Perhaps it was these words, spoken by ACT Party leader David Seymour during his opening statement at the My Voice Matters 2020 General Election Forum, that set up what was an afternoon of much conversation sprinkled with some interesting ideas by the candidates on hand.
But the actual how, why, and when was missing for the most part. What was impressive was the list of candidates that did make themselves available, all of whom came with strong ideas that many would’ve heard before.
From Seymour himself to Carmel Sepuloni (the current Minister for Disability Issues), popular Greens MP Golriz Ghahraman was there, as was the astute National MP spokesperson Alfred Ngaro and New Zealand First counterpart Jennifer Marcroft.
On that front, the My Voice Matters 2020 General Election Forum was a success, but just how some of the many talking points are actually put into action is anyone’s guess.
My Voice 2020 General Election Forum: What You Need To Know
Most of the major hot points were addressed, from education and employment, to housing and transport, as well as accessibility law and the controversial health and disability review.
Due much in part to some dreadfully short time limits on answers by the moderators, a lot of the detail from the answers was lost early on in the forum, and it left some candidates visually frustrated.
Perhaps, if more time had been given, candidates who all agreed that better access to New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) in mainstream classrooms will be another key area of focus could’ve had the opportunity to expand on the actual work that their particular party is prepared to do.
Discussions about a lack of funding, disability specific teacher training, and accessibility to tertiary institutes were shared amongst the candidates in terms of education and schooling.
The Greens want a greater understanding of disability across the entire education sector, one that also comes with increased funding and caters to the varying levels of support required, regardless of whether a child seeking learning support is intellectually or physically disabled.
What’s clear is that the Greens might have a good understanding of how wide-ranging the spectrum of disabilities amongst learners can be, but like all the parties present at the forum, the exclamation point on how a more equal footing into the education system and prolonged equal learning for disabled children was lacking.
On employment, little to no change from the existing status quo is being promised by the major political parties.
Most candidates agree that there is an opportunity to utilise the new ways of working to reduce some of the barrier businesses feel are too much when it comes to hiring disabled people, such as physical access to buildings.
But in that exact same breath, there was an admission that access to technology which facilitates that is another core issue facing people living in the margins.
New Zealand First is prepared to double down on funding for Workbridge, remaining firm in their belief that the best way to get more disabled people into the workforce is through the pastoral approach that many say is failing disabled people wanting work.
The Greens suggested a quota system, where businesses would need to hire a certain amount of disabled people, while National’s Alfred Ngaro insists that culture and attitudes toward hiring disabled workers needs urgent address.
In terms of the Health and Disability review, it was perhaps the stance of National that is most intriguing.
The party in blue say that they’ve met with the Disability Rights Commissioner to understand why so much of the representation was missing from the design of that controversial report. It’s National’s view that the design concepts around the wider disability discussion in Parliament need a redo, including where the few voices involved in Government workgroups are actually coming from in terms of the community level.
It was also National and the Greens who appeared happy to support the idea of a disability-specific entity in Government. Having such a body has long been a suggestion by some leading disability rights groups and advocates, but Labour, New Zealand First and ACT all opposed the idea when asked the question at this particular forum.
National were also the only party to say explicitly that the disability community is being let down by the current work being done at a political level to address domestic and sexual violence towards disabled people.
My Voice Matters 2020 (and disabled people) Needed More Time
As with any political forum, there is a lot to digest in the wake of My Voice Matters 2020, so much so I’ve had to skip over a fair bit in this review.
For the most part, and considering it was quickly moved to an online only event with all the usual technical hiccups in parts, the forum ran well.
Many of the questions those in the disability community wanted answers to will have to wait for another day as there simply wasn’t enough time on hand or capacity to address them all, but ideas such as increasing the funding for Workbridge (NZ First) to increase disabled people in jobs as well as a clear desire to rule out starting a disability-centric entity in Government by three of the major parties should leave a bit to talk about.
Some candidates will feel they didn’t get enough opportunity to speak about their plans, but what’s clear is that all the major parties have some diverse ideas about the best way forward for what remains over a quarter of New Zealand’s population that actively identify as disabled.
Just what all those ideas will actually look like in practice will depend on the Government of the day post-election, but for Labour at least, they seem content with the work they’ve done so far and are promising to double down on that.
Real Michael Pulman 