Tariana Turia

Disability Services Consumer Consortium

Tawa Room, Brentwood Hotel, Kilbirnie

Hon Tariana Turia, Minister of Disability Issues / Associate Minister of Health

Thursday 18 March 2010; 11am

The heroic victory of Paralympian skier, Adam Hall, has been heralded as the best of sporting drama, an astonishing dream run, which ended in him clinching the gold medal in the slalom.

But for one person, the Olympic win was simply part of the life plan; an inevitable result for someone who had been preparing for this day from the age of six.

Adam's grandfather recalled his grandson having a go on a snowboard and taking to it, as he said, like a duck to water. When he was told that snowboarding wasn't a Paralympic sport, he decided he'd take up skis, "if that's what it takes, I'll try it".

It is the sign of a remarkable attitude- and yet, in my experience, a completely typical attitude for any one living with disabilities - the determination to live an ordinary life. In fact as I am frequently told, the real disability is that of a disabling society which limits expectations and operates by exclusion.

I am so pleased to be able to join with you today in the Disability Services Consumer Consortium.

I am particularly impressed by the terms of reference you live by, that diversity and difference will be respected, that commonalities will be sought and collaboration encouraged; that meetings will be run in such a way as to ensure participation and inclusion; and that a commitment will be made to ensure that meaningful advice and information is provided to Disability Services.

These are great riding instructions for your Consortium - indeed I can think of quite a few meetings that I attend which could well benefit from such an inclusive approach!

I am pleased to be amongst friends and organisations whom I have been able to share time with in my brief time as Minister of Disability Issues.

I have been very influenced by the leadership of people with disabilities who tell me, nothing about us, without us. It is implicit in the recognition that people with disabilities and their families know best what they need most.

This is a clear direction for Government, to ensure that people with disabilities are able to establish the strategies and individualised plans, along with individualised funding paths and the full range of assistance they need.

As the Minister I am determined that Government services will meet the needs of disabled persons as articulated in the New Zealand Disability Strategy, and that Government agencies are achieving progress in the implementation of that strategy.

We must build on the example of Adam Hall - to do whatever it takes.

I am particularly pleased that we have formed a Ministerial Committee on Disability issues to build momentum and to make it possible for disabled persons to live everyday lives, in which they have the same access to opportunities, choices, responsibilities and rights that any other New Zealander has.

This committee has been functioning since June 2009 and a Chief Executives Group has also be established to gain traction on implementation, and importantly, to follow your lead -to ensure greater collaboration of effort.

That Chief Executives Group held its first meeting on the 3 March this year, and I am expecting them to report back to each Ministerial committee meeting from now on in.

At the next meeting I am planning that we focus on two key aims - to share progress on a new model for disability support, and to achieve greater progress in responsiveness of government to disabled persons. I want to just touch on these two areas in more depth.

A new model for Disability Support

I want to firstly acknowledge with appreciation, the input from this Consortium in providing feedback to the Ministry of Health about your perspectives on local area coordination - an approach which I am very supportive of.

The new model that is being created, will build on the success factors common to Local Area Coordination, as well as emphasizing individualised funding and supported living.

The model really picks up on the feedback you have shared, about supporting disabled persons to do everyday things in everyday ways, even winning a few gold medals along the way.

I am really keen to promote opportunities for building up the capacities of whanau, family, community and individuals, including options for support.

The focus of the new model will be on helping disabled persons and their families to build a good life for themselves. This may be done in a number of ways - through developing working relationships with Local Area Coordinators; through providing more flexibility over how the funding is used, and giving people more choice and control over the support they can purchase.

I know that John Wilkinson and Jenny Moor from the Ministry will be here tomorrow to share a bit more of their thinking so I better not steal all their thunder.

And I am hoping that next time I meet with you I will have more detail to share, once Ministers have made decisions about the new model.

Suffice to say, I am as anxious as you are to achieve rapid progress on these issues.

Responsiveness across Government

The Ministerial Committee has already been briefed by a coalition of disabled people and their families, at a meeting held last October. In that meeting Mark Benjamin, Gary Williams, Graeme Parrish and Cindy Johns raised the call for developing a local area coordination type approach; more flexible needs assessment and an expansion of individualised funding.

It is a perfect example of the type of role that I expect the Consortium can play both in my role as Minister, and more broadly for the Ministerial Committee.

The Committee has agreed on three clear priorities:

* Accessible Aotearoa - including accepting communities and accessible transport and travel options;

* Modern disabilities supports - supports which will include natural support, early intervention, and options to invest in resilient families and self-managing individuals;

* And contributing citizens - citizens who can achieve at school and work, to achieve their goals, aspirations and dreams.

I believe that support systems need to be made easier to access and that information should be easier to find.

To do this, we are driven by a whole-of-government work programme on disability issues which flow from the Disability Strategy, the United Nations Convention and the Government response to the Social Services Select Committee's inquiry into the Quality of Care and Service provision for people with disabilities.

I hope that through the Ministerial Committee - and the work programme we have set ourselves - we will be able to strengthen the responsibilities of government agencies in supporting disabled persons.

Finally, in the notes inviting me to this hui, I was asked for some ideas as to how the Consortium could be useful.

And in a way it comes back to your terms of reference - to welcome diversity and to embrace collaboration.

I am really keen to know how to engage most appropriately and effectively with the sector.

My experience over the last year has shown me areas of duplication and overlap with the potential for confusion or in some cases, some people having disproportionate access to my office, and that doesn't seem right.

So I will be keen to hear back from you about any ideas in which I can improve the opportunities that Government has to be accountable to disabled persons and their families.

Finally, I want us to return to the vision of that six year old boy, who swapped his snowboard for skis, to do whatever it takes.

Let us together do whatever it takes to create the type of society which will highly value the lives of all disabled persons and will continually enhance their full participation and inclusion.

It's a vision I am confident we can make happen.

Tena tatou katoa.