Luxon pooh-poohed them but ‘fancy toilets’ game-changing for disabled New Zealanders

Thursday, 31 July 2025

Before fully accessible toilets arrived in New Zealand, Jodine Para and her family were forced to make long drives with nowhere to stop for their son to freshen up.

Para’s son, R’Veeyn, has cerebral palsy and requires extensive care.

“My son doesn't have the capability to sit up straight in a wheelchair. He has a specific one that is tilted back so that gravity can help him sit up. So, when you look at your standard disabled toilet, he can't use it at all,” she said.

R’Veeyn doesn’t travel often, but his family makes an annual pilgrimmage from Kerikeri to Rātana Pā - a nine-hour drive. They travel at night because it’s easier for R’Veeyn, but it’s only since 2018 that they have had somewhere to stop.

New Zealand’s first fully-accessible bathroom opened in Hamilton Gardens in 2018. Designed by the charity Changing Places, it includes a height-adjustable toilet at least 90cm from the wall - so two carers can fit around it - a ceiling-mounted hoist, an adult-sized change table and a moveable shower head.

These facilities - there are now 10 across the North Island - are available only to those registered with Changing Places and can be used whenever needed.

“They’re a game-changer. We’ll be pulling up at 2 or 3 in the morning, and we know we will be able to get in,” Para said. “And because it is only people like us using them, they are always clean. We really appreciate them and we all respect them so much.”

The New Zealand branch of Changing Places was founded by Jenn Hooper, who designs and oversees their delivery.

The latest is in Wellington’s new Inglewood Place toilet block.

The block, which also features a timber facade and night-time light show, was recently called out by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.

“[Councils] should be focusing on roads and water and rubbish, not nonsense like fancy toilets with light shows and excessive bike lanes,” he said in a video shared on the National Party Facebook page.

Construction of the new facilities carried a projected total cost of $2.3 million, which Taxpayers’ Union investigations co-ordinator Rhys Hurley said was “clearly an overspend”.

“This is just a gold-plated standard for disco loos,” he said, “especially when Wellington’s rates are [going] up 12%.”

But according to estimations by the council’s project team, just $146,000 was spent on infrastructure for the light shows - which will cost about $2000 per year to run. Much of the rest came from moving the block to a safer location and installing the Changing Places facility.

Hooper estimated her facility added about $250,000 to the cost, but said she would argue with anyone who dared call it “posh”.

“I will explain exactly why it needs to be fancy. We need all these things just to be able to leave the house.”

Hooper founded Changing Places because her daughter, Charley, suffered a traumatic birth injury that left her unable to look after herself.

“She’s blind, she’s can’t move a single muscle in her body. She's never been able to close her hand around a rattle. She's got a floppy head, just like a newborn. And she can't be out of our earshot because she can choke and die on her own saliva,” Hooper said.

In 2015, Hooper and her husband made the decision to stunt Charley’s growth at under 1.5m and less than 30kg.

“We knew that as soon as she was too big to lift without a hoist, she'd be house-bound. And she was going to end up as a kid that lays down all day, looking up at a ceiling that she can't even see.”

Hooper said it was still impossible to leave the house for any extended period of time, with no hygiene facilities available for Charley.

“Imagine if the only toilet and bathroom you could use in all the world is the one in your house… Once you’re out your gate, you can’t use any toilet or bathroom. You can’t cheat and squat behind a bush,” she said.

“Imagine the smell, the discomfort, the impact on your skin. The world simply wasn’t set up for this level of disability.”