Wait??? It’s Febuary 2025 already??

Kia ora whanau,

Yes its been a long time since I got behind the keyboard and wrote something for you all. It hasn’t been the lack of wanting to write, 2024 was a bit of a whirlwind to say the least.

Since my last post I have been somewhat busy, between a new job that has been constantly evolving, discovering my love of running and walking events and a passion for refereeing a slightly obscure but very under-rated sport. With all this, I travelled to Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Hamilton, Whanganui, Wellington, Christchurch, Rotorua, Taupo and Adelaide. I’ve presented at conferences, delivered training, gone to wānanga, completed 3 half-marathons and refereed both the New Zealand and Australian National Goalball championships. So it wasn’t easy to find time to write as well, I actually have to sleep and rest! This year I am hoping that I will be able to manage my time a bit better and write as well. So the blogs might be a little shorter, but I at least want to update you with what is going on. I’ve got 5 events planned this year, working up to the full marathon distance, I’ve blocked out time to referee both NZ & Austrailian Goalball Championships and d I have a more permanent role which is building a network for disabled people to identify solutions to the barriers we experience accessing Family and Sexual Violence prevention and response services at VisAble.

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Ruapehu playtime, 4Paws Half-Marathon & the downhill run to the election

I had put writing about the Ruapehu trip on hold with feeling the need to write about the “cost savings” that included Enabling Good Lives contingency. Since then I have seen a press release where:

“The Government has confirmed $73.7 million over the next four years and a further $40.5m in outyears to continue to transform the disability support system, Minister for Disability Issues Priyanca Radhakrishnan has announced.”
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/govt-confirms-additional-support-enabling-good-lives?fbclid=IwAR0bf0aiT8EB0F0jfzJWDnyyWgaoA2bThVCNjXwRMZ6TvuXDapYrrWLctaU

I am not really sure what the true size of the contingency was, but the maths doesn’t add up, it makes my head hurt, and to be honest, I haven’t got the time or energy for something like an Official Information Act request. The “details” at the bottom of the above press release have promise. I really hope that other regional leadership groups are supported better by Whaikaha than MidCentral was by the Ministry of Health. I will talk in my next blog about some of the “crunch points” that I see potentially happening, hopefully, Whaiakaha will have taken on some of the learning from the “unintended consequences” we came across in MidCentral. I guess I am disappointed that the contingency was taken because it will once again slow down much-needed change because of “resource” issues and that $52 million could have provided some of that resourcing.

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Roberston’s vote-grabbing spending cuts perpetuate systems that enable abuse towards disabled people and their families.

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!

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