History of the Office

Where we came from

In 1999, the Government created the new position of Minister for Disability Issues. However, no additional resources were allocated to departments for providing services to the new Minister. Support had previously been provided to the Minister by the then Disability Services Directorate of the Ministry of Health. This Directorate also led development and consultation on the New Zealand Disability Strategy.

With increasing demands on the portfolio following release of the New Zealand Disability Strategy in April 2001, the Minister for Disability Issues made representations to the Prime Minister and the Minister of State Services regarding the establishment of a disability issues policy unit within the Ministry of Social Development.

The then Senior Citizens Unit, which provided advice to the Minister for Senior Citizens, was used as a comparable model for the establishment of the Office within the Ministry of Social Development. It similarly had a whole of government, strategic policy role which focused on a population group.

Cabinet subsequently approved this proposal in March 2002. The Office for Disability Issues was formally established within the Ministry of Social Development in July 2002. The Office has a separate Minister and identity while receiving administrative support from the Ministry. The Office is funded through the Vote: Social Development.

Set up and work priorities

Cabinet agreed that the key functions for the new Office of Disability Issues were:

• lead agency for the New Zealand Disability Strategy
• policy advice on disability issues, including lead agency for strategic and cross-sectoral disability policy; and
• ministerial servicing.

The Cabinet paper proposing the Office stated that, when fully established, a policy unit of 10 full-time equivalents (FTE) would be required in order to meet the deliverables under each of the three key functions, and to second a private secretary to the office of the Minister for Disability Issues.

It was decided to establish the Office on an incremental basis, commencing with an office of 6 FTE from 1 July 2002  to undertake high priority tasks immediately required by the Minister for Disability Issues. Over the period up to the next five years, the size of the Office would expand up to 10 FTE, in line with increased demands and the availability of funding, in order to carry out the expected tasks.

However, soon after establishment the Office was given additional tasks of developing the New Zealand Sign Language Bill and leading New Zealand's contributions to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Launch in September 2002

While formally in existence since July 2002, most of the initial staff for the Office did not begin work until several months later.

At a ceremony in the Grand Hall at Parliament on 30 September 2002, the Office was officially launched in a ceremony involving invited guests from across the disability sector and government departments.The Director-General of the Ministry of Health handed over responsibility for the New Zealand Disability Strategy to the Chief Executive of the Ministry of Social Development during the ceremony.