10. Question No. 10—Disability IssuesANAHILA KANONGATA'A (Labour) to the Minister for Disability IssuesQuestion No. 10—Disability Issues10. ANAHILA KANONGATA'A (Labour) to the Minister for Disability Issues: Fa'afetai lau afioga le Fofoga Fetalai. How does Budget 2023 support disabled people?Hon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Minister for Disability Issues): Budget 2023 increased the support for disabled people to access disability services and continues our transformation of the disability support system. This includes $863.6 million to help ease cost pressures for disability support services. It also ensures that we can meet increases in service volumes due to demand—this includes increased demand for individualised funding which gives disabled people more control over the support that they receive. Through this Budget we're also ending the minimum wage exemption improving access to family and sexual violence prevention services for disabled people who need them and making half-price fares for Total Mobility permanent. Budget 2023 adds to this Government's record investment in supporting disabled people.Anahila Kanongata'a: How will these investments impact the lives of disabled people?Hon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN: These investments are significant. Our disability support system currently supports approximately 120000 people to access over 2.2 million days of care in residential care and the equivalent of 4.9 million funded support hours through individualised funding as well as providing for equipment vehicle and housing modifications. This Budget funding continues support for Whaikaha - Ministry of Disabled People which we established last year to continue their work to transform the disability support system to ensure that disabled people have greater choice and control over the support that they receive.Anahila Kanongata'a: What can she tell us about the changes to the minimum wage exemption?Hon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN: Currently we have disabled people being paid less than the minimum wage for their work on the basis that they are perceived to be less productive and that just is not right. Our Government will end the discriminatory and unfair minimum wage exemption that allows more than 800 disabled people to be paid less than the minimum wage. Going forward the current exemption will be replaced with a wage supplement that will ensure that employment opportunities are protected and that disabled people are paid at least the minimum wage.Anahila Kanongata'a: How does Budget 2023 support the elimination of family and sexual violence against disabled people?Hon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN: For decades disabled people have either had to turn to mainstream services that often try to accommodate their needs but don't always have the skills or the facilities required or they just don't access those services at all. We are addressing this in Budget 2023 by funding extra support to enable our existing mainstream family and sexual violence providers to meet the accessibility needs of disabled people and tangata whaikaha Māori. We are also providing funding for specialist support. This twin-track approach gives disabled people choice in the types of support that they can access when they need it. This is a Government that's committed to investing in disabled people and that's exactly what Budget 2023 does.