Dunedin City Council calls on government to reverse the funding cuts
YouTube: 30/04/2024
Tonight's meeting of the Dunedin City Council voted to support a motion by Councilor Mayhem for the Council to call on the government to reverse the changes to funding for disabled people.
Presentation by DPA member Chris Ford to the councilors at 6 minutes into the meeting.
The discussion 4 hours and 13 minutes into the meeting.
Taonga Takiwātanga Charitable Trust and Auckland Disability Law are proud to present Empowering Disability Rights Workshop
Presented by Rachael Wiltshire
When Thursday 2nd May
Time 9am to 3pm
Where Waikanae Surfclub, Gisborne
Light refreshments available
Spaces are limited
Registration link
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/F53L8F6
By: 1News Reporters
TVNZ: 30 April, 2024, 12:28pm
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the under-fire Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha.
New Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston said the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of the services to provide disabled people and carers with certainty around what they can access.
The Ministry now funds services for approximately 50,000 disabled people and equipment modification for approximately 100,000 people, administering an annual appropriation of $2.3 billion.
The Ministry had previously announced rule changes to funding for equipment, modification support and services due to financial pressure, which saw Whaikaha's chief executive apologise for the stress caused to the disabled community due to how the announcement was handled.
More recently, former Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds was stripped of her portfolio.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who cited "major financial issues with programmes run by the Ministry of Disabled People", said he now wanted a senior minister in the portfolio.
Upston said since coming into office the Government had received "worrying advice about the risks inherited by the ministry when it was set up less than two years ago, and whether it was adequately equipped to manage them".
"We all want to see the best outcomes for the disabled community, their families, and those who care for them, and the coalition Government is focused on maximising this support.
"A three-person review panel will be appointed within the next few weeks and will be expected to make recommendations within four months of that date. I will then consider those recommendations and report back to Cabinet on next steps. The community will be consulted on the review's findings."
She said the review will be funded through the ministry's existing budgets.
"The Government is focused on delivering better public services that improve the lives of all Kiwis. This review will help give disabled people, their families, and carers certainty around the choices they have for how they lead a good life."
Disability Support Network chief executive Peter Reynolds said disability support providers expect the review to confirm the sector is "significantly underfunded" and that the Government needs to do better for disabled people.
He said in the disability support system, nearly all the money goes to the 'frontline' and this provides an opportunity for the Government to "prove their commitment" to workers in the sector.
"We note the irony that the review's terms of reference has not been subject to any consultation with our sector, and therefore risks repeating mistakes from the botched March 18th Whaikaha announcement."
He said an estimated 10.4% increase in funding would be needed "just to keep pace with rising demand and costs in the disability sector," with 24% in total needed to make up for historic underfunding.
"Disability support providers are already struggling to keep their heads above water. If funding fails to keep up with rising need costs, services will be cut back and disabled people will not get the support they need."
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha.
Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston said the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and carers with certainty around what they can access.
“We all want to see the best outcomes for the disabled community, their families, and those who care for them, and the coalition Government is focused on maximising this support.
“Since coming into office we have received worrying advice about the risks inherited by the ministry when it was set up less than two years ago, and whether it was adequately equipped to manage them.
“Crown expenditure on Disability Support Services, adjusted for inflation, has roughly doubled since 2005-06. The ministry now funds services for approximately 50,000 disabled people and equipment modification for approximately 100,000 people, administering an annual appropriation of $2.3 billion."
A three-person review panel will be appointed within the next few weeks. It is expected to make recommendations within four months after that. Upston will then take those recommendations to Cabinet, and then consult the community.
“This work will be funded through the ministry’s existing budgets.
Cabinet has agreed that the panel will consider:
By: Isaac Davison
The NZ Herald: 30 Apr, 2024 05:00 AM
As the Government prepares a review of the troubled Ministry of Disabled People, a confidential memo reveals its many flaws.
Whaikaha - The Ministry of Disabled People - took on huge financial risks during its hurried establishment and has not been equipped with the ability to manage them, a confidential briefing shows.
The ministry has been in the spotlight after it abruptly restricted funding to disabled people last month because it was about to run out of money - a bungle which led to the demotion of former minister Penny Simmonds.
The National-led Government is expected to confirm a review of the ministry today, barely two years after it was set up as part of the previous Government’s health reforms.
