By Chris Ford*
Photo: RNZ // Angus Dreaver
Opinion - The disabled community has something to celebrate as a result of today's 'No Frills Budget' from Finance Minister Grant Robertson. Like many people, my expectations had been lowered by government- many would not get much-needed goodies out of today's Budget but there would be some relief.
The first major one was the removal of the $5 standard prescription charges which were imposed by the fourth Labour government back in the late 1980s. I remember the late Alliance Party leader Jim Anderton denouncing prescription charges as 'a tax on the sick' when they were introduced. Today, he will be smiling in the afterlife and no doubt others living will be glad that this charge will finally be removed come 1 July.
I was also pleased to see that the Total Mobility discount on fares, currently at 75 percent, will remain permanently in place. This will benefit so many disabled people who use this scheme which provides subsidised taxi fares for disabled people who find it difficult to use public transport including buses. I have personally benefitted from this change as it has helped me stretch my budget even further and this will certainly assist myself and others going forward.
Also, I finally witnessed the culmination of a long campaign by disabled people and our organisations, including People First (the organisation run by and for people with learning disabilities) as well as unions, to drop the hated Minimum Wage Exemption from 2025. The removal of this exemption is long overdue as it keeps the pay of almost 800 disabled New Zealanders (many of whom work in sheltered workshops) below even the legal minimum wage paid to all other workers.
Personally, I'm glad that that this outrageous exemption, which breaches New Zealand's human rights obligations to disabled people, is now being shown the door.
Read more on Budget 2023:
- Keep up with RNZ's full coverage of the 2023 Budget
- Budget 2023 at a glance: What you need to know
- Govt to remove funded prescription cost and aims to cut surgery waitlists
- Cost-of-living Budget centres on cheaper childcare
Other things I was pleased to see in Budget 2023 was that the Training Incentive Allowance (TIA) for single parents and disabled people is being made permanent. The TIA was a lifeline to me as a young undergraduate university student and its reinstatement will mean thousands of disabled people and single parents will be able to seed a brighter future through study as I once did.
Another aspect of Budget 2023 that I'm pleased about is the increased funding for improving accessibility for disabled people to mainstream family violence and sexual violence prevention services. This pre-announced move by Green Party co-leader and Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence, Marama Davidson, will give much needed access to these services for disabled people whom are more likely to be the victims of domestic and sexual violence than non-disabled people.
However great some of the limited goodies in the Budget were, I'm still hanging back on judgement about some other items which need to be still put through the virtual checkout so the disabled community can see the spending breakdown on them.
One of these is the extra funding of $863.6 million to Whaikaha - Ministry of Disabled People to help ease cost pressures on government disability support services. I believe there is still some examination of the figures needed to ascertain whether the funding will be sufficient enough to meet those increases.
Another element is that while I acknowledge the government's 1 April inflation-adjusted boost to benefits, this still hasn't been enough to address the income squeeze on beneficiaries, including for disabled people who are reliant on benefits - of whom 54 percent of working-age disabled New Zealanders are.
I got a sense of this just yesterday after talking to a colleague who works in another disabled people's organisation who said that its members, nearly all of whom relied on benefits, were finding it difficult to afford the basics, including food.
This shows that we still need a welfare system which delivers liveable incomes for all based on a more fair and just redistribution of wealth as this will benefit many disabled people if done.
Otherwise, this year's Budget truly deserves the label no frills.
Frankly, I would like to see more than a no frills budget but one which would deliver truly redistributive outcomes for all, including disabled people.
In the meantime, this Budget only does just enough - but no more - for disabled people.
* Chris Ford is a writer with extensive knowledge of the disability sector.