Campaigning is in full swing and early voting has begun. So as we head to the ballot box, here is a snapshot of published party policies that are aimed at creating a more inclusive Aotearoa New Zealand.
ACT New Zealand
Statements of support for Accessibility Legislation
“I think the objective should be to have a Bill aligning us with the B.C [British Columbian] legislation on the floor on the house in the next parliament. You should aim to have at least one hard headed advocate on each side of politics so that it gets done.”
David Seymour, ACT New Zealand.
Quotation from an email following a briefing meeting at Blind Low Vision NZ, 26 February 2020.
“I know from discussions with David Seymour, he is fully on-board. He will be representing his party, not just himself.”
Hon Ruth Dyson MP and Parliamentary Champions of Accessibility Legislation Co-Chair.
Quotation from Parliamentary Champions for Accessibility Legislation forum, 28 July 2020.
Published Policy
-
No policies found
Read more at https://www.act.org.nz/policies
Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand
Statements of Support for Accessibility Legislation
“We support the Access Alliance accessibility act, what I like about it, is it sets out standards and timelines for compliance. It is something we need, it is what already systemically marginalised groups need.”
Golriz Ghahraman, Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Quotation from My Voice Matters 2020 General Election Online Forum, 29 August 2020.
“I know from discussions we have had with the Green Party, they are fully on-board.”
Hon Ruth Dyson MP and Parliamentary Champions for Accessibility Legislation Co-Chair.
Quotation from Parliamentary Champions for Accessibility Legislation forum, 28 July 2020.
Published Policy
- Uphold the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Ensure schools provide inclusive education for all children
- Increase funding for disability advocacy services
- Increase benefits for people with health conditions and disabilities
- Require all new houses and buildings to be accessible
- Prohibit pay discrimination against disabled people
- Fund tertiary institutions to improve accessibility for students with disabilities
- Require buses and trains to be accessible
- Support workplace adaptations for people with impairments
- Increase digital accessibility
- Ensure employment laws enable flexible working arrangements
- Expand ACC income support to all disabilities or health conditions regardless of cause
- Improve training of work and income staff for complex needs
- Continue to support and fund awareness projects to raise public awareness of disability issues and support community based action to promote respect and equity for children and adults living with impairments.
- Advocate that 3% of the Disability Services budget is set aside to directly fund leadership training for people living with impairments and independent advocacy organisations
- Introduce needs based funding for children with impairments and to double the percentage receiving individual funding
- Establish a Disability Issues Commission to provide the leadership needed to ensure that disability services become more responsive, flexible and empowering.
- Ensure that any antenatal screening programme is not biased towards termination of pregnancies when an impairment is diagnosed.
- Bring all health and disability-related income support into a single system based on ACC, with guaranteed payments of at least 80% of the fulltime minimum wage, regardless of what caused a work-impairing condition, or whether someone was employed at the time a work-impairing condition emerged.
Read more at https://www.greens.org.nz/policy_complete_party
New Zealand Labour Party
Statements of support for Accessibility Legislation
“This government remains committed to this work, and we are still intending to progress work towards the introduction of legislation during 2021.”
Hon Carmel Sepuloni, New Zealand Labour Party.
Quotation from the My Voice Matters 2020 General Election Online Forum, 29 August 2020.
“I want to acknowledge the role, Chrissie, you have played and that Access Alliance has played. Not only to supporting the government and partnering with us to be able to develop a work program and consult on what that might look like with respect to accessibility, but also the work you have been doing to mobilise support across this House, cross party support for a legislation or a particular issue is always good, and also outside of this House.”
Hon Carmel Sepuloni, New Zealand Labour Party.
Quotation from Parliamentary Champions for Accessibility Legislation forum, 28 July 2020.
Published Policy
- Continueincreasing the number of learning support coordinators in schools
- Continueto reform the health system based on the Health and Disability System Review
- Provided the biggest-ever funding boost for the disability sector so people with disabilities are empowered to live fulfilling lives.
- Expandsubsidies for employing people at risk of long term unemployment
Read more at https://www.labour.org.nz/policy
New Zealand National Party
Statements of Support for Accessibility Legislation
“We will continue our commitment to progressing accessibility legislation through parliament so we can achieve a fully accessible New Zealand.”
Hon Alfred Ngaro, New Zealand National Party.
Quotation from letter to John Mulka, CE Blind Low Vision NZ, 15 September 2020.
“I took this [question of continuing the accessibility work programme] to our [National Party] caucus and discussed our position. We [the National Party] fully endorse this because it is a position where we are working with the whole of the sector, and it is about holding Parliament and the governing bodies to account.”
Hon Alfred Ngaro, New Zealand National Party.
Quotation from Parliamentary Champions for Accessibility Legislation forum, 28 July 2020.
Published Policy
- Exploreways to ensure disadvantaged children are enrolled in and attend ECE
- Providelearning plans for all children who have learning support needs
- Increasefunding for learning support
- Increasefunding for teacher aides
- Simplifylearning support funding application process
- Expandtrials of specialist support staff in secondary schools
Read more at https://www.national.org.nz/policy
New Zealand First
Statements of support for Accessibility Legislation
“… that is [a] thumbs up [for accessibility legislation] from New Zealand First.”
Hon Tracey Martin, New Zealand First.
Quotation from Parliamentary Champions for Accessibility Legislation forum, 28 July 2020.
“From the New Zealand First perspective, we are absolutely committed to doing whatever we need to do for each New Zealander to be at their best. That has been my mantra in this job around learning support. So whatever we need to do for New Zealanders to be their best is what we are committed to.”
Hon Tracey Martin, New Zealand First.
Quotation from Parliamentary Champions for Accessibility Legislation forum, 28 July 2020.
Published Policy
- No policies found
Read more at https://www.nzfirst.nz/our_policies
Please note: This is a snap shot of policies and statements that are in the public arena at the time of publishing.
There may be information available that has not yet identified. Please do let us know if you discover information you think may be of interest to Access Alliance Supporters.
Contact:
Taryn Banks
P: 09 355 6869 ext: 6869
M: 022 016 2571
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