A briefing to the former Finance Minister Grant Robertson from September, obtained by the Herald, showed that officials flagged a number of significant problems within the ministry, which is responsible for commissioning $2.2 billion in support services each year.
The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) stocktake said Whaikaha’s relatively short six-month establishment period placed “significant pressure” on the team tasked with setting up the ministry.
As a result, the team employed a “lift and drop” approach by simply transferring staff, functions, roles and responsibilities directly from the Ministry of Health to the new ministry.
That meant limited due diligence was carried out, especially given the size, complexity and ageing systems which were used to administer disability support services.
Whaikaha’s leadership inherited a number of risks, including a history of cost increases above inflation. Despite these increases, it had few levers to control spending and “a lack of financial management and monitoring capability to predict and respond to financial challenges”, the briefing said.
DPMC also identified a number of operational risks: “[The ministry’s] administration of disability support services is underpinned by legacy IT systems, ageing business practices, and weak assurance, audit, monitoring and fraud analysis functions which are not fit for purpose.”
The new ministry inherited workforce shortages and capacity problems from the Ministry of Health. As of September, 97 of its 289 positions remained vacant.
While the ministry now had a new organisational model, which reflected its new mandate, its operating budget had not been scaled to meet the demands of its $2.2 billion in annual commissioning, its new system leadership and policy functions, the briefing said.
DPMC reviewed Whaikaha’s five main workstreams and graded three of them as “mixed” and two as “problematic”. One of the problematic areas was the ministry’s work on building partnerships. Trust among disabled Māori people in particular was “eroding”, the briefing said.
Newly-appointed Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston said she received the briefing when she took over the portfolio last week and was “very concerned” about the financial pressure the ministry was under. The disability support system was “not fit for purpose”, she said.
“It would appear to me that while the ministry was established with the best intentions, the previous Labour Government set it up in a hurry and was aware that disability support services were not sustainable under the current settings.”
Labour Party disability issues spokeswoman Priyanca Radhakrishnan said disabled people and their advocates had long sought a dedicated ministry.
“There are a large group of people - about 1.1 million New Zealanders [who] identify with a disability and they face challenges virtually more than any other group in New Zealand and therefore want a dedicated ministry.”
She agreed that the new ministry had inherited problems from the Ministry of Health which were “less than ideal” and said it was working to establish adequate funding systems.
Radhakrishnan said Simmonds should have ensured the ministry had the funding it needed to meet cost pressures while it worked on its systemic problems.
The extent of Whaikaha’s troubles emerged last month when the ministry suddenly restricted funding for respite care and equipment purchases.
Simmonds said at the time that the ministry was about to run out of the money it was given in last year’s Budget to pay for disabled people’s allowances. She and ministry CEO Paula Tesoriero later apologised for the way the changes were announced.
The funding announcement came without warning and took disabled people, advocates and health professionals by surprise.
It also surprised Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who removed Simmonds from the portfolio in a reshuffle last week.
The Government agreed to top up the funding for allowances. It later relaxed some of the restrictions, allowing disabled people to spend again on essential therapy and regional travel for carers, but many of the new limitations remained in place.
The ministry provides support services to 45,000 people and equipment to around 100,000 people.
Isaac Davison is an Auckland-based reporter who covers health issues. He joined the Herald in 2008 and has previously covered the environment, politics, and social issues.
Last Updated 30/04/2024
RESOURCES
By: Jemima Huston, Reporter
@jemimahuston jemima.huston@rnz.co.nz
RNZ: 9:18 pm on 29 April 2024
Ministry of Disabled People employees were promised a permanent role, but were told to start packing three weeks before their fixed term contract finished, says a former employee.
The Ministry - also known as Whaikaha - told RNZ it had no plans for redundancies as part of the government's cost-saving requirements.
But the employee said they started in a fixed-term role last year and they were promised a permanent contract as soon as the paperwork was filled out.
"This position was initially planned to be a permanent position, so I really wasn't expecting not to be extended or not to be made permanent.
"So I think what our ministry is doing is they're just sort of quietly not extending all the fixed-termers and that way they can say: 'Oh, we're not disestablishing roles'. But they actually are because they're not replacing us."
They said it was a shock to be told there would be no extension, just three weeks out from the end of the fixed-term contract.
