Turei Metiria: Disabled Persons Employment Promotion Repeal Bill Minimum Wage Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
Turei Metiria: Disabled Persons Employment Promotion Repeal Bill Minimum Wage Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
[Volume:638;Page:8214] 
METIRIA TUREI (Green) 
: 
 The Green Party supports this legislation and has done so from the beginning. I want to say just a few words as my colleague Sue Bradford who spoke on the first reading of this legislation and who has supported it through all its stages is unable to be here. 
This legislation is a critical turning point in how our society treats and values people with impairments—people with disabilities. Sheltered workshops have certainly performed a useful role in our society and have had some function particularly in the sense of trying to find a way to encourage and enable participation in community activities—work being one of those activities. But they have been built out of a very paternalistic view that treats people with disabilities as if they are children and as unfortunates who need to be or should be grateful for a charity model of the provision of services. I know that the National Party in particular is quite keen on the charity model. John Key has talked about this quite a bit in the last few months. But the fact is that all people of all abilities should be able to access the labour market and do so in accordance with human rights. All people of all abilities are entitled to an adequate income and protection in the labour market. 
The history of sheltered workshops suggests an acceptance that some people will never be able to participate fully or equally in value in the labour market and that disabled workers should at heart simply be grateful for what others deign to give them. In fact today in a select committee considering another piece of legislation a submitter dealt with this issue at heart and suggested that disabled workers were simply a burden on the business community that they undermine the efficiency of business and that they should effectively be confined to dependence on the social security system and presumably whatever charity would be made available to them. 
We are very pleased to see that this legislation specifically and rightly attacks the heart of that attitude. All workers are entitled to the same legal protections as other workers. There should be no discrimination between workers on that basis. The legal protections that we provide in this country for most workers should be applied to all workers and we consider that this legislation is an important step towards that. I have visited community organisations industries and places that are similar to sheltered workshops where the workforce is largely made up of disabled workers and where those people are treated with respect. They are given jobs that are not rubbish jobs but are jobs that help to build their confidence in their skills. They are amazing places where the disabilities of those workers have added to the competitive advantage of the business and their ability if you like is in part what makes that business so profitable and able to maintain its business and get new business. That is a very exciting way of looking at how the different kinds of abilities of lots of different people can contribute to the economy to particular business and industry and to the community as a whole. People with disabilities or people with different kinds of abilities are an asset to our communities not a burden. 
This legislation makes sure that the law provides employment protection for these workers. It is a further step in our view towards eliminating legal discrimination from the labour market. We look forward to other legislation that hopefully will come back to the House this year that does something similar for young workers because in the end if a person is working and doing his or her job that person is entitled to the same legal protections as everyone else. We are very pleased to see this legislation coming through to its final stages in the House and look forward to voting for it at its third reading. Thank you.