Employers offer many reasons for this.

AttainAble - $2.17 an hour

Steve Drury is the general manager at AttainAble. It's a social enterprise business that runs a factory and community programme.

He says his business model wouldn't be sustainable if he paid the minimum wage.

Workers with learning disabilities pack, count and label products for contracted customers.

Drury pays them an average of $2.17 an hour.

If he had to pay the minimum wage he "couldn't offer the contracted customers the jobs at such a low price," Drury says.

Te Whatu Ora - $7.98 an hour

Woodford Gardens is funded by Te Whatu Ora Waitemata (formerly Waitemata DHB). It's been running from Waitakere Hospital since 1993.

There, Woodford has a 300-square-metre indoor hydroponics garden.

It's a place for individuals who struggle to find open employment, the promotional video on Facebook says.

They're paid an average of $7.98 an hour.

Te Whatu Ora (Health NZ) also funds Wrap ‘N' Pak​, a business in operation since the 1960s.

Like Woodford Gardens, Wrap 'N' Pak pays disabled workers an average of $7.98 an hour.

Te Whatu Ora says its enterprises are a stepping stone for "vulnerable service-users who require assistance gaining the skills and confidence that will one day assist them to seek employment elsewhere".

They declined to elaborate on whether workers were assisted to seek outside employment, or whether Te Whatu Ora had plans in place for paying the minimum wage.

The exemption

The minimum wage is currently $21.20 an hour.

Companies can apply for an exemption under section 8 of the Minimum Wage Act of 1983 for employees whose disabilities "significantly" prevent them from performing at standard capacity.

As part of the exemption, employers must attempt to make reasonable accommodations for the employee.

MBIE says 167 people are currently employed under a minimum wage exemption permit.

A ‘rights-based' solution

Olivia Kelly, from AUTs law school, says business enterprises or ‘sheltered workshops' are a "historical hangover".

She'd like to see disabled people receive appropriate vocational training for employment on the open market.

Subsidies shouldn't be based on a disabled person's productivity, she says.

"That's discriminatory in itself and other employees don't get subject to that sort of stuff."

It would be relatively simple for the Government to repeal section 8 of the Minimum Wage Act, and ensure everyone was paid the minimum wage, she says. But society would have to put "an enormous amount of support" to ensure disabled people could get jobs on the open market, she says.

Government response

UN disability experts are concerned about the exemption as a breach of disability rights. They recommend the Government repeal section 8 of the Minimum Wage Act and "ensure that persons with disabilities are paid on the principle of equal pay for work of equal value".

Minister for Disability Issues Poto Williams says a wage supplement would top up wage rates for disabled employees, so they can be paid the minimum wage.

Source

• Stuff

Australian ethicist Dr Peter Singer​'s views are "harmful" to those with disabilities, the activists say.

Singer​ is back in Auckland for a one-off event at Trusts Arena in Henderson on Saturday night.

He was originally booked to speak two years ago, but the pandemic led to the event being cancelled.

The 2020 event also courted some negative attention from disability rights activists. Once the initial venue SkyCity learned of this, it cancelled Singer's booking.

Singer is known to have advocated for parents of newborns with severe disabilities to have the right to euthanise the child.

Disabled Persons Assembly NZ's Emily Tilley (pictured)​, is one of many who says Singer's views are dangerous.

Singer's views are "offensive to disabled people" says Tilley. She's unhappy to hear he's come to New Zealand to speak.

The idea of euthanising disabled people is based on a false premise, she says.

"It is based on the inaccurate premise that disabled peoples' lives are not as ‘happy' as the lives of non-disabled people," Tilley says.

Journalist and former human rights commissioner Robyn Hunt​ agrees.

Singer's stance was "devaluing", she says. But while she disagrees with his point of view, she supports Singer's right to free speech.

Like Tilley, she's nonetheless disappointed he's been given a platform in New Zealand.

Singer has confirmed he supports the idea of infanticide in certain circumstances.

That view is totally distinct from his views about the rights of disabled people more generally, he says.

"I fully stand by the rights of people with disabilities to have the best possible life that they can, to be fully integrated into society. I support the laws against discrimination against people with disabilities," he says.

Suzi Jamil​, the director of Think Inc, the company promoting Singer's tour, is standing by her decision to promote Singer.

She is inviting those who oppose his views to come to the show. They may participate in a question and answer session, she says.

Singer's current tour is to promote his non-profit organisation The Life You Can Save. It is dedicated to persuading people to donate to life-saving charities in developing nations.

Source

• Stuff

Paula Tesoriero thinks it continues to pose risks for New Zealanders, particularly the disabled.

She is concerned that disabled Kiwis may see themselves as a burden.

"If New Zealanders want this kind of scheme" the process should be begun again and the legislation should be co-created "with the right people around the table."

The sponsor of the Bill, David Seymour, says Tesoriero is disingenuous and that there is no danger of pressure being put on disabled people to end their lives.

Amendments approved

On Wednesday evening a number of proposed amendments passed 69 votes to 51.

Among other changes, they add clauses:

• Prohibiting a health practitioner from initiating any discussion about assisted dying.
• Giving employment protections for any doctor, nurse, or psychiatrist who objects to taking part in the process on any ground.
• Explicitly stating that if any pressure is suspected on a person applying for assisted dying, doctors and nurses must stop the process.

The issues are competency and coercion

Tesoriero expressed her concerns on Wednesday before the debate took place in the House.

She told TVNZ1's Breakfast she wasn't satisfied with the proposed amendments to the bill, adding there was "no bright-line test between disability and terminal illness".

"The safeguards in the bill, although there have been some attempts to improve them, still don't go far enough in my view, particularly around the assessment of who is competent and secondly around coercion."

Tesoriero said there was "a whole range of improvements" that could be made.

She would like to see doctors talk to people who aren't in the family and aren't in the dying person's will to better safeguard the process.

"Also what's really important is that the bill doesn't provide any mechanism to detect more subtle forms of coercion like advertising."

Source

• tvnz.co.nz
• newshub.co.nz
• Image: tvnz.co.nz