Parties Applauded For Captioning Closing Addresses
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