Williams PotoHon POTO WILLIAMS (Minister for Disability Issues): Thank you Mr Speaker. A little later on this week I will have the absolute honour and privilege of being at the launch of the new ministry whaikaha the Ministry for Disabled People. First I want to mihi to my colleague the Hon Carmel Sepuloni for all the massive work that she has done in putting this together. I was speaking to the governance group who are supporting the establishment unit in bringing the ministry together made up of members of the disability community made up of tangata whaikaha Māori and officials. They were telling me about how important this particular piece of work is. It is 40 years in the making and it will come to fruition on 1 July—enormously proud and excited to be part of that.We have worked with disabled communities and disabled people since coming into Government when we put the commitment into our manifesto around accessibility legislation. I know that previous members of this House the Hon Ruth Dyson and current members of this House Angie Warren-Clark and Gaurav Sharma have supported the parliamentary champions for accessibility legislation. I also want to make a shout-out to Greg O'Connor who was instrumental in that work. That was our commitment to them to ensure that we get a bill in the House that deals with the issue of ensuring accessibility for disabled people not just in housing not just in education but in justice in transport and in all the areas of their life where they currently find barriers to be able to live their best lives. I'm enormously proud of that work.That is in stark contrast to what we are hearing from the other parties in this House who are saying things like—and I want to quote from a press release by the ACT Party. They would scrap demographic ministries. Most of these ministries replicate work that should already be done in policy ministries or the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. I just want to suggest to the ACT Party that any disabled person hearing those words or reading those words would feel completely marginalised and we are talking about over a million people who identify as being part of our disabled persons community and their families and whānau. It's extraordinary to me that not only the ACT Party are saying that but Mr Luxon the day after that on his 1News interview said I think that's a very good point in there. I think we have over the period of this Government built up a huge amount of bureaucracy." Again I point to the fact that any disabled person who is hearing those comments would think how little the National Party and ACT Party think of them and their aspirations. Talking to the governance group a little earlier this week I want to use their words to this House about the importance of this ministry. They feel they have been nurtured. They feel that they are able to grow that this ministry will have heart and meaning. They say it will have a strong foundation. They commend this Government for the long strides it is taking into supporting disabled people and tangata whaikaha Māori. They talk about the train. And in that conversation I did say to them: "I don't think this is a train because trains have carriages that can be picked off much like the ACT Party and National Party would do with this particular ministry." I have said that for me it is about the double-hulled canoe; it is about the waka where you can have different views but you travel together in the same direction.They talked about a shared vision. They talked about control and choice and that for me says it all—that our tangata whaikaha Māori our disabled people will have control and choice; not only that they will have voice. They will have voice to be able to speak directly to Government on the issues that impact them the most.We will change the lives of nearly 1.5 million New Zealanders by the introduction of this ministry. But more than that we will work with them to ensure that their aspirations are not only met but they are enhanced that they have the ability to determine their own lives that the inclusive development they talk about is realised that we are brave and bold alongside our disabled community that we are transformational and aspirational not just for them but for ourselves. It is an absolute privilege to be able to do that.I want to mihi to the Office for Disability Issues who will be folded into the new ministry for the work that they have done advocating for this community for so long. I commend this new ministry to our House.SPEAKER: The Hon Dr—no sorry. The ordinary Dr Shane Reti. Dr Shane Reti: OK.SPEAKER: There's no withdrawal of the honourable nature of the member."