Speech: New Zealand Federation of Vocational and Support Services

New Zealand Federation of Vocational and Support Services
National meeting of providers: General Meeting

Cuba Room, Level 1, Quality Hotel, Cuba Street, Wellington

Hon Tariana Turia: Associate Minister for Disability Issues;
Thursday 18 June 2009; 10.30am

I am really pleased to be able to spend some time with you this morning. It is a meeting that I have been looking forward to, greatly.

When I was appointed the Associate Minister of Disability Issues earlier this year, my particular responsibilities were described as managing the Government’s relationship with the disability sector.

There are three specific tasks that come with the role:

Þ working with providers, disabled people and stakeholder groups to manage and resolve issues as they arise;

Þ advising Ministers on initiatives, policies, programmes that would strengthen and enhance outcomes for disabled peoples;

Þ and representing the Government in our international obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled Peoples.

It sounds fairly complex – and I don’t under-estimate the challenge – but there is one central theme running throughout – and that is the power of relationships.

How do we connect with each other? What are the priorities that your eighty member organizations think should be attended to, in enhancing disability support?

How effective are the activities that you are involved in – the supported employment programmes, community participation, day services and business enterprises?

Some of you may be old enough to remember the Fonz, Henry Winkler. He once said, “assumptions are the termites of relationships”. It is a statement that makes a lot of sense.

My ambition for my role is to ensure that the assumptions are kept out of the conversation; and that our focus is always on supporting disabled persons and their whanau to have a life of their own. I want to do what I can to ensure disabled persons can achieve that vital sense of purpose.

And so the priority for me, as Associate Minister of Disabilities, is to cling to the mantra of the collective voice of disabled New Zealanders, “nothing about us, without us”.

Last weekend I announced the establishment of a taskforce to develop a framework for whanau ora. I want to share some of the essential ideas that I am wanting to advance in this area. Indeed, I believe that proper recognition of disabled people and their families must take place in the context of whanau ora.

If we are committed to the demonstration of whanau ora, we would see disabled persons having the right to participate in decision-making; to be protected by law; to have control of their lives; and to shape their own destinies.

Within this, I believe that families must be resourced to be able to access the full range of respite care and wraparound services, to ensure disabled persons can determine where they seek to live.

I am keen to support individualized funding models which will enable people to access the services that meet their needs, and which will empower families to provide the support for their disabled family members that will enable them to enjoy an independent life.

So how do my intentions match the aspirations of the twelve thousand people experiencing disability who are assisted by your services?

What are the distinctive priorities that people across the full spectrum of disabilities are putting forward? How do these priorities differ for people with intellectual and physical disability, or for people with mental illness?

I have many questions – and I see today as a very important opportunity to create the platform for these questions to be laid out, for us all to debate.

I have noted that in your briefing papers over half of your responded indicated they were concerned about their financial viability in the next eighteen months; the great majority of these, 78%, being solely contracted to the Ministry of Social Development.

And yet some 79% of those surveyed reported significant increases in the usual operating costs in the last year.

A big portion of this is the increase in staff salaries; an increase that I know couldn’t have come too soon. If we are to enjoy an effective relationship, I trust that you will keep me update about your satisfaction with the work conditions, pay and training opportunities for those working in the disability sector.

Like it or not, the adequacy of funding always has the potential to jeopardise relationships, and it is critical that you and I are able to retain open communication about this. In particular I will be interested in learning about the impact of the global conditions upon supported employment or business enterprises.

Another major area of interest for me, within the framework of whanau ora, is how the families of disabled children are accessing the Early Family Support System. I will be interested in hearing how the funding decisions of Budget 09 have impacted on the delivery of special needs in schools; and importantly how rangatahi are being supported to make the transition from school to the wider community.

Finally, I return to your vision, to provide leadership within an innovative and responsive sector.

That challenge, to be an innovative and responsive sector, is particularly important within the current environment of restraint. Are providers competing with each other, duplicating similar services?

What can we do to reduce overlapping goals, how can we achieve the spirit of co-operation between and across members organisations?

The Maori Party supported the establishment of an appropriately funded lead agency for disability issues; and I have been pleased to participate in the new Ministerial Committee on Disability issues.

But I am also of the view, that an independent perspective– outside of Ministers and Ministries – has enormous value in the creation of a truly inclusive society.

Nothing about us, without us.

It is an statement of faith that I am happy to commit to.