Disability Support Services Bill ‘worst piece of legislation I’ve ever seen’ – advocate

Source: Radio New Zealand

A disability advocate says a bill to clarify the purpose of Disability Support Services is the worst piece of legislation she’s ever seen.

The government introduced the Disability Support Services Bill on Monday, aimed at “providing clarity and stability” to the system supporting disabled New Zealanders.

The bill includes details clarifying the Crown is not the employer of family carers.

It comes after the Supreme court ruled last year that two parents who care full-time for their disabled children should be considered government employees.

The legislation would reduce the Crown’s exposure to fiscal and litigation risks, following that ruling.

Advocate Jane Carrigan said family carers should clearly be considered employees, they were doing what was recognised as the government’s responsibility.

“They’re providing disability support services. The government’s responsible, notwithstanding it bending over backwards in this legislation to suggest they aren’t, for providing disability support services.”

There were “40-odd” people with family care-related cases filed with the Employment Relations Authority, who should be allowed to have them heard, she said.

This bill would pull the rug on their only chance at legal remedy, she said.

“All this, this piece of legislation is doing is limiting remedies for those people with the highest needs.”

She likened the bill’s proposed changes to “Part 4A” – a law that was in place from 2013 to 2020 which allowed some people to be paid for caring for their disabled family members, while inhibiting others.

Part 4A also prevented disabled people and their families from taking their complaints to the Human Rights Commission, or taking any legal proceedings on the basis of discrimination to their human rights.

“It’s cruel and perverse … It has to be the worst piece of legislation I’ve ever seen.”

Carrigan said she was glad the bill had not been entered under urgency, as she would be fighting it throughout the select committee process.

“I’ll be making the most of the fact that it’s going through a standard committee, and I can tell you there will be a lot more like me.”

Family carers had been failed by the system, Carrigan said.

“Family carers are completely isolated. This is not a system that cares about them. This is a system that suddenly worry it might have to pay for the disability support services they’re providing.”

‘Never the intention’

Disability issues minister Louise Upston told RNZ there had “never been an expectation” that MSD would employ family member support workers.

The bill would not affect the two already successful claims, but there were better ways to support family carers, she said.

“I have commissioned further work in this space and will be consulting on a package for carers”

She said that work was “clearly overdue”, and she would like to have that package by the end of the year.

“We do need to make sure that it’s fair, transparent, and sustainable,” she said.

At the moment, the disabled person themselves could be considered to be employing their family member as a support worker, Upston said.

“When somebody doesn’t have the means to be able to do that as a disabled person, we need to look at how do we better legally protect them.”

In some cases, a third party called an “agent” was considered to be the employer.

The bill clarified that DSS funding was a “contribution” toward disabled people being able to live an everyday life, Upston said.

“It makes clear that families and whānau have responsibility for the wellbeing of their members in the first instance and where appropriate.”

This did not mean DSS would not help where disabled people’s families were supporting them, she added.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand