Index

New members
Farewells
MSD Meeting
Disability Allowance
ASENZ Conference
DoL website and inspectors
Treasury Guidelines for Contracting with NGOs
Social Security (Long-Term Residential Care) Amendment Bill
Oranga Ngakau – getting the most out of mental health services.
Charities Commission workshops
Trustee Training Workshops Feedback
Gaming regulations
Workability International Conference and Disability Expo

We also welcome Joy Cooper, who is the new CEO of Workforce Auckland, and Tracey Ramsay, who is the new VASS contact person for IHC.

One of the keynote speakers was Mark Bagshaw, who is the Marketing Manager for IBM (Australia) and is the driving force behind the Australian Disability Training Advisory Council.  He also happens to be paraplegic.  He outlined the ideas behind the Whole of Life Model of disability reform that the Council is working on, and the need to engage business in the process:
 The real cost of having people with disabilities not participating in the workforce is in the millions of dollars.  The participation rates of people with disabilities in the workforce are:
- US – 58%
- UK – 42%
- Australia – 46%
- New Zealand – 37%
 Education is paramount.  The participation of people with disabilities in training is
     minimal in Australia.  Only 1.7% are engaged in training, compared to 16% of  
     able-bodied people.
 Business is not doing its part.  The technology to enable people to participate is available but often inaccessible because business is not interested.
 There is an untapped business opportunity around disability.  Internationally there are 100 million disabled people with financial resources and additional consumer needs that are not being met.
 The Whole of Life Model recognises that there are three core problems preventing participation:
- the emotional response to disability that results in disempowerment and lack of motivation
- infrastructure barriers
-    community attitudes and expectations
 IBM sponsors a personal leadership and development programme for young people with disabilities to help them overcome the first problem.  It has three stages: a 3 day residential programme for 30 kids and their families called ‘Engaging Hope for a Better Future’; a 10 week, 1 day a week programme that includes life skills training, self awareness, setting and achieving goals, confidence building, personal leadership, and managing disability; and the third stage is providing mentors for each participant who will help get them into employment.  (VASS members who provide transition from school programmes might want to consider this idea.)
 Encourage business to consider the opportunities available to them in the development, manufacture and marketing of solutions for people with disabilities.
 All key stakeholders should work together to develop a national disability marketing strategy.  The strategy needs projects, vision and collaboration.
 As part of the strategy identify ‘champions’ (i.e. leaders or personalities who others listen to) to publicise the issues and provide leadership.

Another Keynote Speaker was Keith Martin, who is the CEO of Epic, a Supported Employment service in Brisbane.  Epic is a member of the Northside Regional Employment Collective – a group of 8 Supported Employment agencies who have joined together as a collective to assist them in achieving better outcomes for their clients. 
 NREC is a collective.  Each organisation maintains its own identity, structure and premises.  They share resources (e.g. a library), run a collective transition programme, lobby and advocate on local and central government issues, and use their collective buying power to negotiate cheaper rates on things such as training.
 To join NREC each organisation must pay $2000 and sign a Memorandum of Understanding.  Subsequently they pay $200 per annum.  The payment is necessary to ensure commitment and the $2000 goes into a pool which allows them to run projects without relying on government funding.  Projects have included a joint presentation to local businesses.
 NREC has no paid staff.  Each member takes turns at hosting a lunch meeting every 4 – 6 weeks, and the person who hosts the lunch takes the minutes.  The $200 fee goes towards catering the lunches.
 There is a protocol in place for job sharing.  If one organisation has a job but cannot fill it, rather than letting the opportunity go they refer it to another member agency who can fill it.
 Trust and co-operation is essential to making the collective work.
 Each member of the collective is also a member of ACROD (the Australian equivalent to VASS) and they see membership of both as complementary.

As promised Robin Semmens has provided us with a contact list of all the Labour Inspectors around the country.  These are the people who can help you assess whether you have an employment relationship with those attending your service or not.  Below is the list.