"I was getting a little bit worried, because I wasn't hearing anything about being made permanent or being extended. And so yeah, about maybe three and a half weeks before the end of the fixed-term, they said: 'Oh, we're actually not extending you'."
The worker said the job market was dire and they had been forced to lower their salary expectation.
"I have a mortgage to pay, so I'm obviously quite stressed about finances. I have found that there's not that many jobs out there. I've applied for so, so many, and I've gotten a lot of rejections."
Public Service Association assistant secretary Fleur Fitzsimmons said the cuts to fixed term staff showed there were more job losses in the public sector than was being reported.
She said workers that were told they would be made permanent may well be able to argue that the promise stood.
"In New Zealand, an employer must have genuine reasons based on reasonable grounds to make someone fixed term.
"If workers have been told that they'll be made permanent, they can rely on that and elect to be treated permanent."
Fitzsimmons said any public servants who had been promised permanent roles or have had changes made to their fixed term contract should contact the PSA.
"In many cases it may be that these fixed terms are not genuine and that these people do have grounds for personal grievance, and I'd strongly encourage them to get in touch with the union so we can provide representation and support."
The Ministry of Disabled People said it employed 37 fixed-term, 211 permanent, and 6 secondee staff as of 20 April.
Deputy chief executive of corporate services Hayley Evans said the number of fixed term employees will gradually get smaller over time.
"Fixed term or temporary appointments are made for reasons that are specific to the work they are hired to do. Given the phase of establishment that Whaikaha is in, we expect to gradually reduce our reliance on temporary staffing arrangements."
Evans said there were still no plans for redundancies at Whaikaha because it was already a small ministry.
She said in response to the government's savings targets the ministry had not recruited for some unfilled roles.
Last Updated 30/04/2024
RESOURCES
Disabled people are everywhere. Disabled United (DUNZ) campaigns to unite all disabled people in the ongoing fight for our mana and our rights as full human beings. Regardless of place of residence, disability, national origin, religion, sex, political affiliation, sexuality, etc.
One small practical step is to make resources available in the many languages spoken in NZ.
For a start there are the official languages, English, Maori and NZ Sign Language. But there are many more spoken in migrant communities. The campaign needs to reach everyone.
In Invercargill, DUNZ supporter Kahutaiki kindly translated some English text to Maori for the "Join DUNZ" poster used in the campaign.
If you can help, we need volunteers who speak other languages to also translate material for the campaign.
For example: Samoan, Mandarin, Hindi, Tagalog, French, German, Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic, Tongan, Panjabi, Korean, etc.
RESOURCES
By: Zane Small
Newshub: 28/04/2024
The new Minister for Disability Issues has only been in the job a few days but is already coming under pressure.
The Labour Party held a public rally on Sunday calling for Louise Upston to fully reinstate disability funding flexibility for carers and to apologise to disabled communities.
Last month, the Ministry of Disabled People, Whaikaha, restricted what disability carers could spend their allowance on because it was about to blow its budget by tens of millions of dollars.
Galatea Young, who looks after her disabled daughter Fiadh, it felt like a just-manageable situation was being made too hard to handle.
"I've given my life already to my daughter and it's just restricted my life a whole lot more," Young told Newshub on Sunday.
Fiadh, four, has Angelman syndrome, a rare neurological disorder.
"She has seizures, she has really big issues with sleep, she can't walk, she can't talk," Young explained.
She used her allowance from the Ministry of Disabled People to pay for carers and nights off for herself, because Fiadh has trouble sleeping.
"The way we previously used it was for hotel rooms so that I could have nights off where I could actually go and sleep."
The funding restriction sparked protests because it was made with no consultation, and Whaikaha chief executive Paula Tesoriero later apologised.
"The ministry managed this far short of my expectations," she told Newshub at the time.
Earlier this week, a partial U-turn allowed money to be used for things like essential therapy tools and regional travel. But the damage was done, and the minister in charge, Penny Simmonds, was stripped of the portfolio.
"She acknowledges there've been challenges there and she gets it," Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on Wednesday.
Four days in, and the new Minister for Disability Issues, Louise Upston, is already under pressure.
Labour held a public meeting in Porirua on Sunday demanding funding flexibility for carers be fully re-instated.
"A more flexible approach for funding was long overdue and I know that it's made a big difference," Labour leader Chris Hipkins told the crowd.
Labour also wanted an apology from Upston to disabled communities for comments made by her predecessor.
