DLC's Submission for the Accessibility for New Zealanders Bill

Disability Leadership Canterbury made a submission to the Accessibility for New Zealanders Bill select committee on Monday 7 to ensure we have our say in the changes needed to achieve true accessibility, with clear guidelines and consequences if a proper process is not followed. DLC has always advocated for enforceable legislation, and the current bill does not ensure this.

Disability Leadership Canterbury does not support the Bill passing in its current form and ask for it to be rewritten. As it reads, this Bill will make little difference to the lives of people with disabilities, and our wider community with access needs.

The EDLG Trust believes that the Accessibility for New Zealanders Bill is flawed in purpose and design as it does not meet Government’s commitments under the Disability Convention and contains nothing that the Government couldn’t already do without legislation.

This Bill could be detrimental for disabled people by creating a bottleneck of work across Government on accessibility, and creating the expectations that all accessibility work must go through the Accessibility Committee.

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