Parmar Parmjeet: Human Rights Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeParmar Parmjeet: Human Rights Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 26 March 2015. Volume:704;Page:2697. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr PARMJEET PARMAR (National): Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker for the opportunity to speak on the second reading of the Human Rights Amendment Bill. As the saying goes we are all different we are all individuals. We all face issues and problems that are unique to us and the Government is doing everything possible to address these issues for everyone old and young. One overlying issue that our communities face is equal opportunities and resources for disabled people. The Government is taking various initiatives to address that area but there is a lot more that needs to be done.Actually I am really stunned to hear the contributor who just spoke David Shearer. He believes that this bill is about eroding the Human Rights Commission. It is not about that. This bill the Human Rights Amendment Bill makes changes to the structure and function of the Human Rights Commission. The Human Rights Commission is an independent Crown entity and it will remain an independent Crown entity. But we need this legislation to bring the function of disabled people’s rights into the Human Rights Commission.The bill is in line with the National Party’s focus on delivering better public services. This bill will amend the Human Rights Act 1993. This is to enable the establishment of a full-time commissioner who will be dedicated to disability rights. The commissioner will have full-time responsibility for disability rights. The creation of this role requires the amendment of the Act because currently the Act enables the commission to have only two leadership roles: one in race relations and the other in equal employment opportunities. The current Act does not allow for the creation of another leadership role in other areas including disability rights.The bill also enables changes to be made to the role and structure of the commission to strengthen its function. The structure will be changed to permit only full-time commissioners. There will be a transition period as there are some part-time commissioners currently within the Human Rights Commission. If you look at the current structure of the commission we have three full-time commissioners. There is one chief commissioner and two specialised commissioners and we have up to five part-time commissioners. All these positions will be changed to full time with the minimum number of commissioners to be four and the maximum number to be five. There will be one chief commissioner and then there will be three commissioners dedicated to these three specialised leadership roles: race relations equal employment opportunities and disability rights.This restructuring also enables the changing of the titles of these commissioners. The Race Relations Commissioner and Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner will be called human rights commissioners. So the question arises—and I heard the reason given for that—of whether by changing the title of these commissioners there is the perception that there will be a compromise of their role. It is not true. The bill is to legislate that there must be a commissioner appointed to lead the work in each of these priority areas and that is very clear in this bill.New Zealand endorsed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 26 September 2008. Article 33 of the convention requires States to “maintain strengthen designate or establish within the State Party a framework including one or more independent mechanisms as appropriate to promote protect and monitor implementation of the present Convention.” So to implement these requirements the bill is to amend the Human Rights Commission which has been given a broad role to promote and protect and perform the role under this convention. To deliver this role efficiently and address disability rights a full-time commissioner is required and that is why this amendment is required to the Act.If we look at the primary functions of the commission under section 5 of the Human Rights Act these functions include: “[(1)(a)] to advocate and promote respect for and an understanding and appreciation of human rights in New Zealand society; and (b) to encourage the maintenance and development of harmonious relations between individuals and among the diverse groups in New Zealand society … [(2)(a)] to be an advocate for human rights and to promote and protect by education and publicity respect for and observance of human rights: (b) to encourage and co-ordinate programmes and activities in the field of human rights: (c) to make public statements in relation to any matter affecting human rights”.Looking at these functions the Human Rights Commission is the right entity to deliver for disability rights. As I said there is this perception that the removal of those titles is actually going to compromise these leadership roles but the fact is that the change of title is not going to negatively affect or impact in any way on the commission’s leadership role in protecting and promoting race relations and equal employment opportunities. The responsible commissioner in each area will be the face of and point of contact for these areas. So these changes will make a real difference in the lives of disabled people. These changes will actually strengthen the performance of the commission in these three leadership roles and they also give that flexibility to respond to emerging human rights issues.Disability can be caused for various reasons. There are different types of disability and there is quite a bit for us to learn to see how we can respond and to address those issues. Both long-term and short-term disabilities need to be addressed and we need to make sure that equal opportunities are provided to the disabled too. The National Government is committed to helping our disabled people understand their lives and understand the challenges that come with that. We need to make sure that people with disabilities are heard and we also need to structure our services to be able to provide for their needs. This bill is about providing that special focus for disabled people so that the issues around equality can be heard and addressed.The amendment to the Act will enable the rights of the disabled to be protected. Where possible depending on the disability it is important that the right to education and the right to employment are also taken care of. This will depend on the kind of disability that the person suffers from. We know that it is against the law to discriminate against anyone but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done and there needs to be a very special focus which we want to bring through this amendment to the Act. Disabled New Zealanders should have the same rights as any other person in our society because they are also an important part of our society. It is a fact that many disabled people do not take part in numerous activities or in as many activities as they would like to.Disability can come to individuals at any time but there is some correlation with age. With ageing the chances of disability increase. The disability can also be the result of another illness and sometimes there are cases of more than one type of disability. Disability leaves people with fewer choices in life and poor access to services. We also know that the Human Rights Commission receives numerous complaints about discrimination on the grounds of disability.Living with disability is not easy so it is important that we make sure we provide all that is identified to support disabled people. The National Government is working hard to get disabled people into work and also to provide other kinds of help that are needed to help them to live independent lives. The Government through the Ministry of Social Development is conducting a trial to assist disabled people and people with health conditions into work. Employers are actually critical in providing disabled people with this opportunity to get into the workforce. This is all about removing those barriers for disabled people ensuring that like all New Zealanders they are able to live good lives.The great news is that we have seen some improvement in the employment of disabled people with 61 percent of disabled people aged 15 to 64 working in paid jobs in 2013. The employment rate of all disabled adults including those aged over 64 was 45 percent in 2013 up slightly from 40 percent in 2001. Disabled people want to have jobs they want to support their families and they want to have normal lives. In summary the Human Rights Amendment Bill is about protecting the rights of disabled people by restructuring the Human Rights Commission to deliver for disabled people as well as in the race relations and equal opportunities areas. This will also help the commission to be in a better position to respond to emerging human rights issues. So I support the bill. Thank you.