Refreshed New Zealand Disability Strategy launched
A new 5-year New Zealand Disability Strategy 2026-2030 was launched today by the Minister for Disability Issues, Louise Upston.
The strategy refresh and public consultation was led by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha.
The new strategy includes:
- a vision and principles to set the direction for the strategy, and guide work across government for disabled people and tāngata whaikaha Māori
- five priority outcome areas of education, employment, health, housing and justice. Each has a goal and a set of actions to support the goal
- a monitoring approach to measure the government’s progress towards delivering the strategy.
The strategy also notes the important foundations on which it has been built which are:
- the Treaty of Waitangi | te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty)
- Enabling Good Lives (EGL)
- the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other human rights commitments.
Common threads, or ideas that run through the whole strategy are:
- improved accessibility including in transport
- better, more consistent access to detailed data about disabled people
- people working in government to have a much better understanding of disability, and to commit to disabled people having access to services on an equal basis.
Next steps
Early next year, Whaikaha will work with relevant government agencies to develop an implementation plan to sequence and deliver the strategy’s actions. Agencies will provide progress updates and Whaikaha will report annually to Parliament.
Whaikaha will also develop a framework to measure the impact of the strategy on the lives of disabled people and tāngata whaikaha Māori. This information will be published on the Whaikaha website using interactive dashboards updated annually.
Find the New Zealand Disability Strategy and summaries on the Whaikaha website: New Zealand Disability Strategy 2026-2030
Summaries of the strategy are available in alternate formats:
- For Audio, Braille, Easy Read and Large Print: New Zealand Disability Strategy alternate formats
- For NZSL: New Zealand Disability Strategy 2026-2030 NZSL translations
NZSL
Video transcript
Refreshed New Zealand Disability Strategy launched
A new five-year New Zealand Disability Strategy 2026-2030 was launched today by the Minister for Disability Issues, Louise Upston.
The strategy refresh and public consultation was led by the Ministry of Disabled People—Whaikaha.
The new strategy includes:
• a vision and principles to set the direction for the strategy, and guide work across government for disabled people and tāngata whaikaha Māori.
• five priority outcome areas of education, employment, health, housing and justice. Each has a goal and a set of actions to support the goal.
• a monitoring approach to measure the government’s progress towards delivering the strategy.
The strategy also notes the important foundations on which it has been built which are:
• the Treaty of Waitangi | te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty)
• Enabling Good Lives (EGL)
• the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) [document here: http://www.un-documents.net/a61r106.htm], and other human rights commitments
Common threads, or ideas that run through the whole strategy are:
• improved accessibility including in transport
• better, more consistent access to detailed data about disabled people
• people working in government to have a much better understanding of disability, and to commit to disabled people having access to services on an equal basis.
Next steps
Early next year, Whaikaha will work with relevant government agencies to develop an implementation plan to sequence and deliver the strategy’s actions. Agencies will provide progress updates and Whaikaha will report annually to Parliament.
Whaikaha will also develop a framework to measure the impact of the strategy on the lives of disabled people and tāngata whaikaha Māori.
This information will be published on the Whaikaha website using interactive dashboards updated annually.
Find the New Zealand Disability Strategy and summaries on the Whaikaha website.
https://www.whaikaha.govt.nz/about-us/our-work/new-zealand-disability-strategy-2026-2030 or short url: https://shorturl.at/CCvma
The summaries of the strategy are available in alternate formats:
• For Audio, Braille, Easy Read and Large Print: https://www.whaikaha.govt.nz/about-us/our-work/new-zealand-disability-strategy-2026-2030/new-zealand-disability-strategy-alternate-formats or here: https://shorturl.at/VDFhw
• For NZSL: https://www.whaikaha.govt.nz/about-us/our-work/new-zealand-disability-strategy-2026-2030/new-zealand-disability-strategy-nzsl-translations or here: https://shorturl.at/huNHK