Chadwick Steve: Disabled Persons Employment Promotion (Repeal and Related Matters) Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Chadwick Steve: Disabled Persons Employment Promotion (Repeal and Related Matters) Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 27 February 2007. Volume:637;Page:7732. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
STEVE CHADWICK (Labour—Rotorua) 
: 
 What a strange perspective we have heard from the Opposition. I believe that we are both coming to this bill trying to make things better for people with a disability but I suppose Labour’s policy was worked up during the 1990s when we saw such an oppressive and paternalistic approach to people with a disability. We went out with a document called  
Pathways to Inclusion 
 in which people with a disability themselves stated they wanted services that helped them to get into real work. That is why we are proudly in this Chamber with a Minister for Disability Issues presenting this bill in the Committee stage today. It has hardly been rushed through; it has hardly been imposed on the sector as the member opposite said. 
One has to wonder at the Supplementary Order Paper from Dr Hutchison. He does have a genuine heart in relation to this sector but his Supplementary Order Paper is patronising. National members say that they do not want any people with a disability to be adversely affected fiscally from their current status. But I believe that National members are really concerned about employers being fiscally disadvantaged by having to comply with the minimum wage and annual leave requirements and all the other requirements and protections that the Employment Relations Act will give these people too. These people are not helpless and unable to see and have a heart and a hope for their own future. They spoke up loudly in  
Pathways to Inclusion 
 which was about consultation and they said: “We have the right to”— 
Sandra Goudie 
: That’s up there. Get down here. Get real! 
STEVE CHADWICK 
: No they have the right to a decent wage to a minimum wage and I am pleased that this bill repeals the provisions they work under in the sheltered workshop environment. Those are the old ages. I am never going to criticise those fantastic providers. There are 45 providers and 4060 people will be affected by this bill. I think the member Sandra Goudie is slightly muddled because she is actually talking about the people the Minister has already said will not be affected by this bill because they are involved in community activities. They are the 1000 people who do need some help but do not do a real job. 
 I think it is really sad to see someone who I respect Dr Paul Hutchison saying that we should put this bill out to June 2009 after the 2008 election which could make one feel slightly cynical. The days of paternalism to this sector are over. The Disabled Persons Assembly and the IHC are putting out their press release tonight saying that they hope the bill proceeds through the Committee and the third reading stage so people with intellectual disabilities soon have equal rights in the work places. So that is great. The society says that the provisions under the current Act are discriminatory and contravene New Zealand human rights and international rules and conventions. For goodness sake! It is time to bring this sector up into the 20th century and not treat it like another underclass which is the paternalistic and patronising attitude of the Opposition.