Harawira Hone: Disabled Persons Employment Promotion (Repeal and Related Matters) Bill — In Committee 
Harawira Hone: Disabled Persons Employment Promotion (Repeal and Related Matters) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:637;Page:8078] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
 Kia ora Madam Chair kia ora tatou. When this Disabled Persons Employment Promotion (Repeal and Related Matters) Bill first came before us as a caucus we got the opportunity to get a briefing from Minister Dyson on it. As a result of that briefing I was quite keen on the bill. 
Then our co-leader Tariana Turia suggested I have a look at a place called the Abilities Group over on the North Shore. So I went across to the group to have a look at the operation and I spent quite a bit of time talking to the management to some of the staff to some of the disabled workers and to some of their whanau. I was mightily impressed with what they were doing. In particular I refer to some of the comments raised by Dr Paul Hutchison in respect of the keenness of a number of those disabled people to want to actually be there and also to note the comments from a number of the whanau that the Abilities Group did not just provide somewhere positive for their family members to go to during the day it also provided them as families with a break—with an opportunity to get themselves together get their homes together and get things organised for later on when their family members came back. 
My concern was that any threat to an organisation like the Abilities Group to continue to provide a place of employment that is very positive—and I am not just talking from a management point of view but from the workers’ points of view as well as from the families of the workers’ points of view—I think needs to be taken into consideration. If what Dr Hutchison is suggesting gives us the opportunity to give greater consideration to the issues that are raised by positive organisations such as the Abilities Group then I think we should take up that opportunity because once it becomes law it then becomes a little bit too late for the poor old disabled person. 
I know too—and not just from the Abilities Group but from other areas—of situations where people have been recommended out into the workforce because the nice labour inspector said that person was ready to go out into the workforce. Unfortunately when that person goes out into the workforce there is nobody in that normal workplace who has any sense of the needs of the disabled person who has just come through the door. As is the case in many situations like that they are teased they get bullied and very very quickly they are back into the sheltered workshop from whence they came except they are often a lot more hurt by the experience of going out there. Although the Labour inspector might say that this person is able to work in a normal mainstream environment quite simply the inspector is not there on a day-to-day basis to ensure that those needs are going to be met. Also it is unrealistic to expect normal workplaces to provide the support systems to ensure that disabled persons’ specific needs are going to be met on a day-to-day basis. 
The Maori Party will be supporting the legislation because we support any attempt to improve the lot of the disabled. We will also be supporting the Supplementary Order Paper from Dr Hutchison to see whether it is possible to extend the time frame within which the legislation will be put into place so that we can give proper consideration to ways and means of protecting the needs of those providing the service those requiring the service those whanau who are directly affected by this legislation as well as the Labour inspectors who quite frankly from my understanding are not really sure how best to deal with this once it hits the streets.