Hon Tariana Turia

Minister for Disability Issues

Wednesday 31 October 2012

Conference of New Zealand Federation of Vocational and Support Services;

Headingly Centre; Richmond; Nelson

People; Place and Belonging

I want to thank John Grant for the opportunity to be here at this very important conference for vocational and community support services.

You have chosen the perfect title for your hui.

In te Ao Māori, the concepts of people, place and belonging come together beautifully within the context of tūrangawaewae.

Tūrangawaewae is an important marker of who we are – it is about where we are from; where we are born; where we belong. A literal interpretation is “a place for the feet to stand”.

It is that magnetic force that draws us home from wherever we are in the world. It is the place we feel we belong; the place we want our children to connect to; a landscape forever drawn upon our heart. It is home.

It should not take a crisis to bring us all together. What is highlighted is the importance of maintaining and valuing each other.

And so today, it feels really exciting to be here at your conference; to think about all the places in which you stand; the spaces where you belong.

As the Minister for Disability Issues I have been absolutely clear that the best people to tell us about their aspirations are disabled people themselves. In your own words and through your own experiences.

This is at the hub of what we call the Enabling Good lives approach – and I want to acknowledge Chief Executive, Tess Casey for her role with this report last year.

Enabling good lives is very much driven by the view that we should allow people to be at the centre of their own development and support.

It is literally about letting people determine for themselves how they want to live; what choices they want to make; what supports the need.

So instead of playing ‘pick and mix’ from the variety of services and funding streams that have traditionally given shape to the disability sector; this is about people being able to plan for all aspects of their lives at the same time.

It’s all about people; place; belonging.

I want to make it possible for disabled peoples to live the life they want; to have real choices about how they receive the support they seek; and to make places based on their strengths and interests.

Enabling good lives sets up a framework in which family and friends are recognised and valued; a context in which the people who provide support are seen as an essential part of their network.

I really like the long term vision of this plan – a simple strategy to make it possible for you and your families to have more choice and control over their lives.

And I’ll be really interested to hear how some of these ideas go down over these two days.

I’m disappointed that my travel constraints mean I can’t be here for the session with Frank Crupi from Milparinka this afternoon.

Isn’t that a wonderful word – Milparinka! You just want to wrap your lips around it and give that word life.

In many ways that’s what the Milparinka experience is all about – people taking on the lives they want – whether that be playing golf; staying alone at home; working with an artist on an exhibition; accessing personal care, or meeting mates with a cup of tea at the mall.

Milparinka focuses on three main types of support: individualised lifestyle arrangements; group activities; and weekend and holiday respite care.

In many respect it reflects many of the ideals that I have been working on, in the implementation of our own New Zealand Disability Strategy; and more recently in establishing a Disability Action Plan brought together from the various portfolios included in the Ministerial Committee on Disability Issues.

Of course as we all know anyone can have a plan – but what I have been working to achieve is to ensure that Chief Executives will be held to account for achieving results.

We have had enough of funding silos; of dancing to the tune of pre-determined contract specifications rather than reflect the real- life priorities for you and your families.

That will mean change – and that change needs to be accepted by both government agencies and service providers as the new model for disability support.

What we are doing in effect is to shift the focus from the contracting and organisation of services to instead facilitating the aspirations of disabled persons themselves.

The time is right for you all to be clearly at the centre of decision-making; to be defining and designing what you need to ensure that sense of belonging in the places you know as home.

Your role in providing employment, training and community support services is vital to enable this transformation to occur.

And I really pleased to learn that this organisation has placed priority on gathering the research to really help providers to successfully transition to new ways of working.

I congratulate you on launching One Fish – by creating a critical mass solution, thereby creation a movement. It does only take one person.

It is my strong view that we need to get beyond talking about change and actually see action happening. As vocational providers, you don’t need to wait to make a difference for families and disabled persons now.

The question we all need to think through is exactly what does a good life mean – what is needed to make it possible?

Those who have talked to me have spoken about the need for strong relationships as a foundation for everything they do.

They have also said they want to see a “whole-of-life” approach; rather than a bit of this, a bit of that. It makes no sense to me to restrict our support to say helping a person to attend day activities when they might instead want to focus on getting a job; and getting about doing everyday things in everyday places.

And so individualised funding and flexible support is an essential part of the new way; support which you can decide how it is used and how it is managed.

We all need to think differently; to ensure the voice of disabled persons is being heard in every plan; in every strategy.

I am really pleased to see one of the highlights of this forum will be the last session of the hui – Jason’s story – which will enable Jason Hutchins the floor to talk about the people; the places and the experiences that have been important in his life.

I think we can never have enough stories to stretch our minds; to consider the limitless possibilities that are available to us.

We do not need multiple assessments and funding applications to tell us what peoples want in their lives.

We need to hear the strategies from those who are closest to them – family, whānau, friends, community.

I wish you all a wonderful couple of days together as you take bold steps to creating a new journey ahead – a journey of courage; of creativity and of complete and utter satisfaction because it will be based on the philosophy of enabling good lives.

ends

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