Simmonds, speaking in Parliament last month, said: "Funding has been used to purchase Lotto tickets, alcohol and tobacco."
Hipkins told reporters the comments were unacceptable.
"The comments that Penny Simmonds made in justifying changes to flexible funding were wrong, they were very hurtful to the people who are working as carers."
The new minister in charge was busy in her Taupō electorate on Sunday but told Newshub in a statement it was "clear the ministry has some funding challenges that need to be worked through".
She said that was why the Government has committed to a funding review.
Upston didn't give an apology but said: "The ministry has already publicly acknowledged the recent changes to flexible funding have been distressing and caused confusion for the disability community."
Young said she didn't feel encouraged by the change of minister.
But she had a message for Upston: "Listen, come spend time with us, and be part of our community, before you make your decisions."
Because decisions by the Government thus far, have made life more difficult for the single mum of a disabled daughter.
DUNZ: 27 April 2024
In the wake of recent developments, a national meeting of DUNZ members using Zoom is being organised over the next 2 weeks using different time slots.
The March 18 announcement of changes to how we can use our funding evoked outrage within the disabled community.
To reach the broadest possible audience, DUNZ uses everything that works.
Most disabled people don't use Facebook. It's also a barrier for many blind people, older people and those without access to technology.
Zoom is the best option for a meeting at the moment. The Zoom Free Basic Plan can host a meeting.
Over the last few weeks, people from the disabled community have been joining DUNZ using the online join form.
This Zoom meeting is for those who have offered to help. The invite will be sent.
Mike Peters will give a 10-minute summary, including visual slides for the deaf community.
The Zoom meeting will be repeated at these times on different days to ensure all members have a chance to participate.
An additional meeting with members of Blind Citizens NZ (BCNZ) could be held using Zoom, which is very accessible.
An additional meeting with members of the Deaf Community could be held using their preferred communication system.
Last Updated 28/04/2024
RESOURCES
By: Denise Piper
Northern Advocate: 27 Apr, 2024 06:00 AM
The hospitals are being asked to save an unrealistic amount of money, there is a shortage of GP's and a third of NZDF's navy ships aren't being used due to staffing shortages.
When Whaikaha - Ministry of Disabled People suddenly announced new restrictions to its purchasing rules last month, it meant huge changes to people with disabilities and their whānau. As Northland has a high percentage of disabled people, reporter Denise Piper spoke with one Whangārei family to understand what the changes mean for them.
Kristy Kewene loves her son James very much but admits caring for him is often a handful.
The 23-year-old has autism, cerebral palsy, global development delay, and a heart condition which caused a stroke when he was young, leaving him unable to talk, shower and dress himself.
James also has other medical issues, including seizures, musculoskeletal pain and depression, and has a long list of medications to take.
Kristy Kewene's son James, 23, has a severe disability but she and husband Brett are unable to take a break. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Kristy describes him as like a 3-year-old who often throws tantrums. However, he is not a young child - he is a 23-year-old man with the strength to match.
“He’s thrashing around and if someone’s in the way they might get hurt... He’s intense.”
Kristy and husband Brett’s Kauri home has borne the brunt of this violence over the years.
Walls and doors have had to be covered with tough material or still show the wounds from James’ punches and kicks. Lights are recessed so they can’t be smashed, and the family’s living room is bare of ornaments, TVs and pictures.
James’ bedroom includes a TV, high on the wall protected by clear plastic, plain blue walls and wardrobe door with kick holes.
The home’s ranchsliders will need to be replaced with toughened glass, at an expense of $2600, Kristy said.
James has one caregiver during school hours and a second on weekday afternoons, to enable Kristy and Brett to work. But after 6pm, the couple are on their own juggling caring for their son and getting some much-needed sleep.
James’ sometimes violent nature also means the Kewenes are unable to accommodate their grandchildren, aged 1 and 3, and they have to snatch small moments with them and their older daughter.
“We just love our son but it’s really hard,” Kristy said.
Previously, James was funded to go into respite care one weekend a fortnight, giving Kristy and Brett time to catch-up on sleep and housework. However, a lack of staff to manage his high needs means the respite care is no longer able to take him.
Kristy Kewene says she loves her son James but caring for him takes a toll. Photo / Michael Cunningham
The whānau qualify for $15,000 a year from Whaikaha - Ministry of Disabled People to spend on respite, as part of its individualised funding programme.
