SpeechACCESSIBILITY FOR NEW ZEALANDERS BILLFirst ReadingHon POTO WILLIAMS (Minister for Disability Issues): I present a legislative statement on the Accessibility for New Zealanders Bill.SPEAKER: That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the parliamentary website.Hon POTO WILLIAMS: I move That the Accessibility for New Zealanders Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Social Services and Community Committee to consider the bill. At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be reported to the House by 16 May 2023.It is an honour and a privilege to introduce the Accessibility for New Zealanders Bill to this House. Today marks an important and historic milestone for the disability community and for Aotearoa New Zealand. The journey here has been a long one paved by my predecessor the Hon Carmel Sepuloni who I would like to mihi to for her contribution. The path here has also been paved by those within the disability community. I acknowledge the amazing team of sign language interpreters who are present today to support the first reading of the bill. I'd also like to acknowledge those who produce the closed captions for the speeches in this House to ensure everyone can be involved in their House of Representatives.For too long the disability community has been ignored by both Government and non-Government entities. This bill seeks to change that. As the Government we must lead by example in decision-making and consultation processes. We were elected on a mandate to improve the lives of those with disabilities—tāngata whaikaha—and their families and others with accessibility needs to have an equal opportunity to achieve their goals and aspirations. We made a commitment in 2020 to introduce an accessibility for New Zealanders Act to help New Zealand to become more accessible and inclusive for disabled people and other New Zealanders with accessibility needs. Today we take another step towards delivering that commitment.It has been a long journey to get to this point. Many have been advocating for systemic accessibility improvements for decades as a result of experiencing significant barriers to accessing infrastructure communication information education and employment opportunities as well as public facilities which many of us take for granted. This bill will help us address those barriers and ensure that disability issues are at the forefront of decisions made by the Government of the day.The Accessibility for New Zealanders Bill creates an enabling framework focused on progressively identifying preventing and removing accessibility barriers that disabled people tāngata whaikaha Māori and others with accessibility needs face so that they have an equal opportunity to achieve their goals and aspirations. It does this in three ways. Firstly it establishes the Accessibility Committee led by disabled people tāngata whaikaha Māori and their whānau to provide independent recommendations to myself as Minister for Disability Issues on how to address accessibility barriers and grow accessibility practices. Secondly it strengthens accountability across the Public Service and Government towards progressing accessibility. It does this by creating strong clear roles for responsibilities for the Minister for Disability Issues the chief executive of the new ministry and the Accessibility Committee to implement and enable a framework with the support of agencies across the Public Service. And thirdly it builds knowledge and awareness of the importance of addressing accessibility barriers and growing accessibility practices across New Zealand.This legislation will build on and support the work of Whaikaha—the Ministry of Disabled People which we launched here in Parliament just last month. There is real momentum at play and I intend to ensure that momentum continues and more importantly translates into tangible outcomes for disabled people. The key elements of this bill which I have just outlined sit alongside the important role of Whaikaha such as notification mechanisms policy support voice and partnership. These make up the accessibility framework.In providing these recommendations the Accessibility Committee has a vital role in this accessibility framework as well as an enormous responsibility given the vast range of barriers and the scale of change required. To help the bill sets out that the chief executive of Whaikaha will support the committee in developing their recommendations and provide administrative and analytical support to ensure they are able to do their role properly. This committee will have a direct line to Government through me as the Minister for Disability Issues. As Minister I too have a role in supporting the committee—this includes considering and approving their work programme and importantly presenting their recommendations to this House and working with other Ministers to consider those recommendations. Changes implemented as a result of the committee's recommendations will take time which I know may be frustrating to the community given they have waited so long already. However we have to get this right and by taking an enabling and progressive approach the bill will balance the need to accelerate progress on accessibility issues while also ensuring we examine and understand the gaps in existing regulation policy and practice. In the spirit of Nothing about us without us" this legislation will bring together the expectations of disabled peopled the affected sectors and experts to work together to shape policy and hold Government to account on accessibility issues while ensuring accessibility is improved progressively over time. The flexible and progressive approach this bill takes will ensure the Government can set priorities to resource accessibility measures. It is important to note that while the bill does not have a regulatory focus as some have called for it will help shape new or amended regulations across Government to improve the lives of disabled people. These will be worked through with relevant stakeholders. The approach will give organisations who are required to make changes as a result of the committee's recommendations time to understand and adopt efficient or innovative approaches to legal obligations and the ability to adapt changes in society. For this to be successful a cycle of monitoring and review will be required so that the Accessibility Committee can regularly assess how well new and existing policies are performing and the framework can grow and develop over time. The bill enables this by requiring the committee to provide an annual monitoring report independently assessing how well its recommendations have been implemented by the Minister for Disability Issues which must be subsequently tabled in this House. It also provides for a review of the Act every five years to ensure the accessibility framework is working as effectively as it can and to further explore other mechanisms if not. This legislative review mechanism is an important way of ensuring improvements are continuously made over time given the long-term nature of the work to achieve a fully accessible New Zealand.It is my intention as Minister that when passed this legislation will ensure accessibility is at the forefront of future decisions and improve accessibility for disabled people tāngata whaikaha Māori and their whānau. Once enacted this legislation will be administered by Whaikaha as the first Ministry of Disabled People in any comparable jurisdiction and the first ministry with a New Zealand Sign Language name. I'm looking forward to the Social Services and Community Committee considering this bill and hearing submissions on it. I believe it is important that the committee takes more time to do this to ensure that we get it right. That's why I will move a motion later in this debate to ask the committee to report back in May next year. It is not often that a longer select committee time frame is sought but I believe it is the right thing to do to ensure that everyone can have their say. It is really important that select committees are accessible and inclusive and responsive to the needs of the disability community. I will be sending suggestions to the committee on ways in which the process can be made mana-enhancing that ensures that disabled people tāngata whaikaha Māori and their communities can share their views and feed into the development of the bill in ways that work for them. It is disappointing to hear that some parties will not be supporting this bill to the select committee stage a place where we can hear from the community and make better law. None the less it is still my hope that we will have a productive cross-party contribution made at this committee.In closing I want to thank the many disability community representatives and interest groups who have input into the design of the accessibility framework in particular Access Alliance who have worked closely with officials on this work over the years—your input has been crucial in getting us to this point and I am grateful for the time and energy you have put into helping us get it here. I look forward to the select committee continuing these conversations and supporting the Government's commitment to accelerating accessibility across New Zealand. I commend the bill to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jacqui Dean): The question is that the motion be agreed to."