Radhakrishnan PriyancaHon PRIYANCA RADHAKRISHNAN (Labour): This week we celebrate the opening of the Paralympic Games in Paris. New Zealand has sent 25 Paralympians and I'm sure everyone joins me in wishing them well. However it is also a sad and anxious time for our disability communities. Minister Upston had her big shot to lead her party in the general debate—didn't mention disability communities once. And yet on 15 August she gutted Whaikaha the Ministry of Disabled People that was set up to transform the disability support services and give disabled people greater choice and control over the services and supports that they access to transform their lives.Instead after a whole three months in the role what does she do? She transfers disability support services from Whaikaha to the Ministry of Social Development (MSD). MSD didn't want this—they don't have the capacity or the capability to handle this. Most disabled people I have spoken to have had a terrible experience—already—accessing what they're entitled to through MSD. And she's using the money that we had budgeted for the Enabling Good Lives (EGL) roll-out this year to make that change. Money that should go to disabled people is being used for this Minister's pet ego project. And the EGL roll-out has been paused. Providers describe this move as an unwanted distraction from the real issues". Disabled people describe it as "a disaster". Nowhere in the Government's review that was recently undertaken was this even suggested. It's something that Minister Upson has plucked out of thin air with absolutely zero consultation with the disability communities and no evidence to suggest that outcomes will improve for disabled people. And we know that it won't.She also announced a funding freeze. According to Peter Reynolds CEO of the New Zealand Disability Support Network this amounts to a cut—a 5 percent cut in funding in real terms after inflation to a sector that was already struggling. Guidance that is being provided and leaked by the sector shows that this Government is seeking to severely restrict and reduce access to residential services for disabled people. This means—and a provider said to me this morning this is a real example—someone who is being harmed in a position of violence whose case has been worked on for the past year will now be told "Tough luck. There is no money from this Government to help you to live safely."Disabled people who have reached out to me are terrified. The mum of the 9-year-old who told me today that her 9-year-old cannot breathe independently. She needs 24/7 hospital-level care at home. She said that she often spends 22 hours in a day monitoring her child to make sure that she's still breathing. She estimates that she saves the Government $7000 a day by providing this care at home otherwise her child would be in a high-dependency unit in a hospital. Her care package is over $105000 a year and it doesn't even cover the expenses. This mum is now terrified because this Government has changed the rules to require that such packages are reviewed—again—and potentially cut. A provider said to me this morning that these new changes will put lives at risk.I implore the Minister to reverse these cuts to restore respite care to not shift disability support services from Whaikaha to MSD to instead strengthen Whaikaha and start listening to the disability communities. These are all things that the communities are calling for through campaigns. And if those who are listening if they disagree with what's happening—whether they're disabled or an ally—share your story make your voice heard. Contact your local MPs write to the Ministers march on the streets attend the rallies and public meetings and share stories.This Government's austerity measures are stripping disabled people of their rights their dignity and is shrinking their worlds. According to Peter Reynolds "Minister you cannot tell us that cost cutting is necessary because of the fiscal situation. When it comes to tax cuts for landlords or excise cuts for tobacco companies the Government is able to fund billions. The Government's choice not to adequately fund disability support is exactly that a choice one that this Government can change if they choose to."Once again I say that these decisions by this Government are putting people's lives at risk and yet not one mention from the Minister who's gutted these services frozen funding and made cuts to front-line services."