Kristy said she and Brett organised a carer to come into their home - where James feels comfortable and they are long past worrying about items being smashed - while they stayed for two nights in a hotel.
The couple could not get a proper rest staying in their own home, even while a carer was there, because James would just smash on their door and want attention, she said.
“It’s not like we’re living the high life,” Kristy said.
“Having the hotel was huge - we would just go there and sleep all Saturday or lie in bed and watch TV. It was lovely, it was such a weight off.”
The Kewenes had just two weekends away when Whaikaha suddenly announced changes to the purchase rules for the individualised funding, cracking down on how the funds could be used.
While the maximum of $15,000 a year remains, the funds can only be spent on a carer - not on a hotel or anything for Kristy and Brett’s relief.
The changes leave them feeling like they have done something wrong, Kristy said.
“It’s like they don’t trust me to use that money. I’m not a thief,” she said.
“That money is no longer there for us to have respite - that’s wrong. Our kids are difficult, we need to have this... there’s nothing to help us.”
Other parents of disabled children also have to stop spending their funding on things like massages, which Kristy said are needed for those lifting their disabled child.
The Kewenes have little funds to pay for the accommodation themselves, after they cover the costs of house repairs, new clothes needed for James and a dedicated car for his carers to use.
The couple run a forestry business but Kristy said her earning potential has been severely cut because of caring for James: She had to leave her full-time chartered accounting job two years ago because she was unable to find a day carer and now works on contract four days a week.
They would prefer respite care or a fulltime residential facility for James - especially because he loved the respite care and having a break from his parents - but options are very limited in Northland, she said.
With the disabled sector being under funded in the north, Kristy said the Government could at least continue the flexible funding for families.
“If you think I’m being frivolous, then put the money into bricks and motor respite care homes or training people really well so there’s lots of caregivers.”
Whaikaha - Ministry of Disabled People said the changes were to address pressure on funding and ensure those with the highest need are prioritised.
In a video to the disabled community, Whaikaha chief executive Paula Tesoriero apologised for the stress and anxiety caused by the way the funding changes were announced.
“These changes were needed because we have seen a significant and ongoing increase in demand for our supports. It was important for us to act immediately.”
Tesoriero said she and the disability issues minister will now work on broader changes for the upcoming financial year, to put the system on a “more sustainable financial footing”.
Disabled people, tāngata whaikaha Māori, carers and whānau will be able to have a say in these decisions to ensure the funding is spent where it is most needed, she said.
In March, then-Disability Issues Minister Penny Simmonds said the changes were not a reduction in funding but were necessary to ensure the funding was used as intended to help disabled people
However, Simmonds was stripped of the portfolio on Wednesday, with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon saying “major financial issues” in the ministry’s programmes have been discovered and it is important to have a senior cabinet minister consider the issues.
Louise Upston, who is also Social Development and Employment Minister, has taken up the portfolio.
Denise Piper is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.
Manawanui: 26/04/2024
Manawanui’s Community Network Meetings are a chance for you to meet other people in your local area who are using Individualised Funding, to share ideas, collaborate and connect.We hold them in more than 15 regional locations at least once a year and encourage everyone who can to attend and give us your feedback.
Our CEO Marsha, says Community Network Meetings are the favourite part of her job, and we couldn’t agree more.
You can find details of upcoming meetings below. If there are no meetings scheduled, please contact us about meetings and workshops in your local area.
We still have plenty of Network Meetings to go and some more to announce as well. You can register for any of these locations below, using this link here.
Tuesday 30th April, 9:30am – 11:30am & 1pm – 3pm, Distinction Hotel, 6 Liverpool St, Dunedin
Wednesday 1st May, 11am – 1pm, Ascot Park Hotel, 41 Racecourse Rd
Thursday 23rd May, 11am – 1pm, Gisborne RSA, 184 Childers Rd, Gisborne
Friday 24th May, 11am – 1pm, Napier War Memorial Centre, 48 Marine Parade, Napier
Monday 27th May, 11am – 1pm, Whanganui War Memorial, Watt St, Whanganui
Tuesday 28th May, 11am – 1pm, Distinction Coachman Hotel, 140 Fitzherbert Ave, Palmerston North
Tuesday 11th June, 10am – 12pm, Plymouth International, 220 Courtenay Pl, New Plymouth
Thursday 11th July, 10am – 12pm, Hotel Elms, 456 Papanui Rd, Christchurch
Friday 12th July, 11am – 1pm, Nelson Golf Club, 38 Bolt Rd, Nelson
Last Updated 26/04/2024
RESOURCES
By Red Nicholson
The D*List: Friday, 26 April 2024
A recent change saw Whaikaha restoring flexible funding for some - but not others. Did you have a plan lined up before 18th of March? You're all set. After that? You're out of luck.
