Launch of the new Ministry for Disabled People – 1 July

Establishment Unit – Ministry for Disabled People 

Newsletter Issue 4 – June 23, 2022

Kia ora and welcome to the Establishment Unit’s final newsletter before we launch the new Ministry on 1 July.
It’s amazing how fast the time has gone between setting up our work plans to going live. We all feel very excited, if not relieved that we are nearly there.

Launch of our new Ministry

We would like to invite you to join us virtually for the launch of the new Ministry. Attitude Pictures will be broadcasting it on their website www.attitudelive.com. It will be an opportunity for hear from Minister Williams, Minister for Disability Issues, members of the community who have been involved in this mahi and the new Chief Executive. The livestream will have New Zealand Sign Language interpreters on screen.

The livestream will begin at 10am Friday 1 July and will also be available afterwards on the website. We hope that you can join us in celebrating this very special event.

Who is the new Chief Executive?

At the time of us sending this to you, we don’t know either.
However we do know that the Public Services Commission have appointed someone and that they will be starting at the Ministry as soon as they can finish up in their current role.

On 1 July, there will be an interim Chief Executive appointed by Debbie Power, Chief Executive of the Ministry of Social Development. Debbie will also oversee the appointments of the interim Deputy Chief Executives. Once the new permanent CE is in place, they will do their own recruitment for the permanent roles.

The Minister will be making an announcement at the launch event regarding who the new Chief Executive will be as well as progress on the final name for the Ministry. And we are committed to sending out an update on that day at the same time so keep an eye on your inbox.

No changes to services and support on 1 July

We wanted to let you know that there will be no changes to the support and services you currently receive prior to the Ministry launch and the contact details of providers you currently deal with, will also remain the same. There are processes in place to ensure that everyone, including providers will receive their funding. 

An interim home for the new Ministry team

It was decided that the new Ministry will begin its journey at 56 The Terrace, Wellington as their National Head Office, while work continues to locate a suitable permanent home. The site has been assessed for accessibility requirements and a lot of work is currently underway to ensure all our new staff will have a workplace fit for purpose.

Regional locations

The new Ministry will have offices based in a number of regional centres, including Auckland, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Christchurch and Dunedin. These are a mix of existing Enabling Good Lives sites and new locations, and work is underway to assess all of these sites for accessibility requirements.

New website coming

Our aim is to launch the new website on 1 July. The site will be a work in progress for a while to enable us to move all the existing disability related content from the Ministry of Health website as well as create new content and source from other relevant government sites. Our domain name is: www.whaikaha.govt.nz

Contact details for the new Ministry:

• Freephone: 0800 566 601
• Email: contact@whaikaha.govt.nz
• Post: Ministry for Disabled People
  Reply Paid:262204
  PO Box 1556
  Wellington

More information: 

AmplifyU
Community Newsletters – Ministry for Disabled People

Watching the launch: 

Attitude Live website 

Minister Carmel Sepuloni’s Facebook page 

Minister Poto Williams’ Facebook page