Flavell Te Ururoa: Sleepover Wages (Settlement) Bill — First Reading 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Sleepover Wages (Settlement) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:676;Page:21478] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
:  
Tena koe Mr Deputy Speaker 
kia ora tatou katoa. Mo taku he mo taku he ina tata nei i a au e korero ana mo tera atu pire i kite atu i te kahui ariki a Nanaia Mahuta i wareware i a au ki te tuku mihi ki a ia mo te ahuatanga o tera o nga papa a Whatumoana kua riro ki tua o te pae o maumahara. No reira ahakoa kare a ia i konei i tenei wa ka nui te aroha ki a ia. Ko ia tera e noho nei i raro i te kapua pouri mo tona papa otira te papa o te Kingi Maori a Kingi Tuheitia o Tainui Waka tonu o te iwi Maori tonu. No reira waiho ia kia okioki kia moe. Anei tatou i tenei po te hunga ora huri noa i to tatou Whare tena koutou kia ora tatou katoa. 
[ 
Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker and greetings to us all. About my oversight and fault while addressing the other bill just a moment ago: I noted the presence of the aristocrat the Hon Nanaia Mahuta while I was doing that but forgot to express my condolences to her in regard to that father of all fathers Whatumoana Paki who has departed beyond the horizon of remembrance. And although she is not amongst us at this moment there is much sympathy for her. She is the one under a cloud of remorse for her fatherly figure and indeed the fatherly figure of the Maori King King Tuheitia the Tainui Canoe and indeed the Maori people. Allow him to rest and sleep there. So salutations and greetings to us the living throughout our House tonight 
.] 
The Maori Party is proud to support the Sleepover Wages (Settlement) Bill as an important recognition of the vital work that is done in supporting some of our most vulnerable people. As a bottom line we say it will ensure that people will continue to receive quality care overnight while at the same time help to ensure a better future for those who work sleepovers. 
As others have said the bill arises out of the finding of the Court of Appeal that sleepover care and disability support services are work for the purposes of the Minimum Wage Act and that the minimum wage should be payable for each and every hour that sleepovers are worked. Although this is a recent decision the issue of how we appropriately recognise the value of support offered by those who work sleepovers dates back a few years of course. Although many of us sleep through the night those compassionate committed caregivers are on hand to look after those who need it most. It is not easy work I am sure and it is often really demanding. 
I come to the bill with some personal experience about this particular issue in the sense that I had responsibility for my late sister Hine who passed away some 4 years ago. In the Maori world view at least we are influenced and inspired by fundamental values which we call kaupapa tuku iho. These are values that are often expressed by the Maori Party in this House—manaakitanga the generosity of spirit towards others; whanaungatanga the care and welfare of whanau; and kaitiakitanga the care and protection of our most precious resource in this case our people. 
I saw these values being demonstrated in our own home in the protection of my sister Hine. Towards the last years of her life my sister battled. I think she had about three strokes and came through all of them but it became too much of a burden at the end. I think she lived with what health professionals might call “compromised health”. My wife Erana took responsibility for her day-to-day care while I was sometimes involved in Parliament. Although my intentions were to help out to all intents and purposes it was my wife who was there for my sister during the long nights when she was unwell and when her needs seemed uppermost in all of our minds. 
So I understand just how important the work of carers is in allowing people to live the independent lives they might not otherwise be able to. We fully support the commitment of those who work the sleepover shifts to be paid the minimum wage rather than a $34 shift allowance. We place immense responsibility with these people to care for the people they look after and to deal with any problems that arise and we should pay them accordingly. 
In preparing for this debate the Maori Party approached a number of key stakeholders in the disability support area for their advice and guidance on this bill. We thank them all for responding so graciously despite the fact that we are under urgency. One of the insights we gained was from a woman named Tania Kingi the group manager of Te Roopu Waiora Trust who told us she was in favour of the decision to pay kaimahi support payments because it was the fair and just thing to do. She said they should never have been underpaid in the first instance. She raised a point that I thought was really interesting and I would be keen to hear the views of others on this issue even if we understand that it is such a truncated process and we are reducing the select committee process to only a few days. Mrs Kingi provided us with the following comment: “Another reason that paying a real wage for sleepover support workers is important is the different needs to the different parts of the disability sector. The needs of a tetraplegic are as different to the needs of a paraplegic as the needs of an able-bodied person are to a paraplegic yet that difference is not recognised.” She continued: “I can remember a particular case where a tetraplegic man was not getting adequate care because the funding was not in place for him to pay for two 4-hour shift workers. Instead he was forced to hire one person for an 8-hour shift.” She wrapped it up by saying: “What happened? The worker kept falling asleep and the man was not able to be rolled over during the night which resulted in breathing difficulties. Proper funding is important.” She finished her statement there. I thought that was a really interesting comment about whether the higher wages that will be paid to those who take on a sleepover role will also take into account a different rate of pay for the different needs of care. 
Another view put forward by Mrs Kingi was that we need to consider whether the cost of extra wages will come at the expense of whanau involvement. That brings us to another very significant issue—that is being able to recognise the important work that whanau caregivers—family carers—do as carers of their loved ones and whether the Government will be prepared to resource that appropriately. The Ministry of Health has a view that whanau are not eligible for carer payments and I think we need to take a critical look at this particular policy if we are really committed towards whanau ora. It would seem to me entirely contradictory that on one hand we want to reduce reliance on the State and increase whanau self-development and independence yet on the other hand we refuse to give them the resources they need to do the job. 
In the whanau ora world we need to both respect and resource appropriately our Maori and Pasifika whanau who have a cultural obligation to care for their own. They are doing so and have done so forever without being resourced. As I explained that was the nature of our commitment as a whanau to looking after my sister. This issue needs serious consideration and that again has been a part of the many submissions that we have received. 
Finally I congratulate the Minister of Health and also my colleague the Minister for Disability Issues Tariana Turia on the brave step forward they have taken today in bringing this bill to the House. I have come to understand from my reading around this bill that an approximately $150 million settlement between IHC the Government and unions will benefit some 3700 disability support workers. The incremental movement from 50 percent of the minimum wage about $60 a sleepover gradually increasing to the full minimum wage by July 2013 will allow both the Government and the providers sufficient lead-in time to allocate the appropriate resources. We agree with the Ministers that this represents steady progress towards recognising and bridging the gap and at least coming towards some full recompense. We are pleased to support this bill.