OPINION: This week, Whaikaha - the Ministry of Disabled People released yet another update to the purchasing restrictions recently imposed on people who receive flexible support funding. While this recent announcement restores degrees of flexibility for some people, it continues to leave others out in the dark.
We know there has always been an invisible asterisk that sat alongside the phrase 'flexible funding'. Flexible, sure, but only sort of. Or flexible within particular boundaries. Alcohol and gambling, for example, have always been excluded. But the changes first announced on March 18 and the clarifications since represent the largest existential risk to the pipe-dream of flexible support funding that truly Enables Good Lives.
As Whaikaha - and the Government - soon discovered after announcing the initial set of changes, introducing strict rules to what had previously been a flexible system only led to more complexity, confusion and uncertainty. Setting one rule meant making clarifications to another. Limiting one set of purchases all of a sudden meant disabled people couldn’t travel. Or get to work. Or honour their employment agreements with their staff. So as issues arose, the clarifications rolled on, attempting to mitigate various violations of human rights and employment law.
Because our lives – well, they’re complicated. We often talk about disability not being a homogenous experience, so flexibility is critical to ensuring disabled people can live the lives we want. Having rules, limitations and exclusions arbitrarily and immediately imposed upon us by policymakers had a substantial impact on our lives, and was deeply upsetting for many in our communities and our whānau.
A group of disabled and nondisabled people protest, with a man speaking into a megaphone in front of the crowd. A cardboard sign reads: Good lives disabled by Penny's lies. Another sign reads: Carers care, do you?
Since the changes to flexibility were first announced, shades of grey have been introduced week by week, each weekly update providing additional clarification – but very little relief.
However, the latest update announced this Wednesday introduces a new red line that means many will be disadvantaged through no fault of their own. The update dated 24 April states: “existing support arrangements can continue [so long as] … that commitment was made before 18 March 2024”. Further reading on the Whaikaha website reveals that “existing support arrangements” means that some disabled people will be able to use their funding just as flexibly as they could before, including paying for:
This is a big deal – limiting the ability for disabled people to pay for support workers’ travel had a material and profound impact on many of our opportunities for employment, recreation and social activities. So it’s great to have this flexibility restored. But - bizarrely - this exemption is only available to those who had an existing arrangement for work, study or therapy in place prior to March 18, 2024.
Did you start a new job on the March 17 and need to pay a support worker’s travel costs? No worries. Start on March 19? You’re out of luck. Did you sign up to a programme in February that requires you to make disability related purchases to attend? Great, use your funding! Oh, you signed up on March 19? Sorry - pay those costs yourself. Two people who begin the same study, employment or therapeutic journey two days apart will have access to vastly different levels and conditions of support.
Whaikaha are very clear about this: “Your flexible funding cannot be used to support you to participate in any new course of study that you had not committed to before 18 March 2024,” reads their website. This arbitrary distinction makes absolutely no sense at all, and only serves to further confuse and divide our communities.
The question must be asked: Why carve us out like this? Why make it so difficult to access the tools we need to survive? As we know, the more complex a system is to navigate, the less likely people are to engage. This leaves those that will benefit the most as the people with the most privilege. The people used to working within systems that have historically been designed to meet their needs. And the people who know the conversations to have with people inside the system to get what they need.
The question must be asked: why carve us out like this? Why make it so difficult to access the tools we need to survive?
So yes, this is a disability rights issue. We must continue to speak up against systems, processes and policies that reduce the scope of our lives and reduce us to passive recipients of support done to us, rather than designed by us. But this is also an equity issue. Government agencies continue to impose unwieldy and hostile eligibility criteria that only serves to entrench existing layers of privilege and inequity. What we’ve seen from the Government over the past month does nothing to address these issues, and in fact, by continuing to introduce needless complexity and senseless exclusions, we further entrench the very social inequities that our Ministry was set up to challenge.
