Goodhew Jo: Disabled Persons Employment Promotion (Repeal and Related Matters) Bill — In Committee 
Goodhew Jo: Disabled Persons Employment Promotion (Repeal and Related Matters) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:638;Page:8140] 
JO GOODHEW (National—Aoraki) 
: 
 It is with delight that I rise to speak on Part 2 of the Disabled Persons Employment Promotion (Repeal and Related Matters) Bill. You know let us be clear on what message we are actually wanting to get across tonight. If this bill truly intends to achieve a fully inclusive society for disabled persons what work has been done to conclusively determine that the unintended consequences of this bill—as predicted by many—will not result in the very opposite which is exclusion from society? Because this bill is totally unrealistic in its objective.  
It is telling indeed that the Social Services Committee having examined the bill was unable to reach agreement and did not find ways to make it more acceptable through amendments. It is telling also that the Minister Ruth Dyson has moved the commencement date further out from June to November. That says that the message is becoming clear to the Minister that things are not all rosy in this particular garden that the people who will be affected most by this bill are not comfortable with it and nor are their families. 
This bill is a chilling example of vulnerable people being dealt to by a Labour Government whose philosophy is the dogma of control. How many people are affected? Members may believe that it is just 3500 or so individuals but it is their families as well. Those families care deeply about these people and have responded to press releases—for example from my colleague Dr Paul Hutchison—by saying that problems with this bill have not been resolved. A lot of people who are included in this bill have impaired productivity. Their work in sheltered workshops is something they live for. Let us not be mistaken about what it means to them and to their lives to be able to work in a sheltered workshop. It is about their self-esteem. 
Steve Chadwick 
: Paying them with a normal hourly rate. 
JO GOODHEW 
: No it is not about their hourly rate; it is about their self-esteem. It is about the way they feel about themselves. In talking about hourly rates the member demeans these people. 
I say to Labour members that until the unintended consequences of this bill are worked out and addressed as they should be the Government has no right to dictate to these people how their lives should be lived—no right whatsoever. 
My colleague Dr Paul Hutchison has made some important points that I wish to reiterate. The way in which this bill is implemented is paramount. We do not want to see people sent home because they cannot be employed any longer in their sheltered workshops. That will do dreadful things to their self-esteem. Therefore it is good there is some more time for consultation on this particular bill and the implementation of it—some more time which the Minister has decreed in her Supplementary Order Paper is needed. 
There are costs associated. Although the Government is well used to what the explanatory note of the bill describes as transition and management costs adding to the burgeoning growth of New Zealand’s State sector are scores of people to handle such eventualities. Of less importance it seems is the cost to providers of the apparently wholehearted ripping apart of disabled people’s lives. 
I finish by saying that caution is required with this bill because we are talking about people not just a mandatory minimum wage. We are talking about people and their lives their self-esteem and their feelings of worth in our society. Let us get it right for these very important people. Thank you Mr Chairperson.