AUCKLAND

4th Floor, Hobson Block, Swanson Towers, 20 Hobson St
P O Box 105 183, Auckland Central 1030
DX:  CP22015 Albert St Central Ph: (09) 377 6223
 Fax: (09) 357 9748

Gordon Barlow  (Manager – Employment Standards and Information)
 (09) 306 3415…………027 452 2759 

Muriel Kelly (Principal LI)
                                         (09) 306 3408………….027 231 5128
Kath Seaman (Regional Co-ordinator, Northern)
                                         (09) 306 3407………….027 489 3985
Jo Linstead (09) 306 3401………….027 222 0511
David Milne (09) 306 3406………….027 231 5308
Kris Metcalf (09) 306 3418………….027 479 1104
Alex Leulu (09) 306 3417………….027 478 8325
Brendon Hickey (09) 306 3402………….027 222 1173              
Colin Jessup (09) 306 3405………….027 474 2176

HAMILTON

3rd Floor, Westpac House, cnr Victoria and Alma Streets
P O Box 19 217, Hamilton 2030
DX:  GX10024 Hamilton Mail Centre Fax: (07) 957 6420

Mark Horn (07) 957 6421………….027 473 4846
Fiona McQueen (07) 957 6422………….027 210 1958
Peter Haynes (07) 957 6423………….027 278 2673
Rama Yeleswaram (07) 957 6424………….027 499 1761

NAPIER

Level 3, Dunvegan House, cnr Hastings and Station Streets
P O Box 139, Napier 4015
DX:  MX10015, Napier Fax: (06) 974 4381

Lance Peterson (06) 974 4387………….027 444 5637

PALMERSTON NORTH

Level 7, Farmers Mutual Building, 68 The Square
P O Box 12 030, Palmerston North 5330 
DX PX10087, Palmerston North Fax: (06) 952 3461

Catherine Brown (06) 952 3476………….027 445 3309
Lynette Russell (06) 952 3477………….027 273 5834

WELLINGTON

Level 7, 85 The Terrace
P O Box 3705, Wellington 6015
DX:  SR57047, Wellington Fax: (04) 915 4592

Robin Semmens (Regional Co-ordinator, Southern)
 (04) 914 4952………….027 449 2813
Alun McGowan (04) 914 4951………….027 203 0245
Nicola Medway (04) 914 4950………….027 478 1200

CHRISTCHURCH

Level 2, 115 Kilmore St
P O Box 13 278, Christchurch 8031
DX:  WX11141 Christchurch Fax: (03) 365 0443

Bill Ewart (03) 964 7862………….027 432 8433
Adrienne Lines (03) 964 7860………….027 229 5842
Brent Mikaera (03) 964 7865………….027 229 5843

DUNEDIN

6th Floor,  10 George St
P O Box 5510, Dunedin 9031
DX:  YP80557 Dunedin North Fax: (03) 477 2818

Jon Henning (03) 477 8006………….027 445 3312
Duane Calvert (03) 470 1720          027 291 3289

Many of you will be aware of the Treasury Guidelines for Contracting with NGOs for Services Sought by the Crown.  The guidelines are designed to assist Government agencies in their contracting relationships with NGOs (essentially they are "best practice" guidelines), and NGOs have found them extremely useful to inform themselves about what they can legitimately expect and ask from the agencies with whom they contract.  

Perhaps the most significant part of the guidelines from the voluntary sector perspective is the emphasis placed on the independence of the voluntary sector. The guidelines confirm that NGO’s, even when receiving government funding, are not simply an extension of government and are free to have their own objectives and interests and, most importantly, the contractual relationship between the government and an NGO should not be used to prevent the NGO commenting on public policy matters.

Following reviews in 2002 and 2003 which involved the input of a number of government departments, Crown entities and also NGOs, Treasury has made changes to the Guidelines.  Treasury's website highlights the sections in the Guidelines that have been amended: http://www.treasury.govt.nz/publicsector/ngo/default.asp .  

Changes include:
 an increased emphasis on reducing compliance costs for all parties, and the appropriate monitoring of contracts – particularly by structuring monitoring arrangements according to documented assessments of risk;
 encouraging integrated or "joined-up" contracting;
 discussing the benefits to Government agencies of consultation with NGOs in developing policies and services;
 an increased emphasis on better documentation by government agencies of their funding and contracting decisions, especially where a government agency has departed from its own policies or procedures;
 including references to codes of conduct, ethics and standards, to the Charities Commission, and to the good practice funding work being led by the Office of the Community and Voluntary Sector.

This Bill changes the income and asset testing regime for older people assessed as requiring residential care. It progressively increases the value of assets that people may retain before being required to use them to pay for care, as from 1 July 2005. It also removes asset testing from those aged 50-64, excludes from the income test the earnings of the spouse of the person in care, and the first $780 per person per year of income from assets, and specifies that $636 per week is the maximum contribution that a person is required to contribute towards the cost of their care. This will be annually adjusted to conform to the NZ Consumer Price Index. The Bill is being heard by the Social Services Select Committee.  Submissions close on 24 April.

This is a plain language booklet, published by the Mental Health Commission, which contains a wide range of information about accessing mental health services.  Information includes how to get into a mental health service, how to get out of one, treatments and support, the kinds of services and workers, and the rights and legal status of those in compulsory treatment. It is available from the Mental Health Commission, P O Box 12 479 Wellington, tel 04 474 9800, email info@mhc.govt.nz

The last ‘Wellington Update’ contained the proposed details of Charities Bill, to establish a Charities Commission in New Zealand. The Bill has now been tabled in Parliament and was referred to the Social Services Select Committee after its first reading. At this stage no closing date for submissions has been advertised.

A working group of non-government agencies, including NZFVWO, is arranging a series of workshops around the country to discuss the Bill and encourage submissions. Twenty-two workshops are planned between 13 and 28 April and a schedule of the meetings is attached to this newsletter.  The workshops will provide an overview of the Bill and a discussion of key issues for your consideration.  There will be staff from the establishment unit of the Charities Commission and speakers from the voluntary sector at each meeting. 

See www.charities.govt.nz for background and a copy of the Charities Bill or free phone 0508 CHARITIES (0508 242 748).

Internal Affairs have released two discussion papers and are encouraging community submissions on key regulations for gaming machines. These are available on www.dia.govt.nz, and submissions close on 22 April.  At this stage VASS is not planning to make a submission, but please contact me if you have any issues or feedback about this issue.
UNITEC short course series
Unitec is offering a series of one day courses for not-for-profit organisations called ‘Managing to Make a Difference’.   The courses include Peer Mentoring (19 April), Governance (3 May), Finances (9 May), Charities Commission (25 May), and Performance Issues (24 June).  Additional courses are available as in-house training or in the 2nd semester on: Community Relations, Community Funding, Not for Profit Management Skills, Introduction to Legal Issues.  See www.unitec.ac.nz for details.

At the end of last year VASS ran a series of Trustee Training workshops around the country, which focused on governance and strategic change management.  The workshops included an exercise about strategic change that provided very interesting feedback for the sector.

John Mendzela, who ran the workshops, first outlined the context of NZ management.  According to international research NZ managers are:
 "an enterprising, resilient breed who don’t appear to accept that something cannot be done" (Harvard University).
 Weak in developing strategy (World Economic Forum 2000)
 Fall down in strategic planning (Statistics NZ 2002)

From his own personal experience John has noted that we are used to broader roles; good at project management; pragmatic – ‘get alongside’ tasks and people; buried in hands-on management; and better at managing costs than growing revenue.

He identified four key elements that are essential to succesful change:

If even one element is missing then change will not happen.
 Without pressure for change – bottom of the IN tray
 Without a clear shared vision – a fast start that fizzles
 Without capability to change – anxiety and frustration
 Without actionable first steps – haphazard efforts, false starts.

As part of a practical exercise the groups had to identify to what degree the four key elements were present in our sector, expressed as 0 – 100%.  An overview of this exercise shows that there was a lot of variation in the ten groups:

Obviously most people feel there is pressure for change, but it is interesting to note that despite the fact that we are moving towards ‘Pathways to Inclusion’ many of those in a governance role did not feel that there was a clear, shared vision.  The results also show that organisations are very unsure about what their actionable first steps should be.

When asked what were two or three ‘big rocks’ that needed to be tackled in order to raise the scores, the most common responses were:
 Lack of definition and direction
 Patch protection, fragmentation and lack of sharing in the sector

This year VASS is hosting the Workability International Conference.  It will be held in Christchurch from 11 – 16 October.    Information has recently been sent out about the Disability Expo which will be run as part of the conference on 13 – 14 October.  This is an excellent opportunity to promote your organisation at a national and international level. 

As an international event we are hoping that it will generate good publicity.  You may want to consider applying for funding to help you put together publicity material – remember that once you have this type of material you can use it again. 

Visual impact via photo boards, short videos (no more than 3 minutes), give-aways and a minimum of text are key elements to a good static display. Identify the key message you want to convey and think of a theme that will help you convey it.  Tangible elements are also good ways of attracting people to your display, e.g. if you use a special computer programme with your clients you might want to have this running so that people can use it.  Or, if you are from Southland, you may want to give away free oysters, Ian.

Newsletter Monthly Newsletter Membership Members receive regular mailouts and newsletters covering specific issues and seeking member comment, notifying any significant Goverment policy changes. Annual Conference The 3rd Annual Conference of Workability International 12th – 15th October 2004 – Christchurch Convention Centre, Christchurch, New Zealand

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