DPO Coalition key messages

The DPO Coalition has shared the key messages from their September 2024 meeting.

The DPO Coalition meets with a wide range of agencies. The objective of our meetings with officials is always to get improved outcomes for disabled people. We regularly discuss the need to ensure accessibility and to uphold the rights of disabled people under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (“the Disability Convention”).

Passing of Kiingi Tuuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII and raising up of Kuini Nga wai hono i te po

The DPO Coalition acknowledges the passing of Kiingi Tuuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII. We welcome the news of the new Kuini, Nga wai hono i te po. LJ Apaipo (Mana Pasefika) was present at the events at Turangawaewae.

Electoral Commission
The Coalition met with Erin Marsh (Senior Advisor Community Engagement) and Olivia Trass (Advisor Community Engagement) from the Electoral Commission Community Engagement team. We talked about increasing disabled people’s participation in voting, starting with increasing the number of disabled people enrolled to vote.

The Electoral Commission team shared some ideas for increasing disabled people’s participation in elections, including a ‘train the trainer’ approach. Some members of the Coalition are interested in exploring what this looks like further with the Electoral Commission. We also talked about the importance of having accessible information in alternate formats, so that disabled people are able to participate in elections.

We look forward to hearing how the Electoral Commission progresses their ideas for engagement.

Donald Beasley Institute
The Coalition met with Brigit Mirfin-Veitch, Robbie Frances-Watene and Umi Asaka from the Donald Beasley Institute to talk about their progress report for the Disabled Person-Led Monitoring of the UNCRPD in Aotearoa New Zealand.

We discussed how this research is important to the disability community given the recent government changes and reviews of Whaikaha | Ministry of Disabled People, Disability Support Services and Enabling Good Lives. We will work with the Donald Beasley Institute to release these reports once they are completed.

We look forward to continuing to work with the Donald Beasley Institute to make sure that the research is used and published to show the government what the disability community needs.

Reserve Bank of New Zealand
The Coalition met with Robbie Taylor (Manager); Marnie Wood (Senior Advisor); JC Somers (Senior Analyst); Alex Sutton-Lalani (Advisor) from the Money and Cash Policy team at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to talk about their Digital Cash consultation. The Reserve Bank have the legal mandate to meet the needs of the New Zealand public through bank notes and coins.

The Reserve Bank are looking at introducing digital cash in New Zealand, as an alternative to physical cash (notes and coins). Physical cash would still be able to be used.

We raised the issues of privacy, security, useability and accessibility for the Reserve Bank to consider when designing digital cash. We talked about the importance of digital accessibility and digital literacy, and making sure that people have information available to make informed choices.

The Reserve Bank has a survey about digital cash out for the disability community to respond to. We encourage disabled people and whānau to fill out the survey. It closes on 30 September 2024. A link to the survey is here: https://consultations.rbnz.govt.nz/money-and-cash/alternate-formats-digital-cash/.

A link to the alternate formats is here: https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/money-and-cash/digital-cash/information-in-alternate-formats

Whaikaha
The Coalition met with Ben O’Meara and Sheryl Pickney from Whaikaha. We communicated our disappointment with Whaikaha’s recent changes.
We also discussed disabled people’s concerns about disability support services moving to MSD. This included people concerned about disabled people’s needs not being met through the reduction in support services and limited funding for equipment.

The conversation focused on ‘where to next’ with Whaikaha. We will continue to work with Whaikaha to make sure that disabled people’s voices are included as it is re-designed. We will also work with MSD and other agencies to make sure that disabled people’s concerns about cuts to services and support are heard.

Ministry of Transport
The Coalition met with Whitney Adam, Nick Potter, Anna Kirtlan, and Jessica Ranger (Urban Development and Public Transport Policy Group) from the Ministry of Transport. We discussed the upcoming review of the Total Mobility scheme. The terms of reference of the review have been agreed to by the Minister of Transport Hon Simeon Brown.

We discussed the benefits and challenges of the Total Mobility scheme. The Ministry of Transport noted that the issues are similar to what was discussed in previous reviews.

The Ministry of Transport is working on a discussion document to consult with the disability community in 2024/2025. The discussion document will be available in alternate formats when it is published. We look forward to hearing from the Ministry of Transport as the review develops.

Voice of disabled people
The DPO Coalition is the first place that the Government goes to when wanting to engage with the voice of disabled people. We are continually looking for new member organisations to join the DPO Coalition to increase our coverage across the disability community. New members must represent disabled people who are not already represented by an existing member. If you would like to apply, please email the Secretariat at: us-dpo@groups.io