Keynote speaker Bill English told providers of disability services at their annual conference that government wasn't coming to their rescue and to get on with the job
Bill English has advised disability service providers to “stop waiting for a white knight”, because it's not coming.
He told the Disability Support Network conference in Wellington the rollout of the Enabling Good Lives framework had been too slow and the money was there for things to be moving faster.
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“Doing good isn't always about coming up with some new innovative thing. Sometimes it's about taking the thing that you know works … and just making sure more people get to it.”
“There’s 2,500 people in Enabling Good Lives and I have to say after 10 years, that's bloody disappointing. That wasn't the original vision because, actually, it's not that hard to do.”
He said it was up to providers to make the changes they wanted to see.
In 2011, members of the disability community developed the Enabling Good Lives approach with the intention of increasing choice and control for disabled people and their families.
Enabling Good Lives holds a vision that disabled people and families can bring about positive change when they have control over resources (for example, personal budgets with options of how these are managed), access to an independent ally, and to resources to build regional and national leadership and investment in disabled people, families and their communities.
The Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha, which came into effect with the health reforms last year, promises to transform the disability system in line with Enabling Good Lives principles.
A number of Enabling Good Lives-specific pilots and programmes are underway in parts of the country, for example relating to how disabled people can spend the funding they qualify for.
However, these programmes are not available to everyone.
‘There will be more documents about strategy, there are strategies everywhere … so let's get out of that double public speak stuff because we just keep saying the same things’ – Bill English
“If we think self-direction is great for the individuals with disabilities and their families, then the sector can probably show a bit of self-direction,” English said.
English was Finance Minister from 2008 to December 2016 and then Prime Minister until 2017. He had a focus on social investment and sits as board chair of individualised funding host provider Manawanui and chair of ImpactLab, a data company focused on social issues.
He said the creation of the Ministry of Disabled People was great, but providers could not sit around and wait for the changes to come to them.
“The sector has taken one step, which is to say we want [self-direction]. So now there's a chance to solve the problems … if there's a problem with the contracts for providers, let's sort out what that should look like.
“I think there's a huge opportunity there for the people who service these 45,000 plus their families and carers to drive the policy process through much deeper knowledge of our customers and through adopting the kind of technology and data systems that will enable those choices, rather than waiting around for the government, any government, to come up with the answers, because I don't think they will.”
He also warned Whaikaha would butt heads with other government agencies, given its mandate was completely different from the rest of the public sector.
“Whaikaha won't be getting a lot of help from other agencies because what they're trying to do is so radically different.”
“There'll be more documents about strategy, there are strategies everywhere … so let's get out of that kind of double public speak stuff because we just keep saying the same things, and come back next year and say there's 2,500 in EGL now why can't there be 10,000 in 12 months' time? It's just a matter of focusing on the right issues.”
He said providers needed to tell Whaikaha where the problems were and what needed to be fixed, rather than wait to see if things improved on their own.
The conference also covered issues related to accessible housing, workforce and pay equity.