Let’s cancel the clarifications, and return true flexibility, agency and self-determination for disabled people and our whānau.
Last Updated 26/04/2024
RESOURCES
Southland Deaf Community Leader Speaks Out
By Roger Strong
YouTube: 25/04/2024
Roger Strong, President of Southland Deaf Community, uses video to explain how Invercargill needs a sign language interpreter , and the impact of the recent funding cuts. His wife Philippa Strong, provides his voice in the first segment, and then Roger uses NZ Sign Language. Subtitles by YouTube
Last Updated 26/04/2024
RESOURCES
By: TVNZ Reporters
One News: 24 April 2024
Whaikaha Ministry for Disabled people has provided "clarifications" on purchasing rules for flexible funding support following feedback from both the community and providers.
Last month, Whaikaha announced it would place new rules on funding for equipment, modification support and services due to financial pressure.
The enforced budget caps and reductions in orders were "not cuts", the Government said, adding that funding for the ministry would be topped up in this year's Budget.
The plan was revealed through a leak which was reported in Stuff, with disabled New Zealanders and those that care for them speaking of being "blindsided" by the changes.
Whaikaha's chief executive later apologised by the stress caused by the changes and the way it was announced, and Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds said the department hadn't been clear enough with its communication.
At the time of the announcement, Simmonds said criticism of a funding cap for equipment for disabled people is "absolute rubbish" — and revealed her ministry was within “days” of running out of its funding.
She later caused controversy when she claimed carers had been taking advantage of a "broad" funding criteria to use public money "for massages, overseas travel, pedicures, haircuts" for themselves.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis said future decisions by the ministry about funding would go to Cabinet to be signed off.
Today, the ministry outlined new clarifications on how people can use some of the disability funding.
1. Ride and driver services can be used to support a disabled person to access services or engage with the community, where this is a reasonable and cost-effective option.
2. The following items can be purchased for a disabled person to assist self management, on a one-off basis within a flexible funding allocation period:
3. Household support arrangements in place through Choice in Community Living or a personal budget can continue, where these arrangements are an alternative to residential care that enables people to live in the community.
4. Existing support arrangements can continue where:
The disabled person has committed to employment, a course of Study, therapy, or a timebound programme; and
They have relied on the availability of flexibility under the previous Purchase Rules to support them to participate in those commitments; and
That commitment was made before 18 March 2024.
Autism NZ said being able to carer support and individualised funding for sensory items, tablets and noise cancelling headphones would come as a "great relief" to many people living with autism.
However, it was disappointed the update did not contain changes "to the inability for carers to pay for accommodation to take a break".
"Many autistic people cannot tolerate residential care services, or leaving their home for respite.
"So carers must be able to leave the home to avoid burnout or overwhelm, and the cost of a night in a domestic hotel is, in Autism NZ's opinion, a reasonable expense for someone providing millions of dollars for unpaid labour across a lifetime."
In today's announcement, Whakaha said it had "a lot to learn" about the way it communicated the initial changes.
"We acknowledge the changes have been distressing and caused confusion for the community, and for the service providers who support disabled people.
"We are committed to our partnership approach and the transformation of the disability support system."
Last Updated 28/04/2024
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Tāmaki Makaurau disability communities protest funding cuts
By: Olivia Shivas
The D* List: Monday, 22 April 2024
"No ifs, no buts, stop the disability funding cuts," chanted around 100 protesters gathered in Auckland's CBD on a wet and windy Sunday afternoon.
There is a photo essay on the D*List
Last Updated 10/05/2024
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By: Siobhan Rosenthal
The Spinoff: 22/04/2022
OPINION
Trust me, I know: I’ve been living in a damp, violent hotel in central Auckland for six months and counting.
I get it, Minister. I really do. You want us out of emergency housing. And believe me, so do we. I have been living in emergency accommodation in a hotel in central Auckland for six months and counting. That’s despite the fact that, as a disabled person with children who recently fled violence, my need for social housing is classified by MSD as the highest priority possible. I consider myself one of the lucky ones, though: a grandmother I met recently has been waiting in a motel with her mokopuna with special needs at the top of the so-called priority waitlist for eighteen months. Believe me, we’re more fed up with it than you.
