10. Question No. 10—Disability IssuesHon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Labour) to the Minister for Disability IssuesQuestion No. 10—Disability Issues10. Hon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Labour) to the Minister for Disability Issues: Does she stand by all her statements and actions? Hon PENNY SIMMONDS (Minister for Disability Issues): Thank you Mr Speaker. Yes particularly my statement that no disabled person will lose access to funding for essential services equipment or support. Hon Priyanca Radhakrishnan: What actions prior to 18 March did she take to seek additional funding for Whaikaha since she first found out about the forecast overspend in December last year? Hon PENNY SIMMONDS: The situation that Whaikaha are dealing with is a funding envelope that was given to them by the previous Government—the Labour Government—and then a situation where they had no regulations no rules and no settings around the individual funding flexibility. They have been trying to deal with that and we have been working with them to deal with that since they alerted me in December. [Interruption]Hon Kieran McAnulty: Point of order. SPEAKER: Yeah well I'm about to just suggest that when a Minister is giving an answer on something as serious as this the House does listen as opposed to the barrage that was sort of coming out at that time. Point of order the Hon Kieran McAnulty. Hon Kieran McAnulty: Thank you Mr Speaker. The question itself was really clear asking the Minister what actions she's taken. In response we got a description from her perspective of the issues but that wasn't the question. Therefore it didn't address what was required. SPEAKER: Well look I could rule on that but I couldn't hear it largely. I'm sorry I couldn't hear the answer. So perhaps the Minister could answer the question one more time. Hon PENNY SIMMONDS: Thank you Mr Speaker. I addressed it by advising that we have been working on this since December. We have been looking at what settings what regulations need to be put in place around the flexible individualised funding. Hon Priyanca Radhakrishnan: Point of order Mr Speaker. The question was about what actions she took to get additional funding. SPEAKER: Well OK you can't expect the answer or anticipate the answer is going to be given as you want it. That certainly did address the question. Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Point of order Mr Speaker. During that answer you raised some concern that Opposition members were making too much noise during the answer. I think this highlights the challenge that we're getting into where Ministers don't address questions that are being asked and don't make an attempt to actually get to the question that's being asked. There is going to be more disturbance and the ruling that you made earlier that suggests that Ministers don't in fact need to answer questions—SPEAKER: No I didn't say that. Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: —or make an attempt to answer questions is actually going to make that problem worse. SPEAKER: No that's not quite—that's not a reasonable interpretation of what I said and look I haven't asked the House to be quiet other than for people asking questions up until today. This is a pretty serious matter as I understand it and so the answers are important. Now whether or not they're addressed to the satisfaction of the questioner is quite a different analysis to the one that I have to make. But there are further supplementaries. Hon Priyanca Radhakrishnan: Yes. Why didn't she go to Cabinet to ask for additional funding for Whaikaha? Hon PENNY SIMMONDS: There is a Budget process that is in place but the most prudent thing was for us first of all to get discipline and settings in place for the funding that was already there which was not put in place by the previous Government. As the Minister of Finance has said in her answer there will be more funding for the disabled sector but it is absolutely imperative that we get the settings the policies the regulations and the rules in place for the funding as it is now before anything additional has to be done. Hon Priyanca Radhakrishnan: Is the Prime Minister correct that these changes were made by the ministry and if so was she consulted prior to the changes being announced and implemented? Hon PENNY SIMMONDS: It was a decision by the ministry but yes I was consulted. Hon Priyanca Radhakrishnan: Does she accept that parents and carers require respite to enable them to have the capacity to care for a disabled person? Hon PENNY SIMMONDS: We absolutely accept that there does need to be support for our disabled community and so no disabled person will lose access to funding for essential services equipment or support. Hon Priyanca Radhakrishnan: When will she apologise to our disability communities for the callous accusations she made about parents and carers; the changes themselves that will significantly affect the wellbeing of carers; and the appalling way in which they were communicated? Hon PENNY SIMMONDS: I regret enormously that the disabled sector is having to work through what Whaikaha are having to deal with which is the mess that was left by the previous Government in setting up a ministry without the right settings and rules in place for them to be able to administer their funding.