Election Access Fund
Te Tomokanga — Pūtea Whakatapoko Pōtitanga
Applications Panel Meeting
Date:
7 June 2023
Time:
10:30 am-11:30am
Location:
Online via Zoom
Chair:
Dianne Glenn
Members:
Huhana Hickey
Robbie Watene
Jade Farrar
Leigh Deuchars, Electoral Commission
Other attendees:
Charmaine James (Secretariat)
Apologies:
Huhana Hickey
Minutes Minutes of the last meeting The meeting started with a Karakia lead by Robbie. The minutes were adopted with no
corrections (Dianne/Jade).
Action points completed:
• Charmaine investigated access to SharePoint site, invitations were sent to the
panel members but with little to no success. The Electoral Commission IT team
are further investigating access.
Matters arising:
• Purchasing or hiring of equipment came into discussion under the
Applicant001 with no clear policy, and will be regarded on an individual
application case by case basis until a policy has been drafted and accepted.
• Policy on the Equipment provided for the EAF applicants team sourced hiring
alternatives for acquiring equipment. Leigh has been in contact with the team
that was responsible for drafting the EAF policy documents and has included the
new Manager for Strategy, Risk and Assurance (who is legally trained) to have a
fresh look at the legislation and advise if we are interpreting the barriers this
correctly. They have come back to say that there is a bit of inconsistency in how
the legislation is drafted and could be interpreted in 2 ways. What will be needed
is a set of principles or framework that help us work through the wording of
legislation and how it is interpreted in individual situations. It would serve us well
to ensure that the core interpretation of the legislation is correct before
proceeding any further.
• Jade has requested that a few key documents be referenced around future
principles, being the UNCRPD, Te Tiriti, and Enabling good lives.
Conflict of Interests Nil
Identifiable information was still included in the application form for Applicant002. The EAF
team is to look at a more thorough process of double-checking forms to ensure this is not
missed for future applicants.
Applicant 001 An email was circulated on 19 May 2023 with the panel members to give their final
recommendation to approve the access of equipment through the Electoral Commission
with the option of purchasing of the laptop the end of the Election campaign for $500.00. All
members responded to support the recommendation made to acquire this laptop for the
applicant.
Applicant 002 $15,000.00 inc. GST Discussion: Applicant has applied for a support administrator/person, where the request is
above the considered payrate in the guidelines of the application. The amount of $50p/hr
for 300hrs was quoted on the budget. It was noted that while the payrate guidelines are
there for a support assistant, we need to consider that this request is for a more admin
intensive support role to assist in the administrative tasks that forms the barrier the
applicant faces, not a support assistant that would aid you in your personal access needs to
get through your day. Due to the fast pace and crucial role that the support administrator
will play, one can understand the need for a more experienced and qualified person to help
remove the barrier the applicant faces to perform at the same level of peers that do not
face these barriers, resulting in a higher payrate. The panel discussed the need for more
information on the hourly rate provided in the budget. Further information was received
from the applicant after the meeting papers were distributed, surrounding the reason for
the quoted rate. Noting that a contractor has to pay their own taxes and ACC levy, they are
usually priced 25% higher priced, to cover these costs. It was also mentioned that other
contractors within the public sector earn a higher hourly rate than what is being considered.
Applicant 003 $10,000.00+GST Discussion:
Applicant has applied for a support administrator/person, where the request is above the
considered payrate in the guidelines of the application. The amount of $40p/hr for 250hrs
+gst was quoted on the budget. As discussed for applicant002, the needs for the support
administrator are similar, but at a slightly lower cost than applicant002, where this would
equate to $46 p/hr inclusive of gst. This slight difference in the hours requested could be
directly related to the extent of assistance that is required of the administrator.
It would make better sense to have consistency and equality in the payrate, where this
would prove beneficial to the applicant’s showing equality and dignity in the support they
receive. We should look to build and enable the applicants to be as successful as they can be
without the barriers that they face.
All members of the panel gave their recommendations to approve, Charmaine is to forward
a summary to Huhana regarding the outcome of today’s meeting for her comment.
Action:
• EAF team to investigate adding a category for those who help those with
neurological/cognitive/neuro divergent conditions that do not fit in the current
categories outlined for support workers, that will cover part of the review to look
at how we can include the category.
Process improvements The following process improvements were identified during discussion of Applicant 002 and
003:
• Payrate guidance for support assistants.
• To look into a SharePoint site where all application documentation relevant
to panel meetings and applications may be reviewed online, to avoid sending
documents via email.
Actions:
• Charmaine to investigate the radio buttons on page 2 of the Assessment form
as they seem to be linked to the previous page, where selecting your response
had resulted in removing the option selected in the prior question.
Update from Electoral Commission staff Evaluation is underway together with the ministry review on how we get through lessons
learnt and what changes can be made to better support the fund. No other updates noted
for this meeting.
Any other business Dianne requested EAF information, which she has circulated to Pauline
Senior
Advisor - Policy, Strategy and Partnerships, Whaikaha who would be able to share this
further through the disabled community.
Jade attended the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) conference in Sydney the
previous week, where there were discussions on defining principles around the support for
campaigning candidates and how that support is spent, with identifying a framework of
what is reasonable and necessary. He spoke of an example of a candidate using his NDIS
budget to campaign which helped him win and is now the disabled Green MP for his area.
More information on the framework could be found on the internet, searching for NDIS.
Robbie closed off the meeting with the Karakia
Next meeting Monday 19th June 2023, 1pm.