You really don’t need to make it harder for us, Minister, with your new verification processes and eligibility checks. It’s not easy to get into emergency housing. Take my case: despite the fact that a social worker at my local MSD office agreed that the danger in my home was too high for me to remain, and paid for my kids and I to move, when it came to emergency housing, a different employee from MSD’s national team decided I did not meet the criteria. I spent three nights in a hospital where medics didn’t want to discharge me because there was nowhere for me to go, and then another night failing to sleep on a hard chair in the emergency department because the hospital was full and that was the best they could provide.
After I was finally discharged from hospital, I moved to one of those “unofficial” former backpacker lodges for the homeless like the one that burnt down in Parnell this month. We slept eight in a basement room with no fire exit. Only when my legs gave out completely and I couldn’t climb the stairs at the lodge did MSD relent and put me in a hotel.
That was OK for a while, until I made the mistake of being visibly Jewish. I lit candles in the window of my room for Chanukah, and the next day there was a swastika painted on the door. It took three weeks for MSD to accept that this was unacceptable and move me again.
I’m careful to make sure no one knows my ethnicity in the hotel I’m living in now, but it’s still not easy. There is constantly so much family and gang-related violence here that the group kitchen, for example, often becomes a dangerous area. This isn’t just inconvenient, it’s potentially life-threatening: I almost lapsed into a diabetic coma this week when my blood sugar fell to a dangerous level. This was due entirely to being unable to cook for myself in the group kitchen (due to the violence) and having to rely on the motel’s irregular deliveries of evening fast-food meals.
Oh, and there was also the month I spent in a damp basement room with increasingly failing lungs, begging the hotel to move me. Fortunately, my children aren’t exposed to this: their father and I have agreed it’s better for them to stay with him for now, and to see me for daytime visits. But this deprives us of a normal family life. It’s not a cushy option, Minister. We’re not here because we have any choice.
Laying more obligations on people seeking emergency housing and forcing our MSD managers to check on us more frequently won’t help the problem. If there’s one bright light in the system at the moment, it’s the pastoral care offered by the MSD integrated housing managers. I’ve had two, and both have made it clear that they really, really care. They’re already doing a lot; checking on my application with Kainga Ora and fielding calls from support agencies. At a time when the public sector is facing huge cuts, why double their workload by forcing them to check on me every four days?
I’ve been a Kāinga Ora tenant for 18 years – it’s no walk in the park Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. One longtime tenant shares her experience.
Besides, what precisely are they supposed to encourage us to do? Move into a tent? I’ve already done your Ready to Rent programme; the government-funded, semi-compulsory course for those of us on the social housing waiting list. On the course, I was made to sing the “If you’re happy and you know it” song and heard the suggestion that homelessness is the result of financial irresponsibility and that a budgeting course would make us irresistible to the private sector. Trouble is, even when I’d proved I could provide references and read an electricity bill, not a single rental agency – even the one that ran the course – was prepared to return my calls. Perhaps they knew, as I did, that there was zero chance of getting a private landlord to make disabled home adaptations, like installing a ramp or bathtub.
The only post-Ready to Rent support I’ve received is a text offering me another MSD course, this one on the thrilling topic of how to send an email. Like most disabled people, I have no option but to wait in the social housing queue – a queue that is longer for us than anyone else.
All this is leading to increasing difficulties with a local charity that cares for pets of people fleeing violence and abuse. Initially this was a wonderful service, but for those of us with complex housing needs it’s only a short-term fix. When I initially explained that it might take me longer to be safely housed than most of their clients, two separate staff members told me not to worry about our pets. Sadly, this early experience of friendly support has morphed into increasingly terse threats of a deadline and demands I produce a plan B. This has devastated my children, who trusted the word of a prominent charity when told not to worry about the fate of their pets.
Honestly, Minister, the solution doesn’t lie in making emergency housing harder. It lies in that awkward, expensive, unglamorous idea of more affordable homes.
Last Updated 1/05/2024
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Here is a speech by Paul Brown to the crowd at the Auckland Protest Rally at Aotea Square, Auckland on Sunday 21 April 2024.
Last Updated 22/04/2024
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Auckland: 21 March 2024
Today, there was a successful protest rally in Auckland City at Aotea Square. According to Nicola Owen, one of the organisers, 100 people came.
These photos were supplied via Facebook by Nicola Owen, Joe Carolan, and Janine Wilson.
Last Updated 22/04/2024
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