Radhakrishnan PriyancaHon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Labour): Thank you Mr Speaker. Devastated' "heartbroken" and "distraught"—those are just some of the words that parents have used in emails and other communication with me over the past couple of days in relation to the changes that were announced on 18 March. They were announced and implemented immediately. These are changes that will significantly reduce the amount of support that carers of disabled people in New Zealand will get.I want to just take a minute to read part of an email that was sent to me just yesterday of someone who describes just how difficult it is in terms of caring 24/7 for their disabled child. They say that "through IF"—individualised funding—"I had finally found a little bit of hope that our situation is survivable. The news yesterday that all of our funding is now obsolete for our circumstances is devastating. I don't use that term lightly. The grief and turmoil is huge. The news is so fresh I'm shaken to my core and I can only wonder just how long it'll take before I'm in the same difficult position" that they describe in their email prior to that. This is just one email.The respite that parents have been asking for for years finally got through the flexibility of funding is now being taken away from them. One mother wrote to me today and said that she's surviving on 12 hours of sleep over four days. The respite allows her to get some sleep or to take a shower. This is what the Government is taking away by narrowing the criteria for disability support funding so let's be clear about that.Disabled people their whānau and their carers—as the former Minister for Disability Issues I have met many over my time in office. They are determined and strong people and they need to be because of the challenges that they face to accessibility and support day to day. They have been calling for more flexibility for decades. So when the Minister on that side of the House says that flexibility was put in place during COVID and now all she's doing is taking it away and returning it to pre-COVID levels that's not true. This community has been fighting for flexibility for decades and that was the trajectory of travel that our Government was investing in over the last term: more flexibility in how funding could be used; moving towards progressing the roll-out of Enabling Good Lives which is an approach that gives disabled people more choice and control over the decisions that they make for themselves in terms of how they access support. And now the changes—which I believe are probably just the start because this Government we know has asked Whaikaha to find another 7.5 percent of cuts in funding. This I believe is the start of rolling back decades of work that this community has been fighting for.Disabled people and their carers are also entitled to their entitlements not just the Prime Minister with his accommodation. Politics is about making choices. The choice between increasing disability support for carers and for disabled people because we must bear in mind—and again the numerous comments that I've read and emails that I've read that have been sent to me. I don't understand how this Government doesn't get that carers of disabled people need some respite so that they can better care for the disabled people. Ultimately this will impact both their wellbeing and the wellbeing of the disabled people—let's not be in two minds about that.So increased disability support or $2.9 billion of tax cuts for landlords? That is a political choice and I believe that this Government is making the wrong choice because what we've heard today is that this Minister for Disability Issues the Hon Penny Simmonds didn't fight for her community. She didn't go to Cabinet to ask for more money. She talks about a Budget bid and she probably shouldn't but she talks about a Budget bid now—that is after she has made changes—that will take away the support that many can access. Why didn't she do that in December? She said that she knew about this before Christmas. Why did that Minister not fight for the disability community? Why didn't she ask for more money then? Why is she only doing that now four months on—because that is a political choice. Tax cuts of $2.9 billion but can't fight for extra disability support services for some of our most vulnerable and marginal. That is a lazy Minister who didn't go to Cabinet and that is an entitled callous Government that paints this as a picture of pedicures and massages and not as respite that is required for the wellbeing of our disability community and our nation. As a nation we deserve better. Our disability communities deserve better."