The yelling match is over. Green Party MP Mojo Mathers, who is profoundly deaf, will receive Parliamentary funding for a note-taking assistant and any extra support that she needs in order to carry out her duties as an MP.
Speaker of the House Lockwood Smith issued a direction to Parliamentary Services to allow it to provide such funding. Because Parliament has not had a disabled MP before, no rule had ever been made to allow for extra funding for such MPs.
Mathers hailed the decision as a “significant step forward” for the disabled community. “I want to thank the Speaker for reaching this decision.” She hopes the publicity generated by her campaign for funding will give New Zealanders an idea of the difficulties faced by disabled people in everyday life.
All MPs are already entitled to a significant amount of public funding from Parliamentary Services but, because Mathers’s disability results in additional expenses, it was deemed fair that she should receive additional funding to level the playing field. Otherwise, disabled people may have been discouraged from running for Parliament.
The Speaker also intends to develop a captioning service for Parliament TV, so people with hearing problems, or those who just enjoy watching the TV on mute, can follow Parliament’s riveting debates on the merits of the Taxation (International Taxation, Life Insurance, and Remedial Matters) Bill.
Mathers welcomed this news, saying, “Captioning will greatly increase access to political debate for the 700,000 New Zealanders with a hearing impairment”. Critic speculated that 700,000 people with a hearing impairment in a country of 4 million seemed improbable – that is until Joe Stockman, Critic’s ageing Editor, interjected to complain that he couldn’t hear what the hell anyone was saying, and could we all please just shut the fuck up.
Critic’s beltway insiders have also heard whisperings of new facilities to accommodate any future MPs who have a prosthetic hook for a hand, including new hookable doorknobs and extra security guards in case the MP decides to use the hook for evil.
Parliament Hears Mojo Mathers
