… xyz…. we will ring-fence the funds in Treasury.” Now because the funds have not been used, most of our community once again loses out on the life-changing opportunities that the Enabling Good Lives approach can bring, if it is resourced sufficiently. There was a staggered roll-out proposed and accepted in a 2018 Cabinet Paper. This constant stalling shows that 25% of the population is not valued by neither our officials nor our MPs.

A screenshot from Radio New Zealand, circled in red reads " The agencies and areas off limits for spending reductions included: Superannuation, benefits and KiwiSaver; loans, finance costs, tax receivables; frontline health and education spending; NZDF, Police, NZSIS and GCSB, Whaikaka the Ministry of Disabled People, and the Offices of Parliament."
They are technically correct, it won’t affect front-line services,
because most regions don’t yet have EGL funding
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/496745/watch-government-announces-spending-cuts-and-changes-to-save-4b


I am unsure if the government still considers that disabled people do not have the capabilities to steer the ship, or, that they don’t trust disabled people and their families and whanau to be able to responsibly spend the government money; without multiple layers of bureaucracy, each level taking a small portion of funding away from disabled New Zealanders and their whanau. Now because officials haven’t known what to do we are again faced with dregs of funding to try and fundamentally change the way disability support services are delivered and to try and change the backward attitudes towards the value of disabled people across Aotearoa.

Not often talked about outside of the disability sector is the fact that although we “de-institutionalised” close to 30 years ago, this was not sufficiently supported so what we essentially did was create mini-institutions out in the community. Some in these “residences” don’t get a choice of what they have for breakfast. Those who are fortunate enough to live in an independent setting that need intimate care (Personal Cares) and help getting out of bed are never sure if their caregivers are going to turn up at prescribed times, and often have no choice of when, or who may be giving them a shower from day to day. I could go on and on and write an entire novel on how disabled New Zealanders experience breaches of their rights every day, but I wanted to get this message out, it’s not OK!

Screen shot from beehive.govt.nz page. It reads at the top in bold red lettering "Reduction in "Enabling Good Lives" Tagged Contingency
“rephasing” is government-speak for slow down
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2023-08/Immediate%20savings%20exercise%20-%20Summary%20of%20initiatives.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0g9j3iEnHM8qilpMvPVNpzo4Z0D40Hn2TMMtjjyn_tUzRcQ5oIKpJ5K0k

If you pick up any of the published Royal Commission reports you can see some of the horrendous things that our disabled whanau have and currently experience in care settings. I firmly believe that the only reason that the Terms of Reference of the Royal Commission only include up to 1999 is so the state did not have to admit to how much abuse is still going on in these settings, and that the systems are completely broken. They rely on a deficit-based, medical model of disability and the systems that reinforce this model continue to disempower disabled New Zealanders. We need to move to a strengths-based, social model of disability where everyone can be safe, and contribute their unique skills, talents, finances and personalities for the better of society.


Roberston’s recent cuts allow these systems to continue to keep disabled New Zealanders out of the public eye, which increases the risk of abuse; we know when people are connected to the wider community they are safer. Segregated models do not work, and we as a society are at times deliberately ignorant to what we know is going on. Disabled People and their families know how to do this, listen, we were hopeful with the establishment of Whaikaha, but many people are feeling like Whaikaha is mere lip-service to our community.

I appeal to whoever wins the election to reinstate this funding, for the good of disabled New Zealanders.

Kia Kaha whanau
Antnz

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