Green Party policy would fix inequities in disability support, expert says

Tuesday, 30 June 2020

A shake-up of the welfare system proposed by the Green Party will fix an issue that leaves some disabled people with significantly less support than others, a researcher for a disability think tank says.

The policy announced on Sunday would reform ACC into an Agency for Comprehensive Care, bringing all health and disability-related income support into a single system.

In the current system, ACC clients who are left disabled after an accident receive 214 per cent more support than people with a health-related disability who are covered by the Ministry of Health.

Dr Robbie Francis Watene is a senior researcher at the Donald Beasley Institute, an organisation which undertakes disability research and education.

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Watene, who was born with a condition that impacts the development of the bones called phocomelia, has experienced the inequities of disability support systems firsthand.

As a result of this condition, her left leg was amputated, and she uses a prosthetic limb.

“I am a Ministry of Health patient because I was born like this, and funding for my prosthetic legs comes from there,” she said.

“However, another person who has had their leg amputated because of an injury or accident is funded by ACC.”

Watene said the welfare overhaul recognises the significant disparities that exist between ACC and Ministry of Health support systems for disabled people.

“No one wants to admit the existing inequality, because then they’ll have to do something about it. But we live it every day,” she said.

“The disparity is huge and is happening across the entire disability sector, whether you're a wheelchair user, acquire a traumatic brain injury, or experience a health-related condition.”

A New Zealand Artificial Limb Centre document in 2017 stated ACC patients on average get access to 214 percent more services and technology than Ministry of Health patients.

“ACC patients are individually funded allowing access to more technology and rehabilitation services to improve their independence and productivity with an average spend of $4,274 in 2016/2017 per patient,” the document read.

“DHB patients are funded from a bulk payment to NZALS for all 2,937 patients which equates to $1,998 in 2016/2017 per patient.”

Watene said the policy shows a commitment to do better by “lifting us all up”.

“A reformed ACC system does not consider the cause of disability as an acceptable measure of how much funding and support someone should be entitled to,” she said.

“Instead an Agency for Comprehensive Care is an equitable system that responds generously to actual need.”

The welfare shake-up announced by Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson on Sunday includes a guaranteed minimum income for all unemployed adults and a boost to current benefits.

It would be paid for by a wealth tax that would raise $7.9 billion in its first year, and two new top income brackets expected to raise $1.3 billion annually.