Govt delays paying carers following court victory

The actions of the Government since its decision not to appeal the Court of Appeal ruling in the family carers' case are looking more and more like delaying tactics, Green MP Catherine Delahunty said today.

The Government announced in June this year that it would not appeal the latest Court of Appeal ruling upholding an earlier decision that granted parents the right to payment for caring for their disabled offspring. The Government today released a Ministry of Health consultation document on options for support to disabled adults.

"The Ministry of Health's consultation document contains a number of options that seem designed to complicate the issues around paying family carers for the hard work they do," Ms Delahunty said.

"The claims in the consultation document that there are strongly divergent views about this issue are wrong.

"New Zealand courts have repeatedly found it is discriminatory to withhold paying this group of carers.

"Family carers need to be paid for the important work they do, just as non-family carers are paid for their efforts.

"Notably absent from the working group that put this document together were the families that had been fighting for years to receive payment for looking after their disabled relatives," said Ms Delahunty.

"After many years of legal battles it is time for the Government to implement the wishes of the courts in this matter."