The Green Party will aim to build an Aotearoa where disability is valued, and policy is human rights based. We will implement the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in all New Zealand law and policy areas so that disabled people can live with dignity and autonomy, and with any access provisions and support that they choose. We prioritise systemic advocacy including eliminating or reforming ableist laws and policies, promoting and investing in disabled leadership and advocacy, and creating regulation to promote and enforce accessibility and justice for disabled people.
Vision
Disabled people lead dignified, rich and satisfying lives.
Values and Principles
Policy decisions that impact us, as disabled people, must uphold the following values and principles:
- Honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi: Indigenous and collective understandings of disability should be honoured, and disproportionate inequities experienced by tangata whaikaha Māori | whānau hauā should be rectified, including having full and equitable access to culture, and whenua.
- Ecological Wisdom: Our leadership and wisdom should be recognised as a key pillar of environmental and climate justice.
- Social Responsibility: In all areas of life, we should be visible, respected, included and valued.
- Appropriate Decision-Making: "Nothing about us without us." We, with the support of whānau or loved ones when appropriate, should be in charge of the decisions about our lives and meaningfully shape the policies which affect our community.
- Non-Violence: We should not be discriminated against in any form due to disability or other marginalised identities, neither in policy nor in practice. Ableism in all its forms should be condemned. The transition to a non-disabling society should take place in a way that also addresses interconnected forms of oppression.
Strategic Priorities
The Green Party’s strategic goals include:
“Poverty will be eliminated, everyone will have enough income and wealth will be held more equally.
“Healthy homes within thriving neighbourhoods will be available to everyone.
“High quality healthcare and inclusive education will be available to all.
“Our democracy will be accessible and enable inclusive, participatory decisions, where people can influence the collective choices that affect them.
“Comprehensive support for communities and individuals affected both by the transition to a net zero emissions economy and by the impacts of climate change within New Zealand and the Pacific will be well established.”
Actions in this policy that will help achieve these goals include:
-
Develop and implement accessibility or disability legislation which:
- is co-designed with disabled people;
- is underpinned by regulatory standards which are enforced and monitored by an independent entity such as a disability commission;
- covers central and local government, and all those providing facilities or services available to the public; and
- does not weaken existing rights or entitlements. (5.1)
- Proactively bolster disabled people's access to, and participation in, democratic processes. (5.3)
- Make disability-related support services, including financial support, available based on level of need, not origin of impairment, including reforming ACC into a single system for all health and disability-related income support. (3.4)
- Ensure that all disabled people are housed in safe, accessible, affordable housing in the community of our choice (...). (5.10)
- Remove all barriers for disabled people to access health services – including for medical needs unrelated to our disabilities (...). (5.21)
- Ensure the meaningful inclusion of the views and expertise of disabled people and disabled-led organisations in the design, implementation and monitoring of climate mitigation and adaptation measures, and in responding to climate-fuelled extreme weather and emergencies. (5.52)
Connected Policies
Disability spans across most policy areas, including but not limited to Housing and Sustainable Communities, Transport, Education, Household Livelihoods and Workforce, Health, Justice, Immigration, and Climate Change. We honour the guidance in the Te Tiriti o Waitangi Policy as well as the intersectionality in responding to the needs of our diverse community that makes other identity-based policies highly relevant.
