Statements from parties:
We asked each to party to provide a short statement:
The ACT Party
ACT has advocated strongly for New Zealand’s disabled community both in and outside of Parliament.
ACT’s disabilities spokesperson Toni Severin has been outspoken about her own experience with dyslexia, and how having a learning disability gives her a unique perspective as a Member of Parliament.
Toni spoke against the Accessibility for New Zealanders Bill during its first reading. Toni stated, on the back of advice from numerous disabilities advocacy groups, that the bill “definitely doesn't seem to have any teeth,” and “just seems to be committees forming committees.” ACT played a key role in pushing the Disabilities Minister to withdraw the Bill and acknowledge that it did not meet the disabled community’s standards.
ACT acknowledged that although the disabled community had contributed heavily towards developing a great framework for the Bill, it was the Government that missed a key opportunity to address accessibility issues and voids in communication between private developers and the disabled community regarding accessibility issues.
ACT and Toni have also been critical of Te Whatu Ora’s poor performance with regards to providing replacement medical equipment to the disabled community.
ACT will continue to be a strong advocate for the disabled community into the future.
The Green Party
The Green Party is committed to building an inclusive Aotearoa where everyone has what they need to participate fully in their community. Our priorities for next term include:
• Introducing a minimum Income Guarantee where all people limited in their capacity to work due to a disability or health condition receive at least 80 percent of the fulltime minimum wage.
• Improving access to disability-related supports, including by doubling the Disability Allowance and expanding the criteria.
• Funding advocacy services that support people with disabilities to advocate for themselves; including Māori led support for tangata whaikaha.
• Co-designing accessibility legislation with the disabled community, underpinned by enforceable accessibility standards and cultural requirements, to prevent and remove accessibility barriers.
• Reforming the Building Code so new houses and buildings are accessible by design, unless specifically exempted; build more accessible social housing in all communities; and fund Māori led initiatives to provide accessible housing within papakāinga.
• Requiring television to provide media in an accessible format, including captioning, audio description and New Zealand Sign Language content, and to set a target of 100 percent captioning for all television programming in New Zealand.
• Eliminating the use of seclusion and put in place safeguards against the abuse of disabled people in state care or in disability services, including by training people to help identify and respond to signs of abuse and ensuring appropriate pathways for disclosure.
Our 2023 election manifesto can be found here: https://www.greens.org.nz/manifesto_2023
New Zealand Labour Party
Labour stands for fairness and equality of opportunity, celebration of diversity, and community empowerment. We’ve put improving the wellbeing of New Zealand’s diverse communities at the heart of everything we do.
Labour will continue our work towards a more inclusive and accessible New Zealand. Approximately one in four New Zealanders identify as having a disability. Disabled people face significant obstacles to wellbeing, including disproportionate representation in poverty statistics and experiences of inaccessibility and discrimination.
We believe a truly inclusive society is one in which people with disabilities can lead meaningful lives within their communities, based on respect and equality.
We are committed to supporting disabled people and the realisation of their full rights and opportunities. “Nothing about us, without us” is the mantra that underpins how Labour approaches addressing disability issues.
At the time of writing, Labour had not released its manifesto commitments for the 2023 election.
Te Pāti Māori
Te Pāti Māori officially launched their Mana Hauā – Disability Policy on Sunday 17 September: Te Pāti Māori Mana Hauā – Disability Policy
New Zealand National Party
No statement supplied.
NZ First
No statement supplied.
The Opportunities Party (TOP)
The Opportunities Party (TOP) believes everyone deserves a genuine shot at a good life. With several candidates having lived experience, and through listening to disabled people, we see many of the ways our country’s systems create barriers, or fall short of providing enablers for disabled people. But we recognise disabled people are diverse and there’s no way politicians can have all the insight we need to fix everything. That’s why it’s important that disabled people are at the table and we are receptive to the voices of those advocating for change.
We believe in fixing the foundations of our society rather than tinkering at the edges. We know that money doesn’t solve all problems, but that lack of investment is at the root of many problems we face.
Our policies are about ensuring those Kiwis doing it toughest are supported fairly:
• Increase income support for disabled people by $400 million
• Improve accessibility to support for disabled people through more streamlined processes
• Wiping all Ministry of Social Development debt ($2 billion)
• Removing unfair and unreasonable benefit sanctions
• Delivering more affordable housing through our Tax Switch, and $3 billion Community Housing Development fund.
Other election content:
