29th July 2002
Deaf Lobbyist Applauds Political Parties For Captioning Closing Addresses
Deaf Lobbyist Kim Robinson applauds the nine out of ten political parties for captioning their closing addresses. This
is a huge improvement on the access to information to allow Deaf and Hearing-impaired voters to have access to
information to make an informed decision. The biggest disappointment was NZ First whom made an executive decision not to
caption their addresses with the public money allocated to them by the Electoral Commission.
NZ First is supposed to be a party that ‘believes in a country that recognises the right of every New Zealander to
equality of opportunity. In many cases, the key handicap to full participation in society by people with disabilities is
not the disability itself. Environmental barriers, ill- informed attitudes and inadequate support services all unfairly
limit this significant group of New Zealanders from achieving their full potential’ as stated on its website.
If Deaf and Hearing-impaired people could not fairly have access to NZ Firsts addresses, then it goes to show this party
has been playing on its policies while setting double standards and mis- informing New Zealanders of its true
intentions.
Elections are supposed to be a time where voters can have access and participate in making an informed decision. Hours
of live debates made it impossible for programmes to be captioned as this is catered for under the Broadcasting Act.
Captioning New Zealand only receives $1.5 million per year to caption around 100 hours per week out of around 1000 hours
of public free- to-air time. $15 million per year will be need to fill in this huge gap for over 200,000 Hearing-
impaired and Deaf viewers in New Zealand.
Mr Robinson believes it is necessary to take action against NZ First for its discriminatory actions during elections and
to define the use of ‘public money’ under the Election Boardcasting Act.
Contact: Kim Robinson
Fax 09 832 61112