Dr Paul Hutchison
National Party Child Policy Spokesman

10 February 2007

Labour bullies IHC

Labour has used bullyboy tactics to pressure IHC into abandoning its sheltered workshops, says National’s Disability spokesman, Dr Paul Hutchison.

“Financial pressure was used to persuade the organisation to discard sheltered workshops and support the Government’s accompanying legislation.

“The lengths Labour goes to is revealed in a letter written by IHC boss Ralph Jones, which says:

‘Finally, has IHC become too PC (politically correct) in some areas? Yes, by being a service provider we have bought into government expectation, standards and policies. The $140 million comes with cost.’

“These sort of standover tactics are appalling,” says Dr Hutchison.

“The Labour Government has so far failed to gain enough support to pass the Disabled People Employment Promotion Bill.

“Already, due to government pressure and policy, some thousands of people have left disabled workshops.

“Those who remain working in sheltered workshops regard it as an extremely valuable choice they go there voluntarily and may opt out at any time.

“National supports the ‘Disability Strategy’, and ‘Pathways to Inclusion’ philosophy, but we consider it important to have meaningful choices available. We have heard of many disabled people who miss the opportunities they had to work in sheltered workshops.

“It is regrettable to learn that Labour has used so much pressure on providers such as IHC to do its bidding, as shown by the letter from Ralph Jones.”

Ends

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