Jonny Wilkinson: Election candidates leave us with a lot to think about

Answering the tough questions. Patti Poa (left), Hūhana Lyndon, Angie Warren-Clarke, and Shane Reti with Jonny Wilkinson.

OPINION

It has been a busy two weeks since my last column. Last week Tiaho Trust hosted a meeting with Paula Tesoriero, chief executive of Whaikaha, the Ministry of Disabled People, with members of the Whangārei disability community.

She wanted to hear about their experiences, expectations and challenges with Whaikaha. She also wanted to highlight the need to build the capability of our community and the need to transform the disability support system.

I had prepared a speech that would talk about the importance of strong disability leadership, which I thought was a nice segue into introducing Paula Tesoriero as a disabled leader in her own right.

However, minutes before opening the hui I got a message that their plane couldn’t land at the Onerahi airport because of fog. The Onerahi airport is notorious for closing because of fog. That morning there was a particularly heavy fog that seemed to shroud only the airport.

It’s a tricky runway. Apparently, pilots call it the battleship because it is short and surrounded by sea. This delayed Paula’s arrival by over an hour, which led to me to hurriedly revise my introductory speech into a more general opening of the floor.

As I spoke, I wondered how we were going to keep people happy until she arrived. Thankfully the Tai Tokerau special way with whakawhanaungatanga filled that void, with people more than happy to introduce themselves and share their stories.

Attendees at the meeting with Paula Tesoriero, chief executive of Whaikaha.

When Paula did arrive, she engaged the audience in a humble and respectful manner. Giving us her background as a Paralympian and being the Commissioner for Disability with the Human Rights Commission, she also gave an overview of how Enabling Good Lives would be rolled out.

In the week just past we held our “Meet the Candidates” event. I had some apprehension and trepidation about it.

I had been reading about various disrupters and agitators who had turned up to various political events up and down the country and caused mayhem. I decided to put in a plan of how we would mitigate the risk of would-be unruly disrupters.

The Māori Wardens kindly agreed to have a presence at the event and City Safe put the event on their schedule of patrol. However, I was most pleasantly surprised. Not only were there no intruders, disrupters or protesters but the candidates were even very well behaved.

In fact, they even demonstrated an agreeable level of camaraderie. The audience was equally cordial and respectful, with everyone taking their turn when they wanted to ask questions at the end of the event. The candidates who attended were seated in the order that we drew out of a hat, in order to remain neutral.

Dr Shane Reti from National, Hūhana Lyndon from the Green Party, Patti Poa from Te Pāti Māori (Patti is the party secretary for Tai Tokerau. She was standing in for Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, who was attending a tangi) and Angie Warren-Clark representing the Labour Party. Gavin Benney from NZ First gave his apologies because he was sick and the Act Party was unable to send a representative.

The candidates were asked three questions, which had been previously sent to them. The first question was “Has your party got a disability policy, and if so, can you briefly outline it?”

Shane/National: The party would expand the current ministry to include disability and carers. It would focus on accessibility to education and healthcare, and supports the continuation of EGL (Enabling Good Lives) initiative.

Hūhana/Green: The party has its own “Inclusive Greens Network” that provides input. It has a 25-year plan to eliminate family and sexual violence (disabled people are overly represented), and would double the disability allowance and use co-design principles with disabled people to address accessibility issues for building design.

Patti/Te Pāti Māori: Identify and understand the nature of barriers within the current system, and remove them. Abolish the unfair funding silos between the Ministry of Health/ACC.

Angie/Labour: The party’s manifesto is not yet released. Legislation to have representation from disability, with a focus on an equity framework. $850 million is already allocated to Whaikaha Ministry of Disabled People.

Pictured at the meet the candidates event are Jonny Wilkinson (left), Angie Warren-Clarke, Patti Poa, Hūhana Lyndon and Shane Reti.

The second question, “The most recent NZ Stats show that 50 per cent fewer disabled 15- to 64-year-olds are employed, compared to non-disabled in the same age group. What would your party do to improve the employment rates for disabled people?”

Shane/National: The party would promote that current statistics show that people with disabilities have good commercial benefits as employees - that they are statistically more reliable and loyal, and take less sick leave.

Hūhana/Green: The party would guarantee income for people with a disability or long-term health conditions. Increase budgets for additional support to access training and trade skills.

Patti/Te Pāti Māori: The party would abolish the minimum wage exemption. Volunteer support workers are to be better acknowledged. Roles that disabled people are experts in should be given to them, including acknowledgment of expertise from lived experience.

Angie/ Labour: Stated that wages should be raised for everyone, Labour would provide a subsidy to access training and employment, and that education leads to employment choices.

The final question was: “What would your party do to strengthen the influence Whaikaha has across Government?”

Shane/National: Would establish a Parliamentary Committee for Accessibility which would have representation from all parties. Attaining cross-party support would speed up social investment across all domains.

Hūhana/Green: Stated that the Inclusive Greens Network has strong advocates to be on tangible working groups.

Patti/Te Pāti Māori: Stated that Parliament is not currently a safe space for disabled people so that needs to change by having increased representation. More Māori disability organisations are needed at the table. Use Mana Haua instead of Tangata Whaikaha as a term and create a Mana Haua Authority.

Angie/Labour: Would have cross-party support and action. She stated the need for accessibility for disabled people to have a voice – NZ Sign Language interpreters etc, and information in all modes and online as well.

It was a busy fortnight and provided a lot to think about.

Hopefully, these summaries of our candidates’ positions support our disabled community to make a considered choice when it comes to their upcoming vote. If political leaders aren’t thinking about disability, they risk losing the endorsement of a quarter of Kiwis who identify as disabled. We count!

Jonny Wilkinson is the CEO of Tiaho Trust - Disability A Matter of Perception, a Whangarei-based disability advocacy organisation.