The IMM recommends that the Government:

35. Repeal and replace any legislation allowing forced interventions that are based on and, reinforce negative or deficient notions of disabled people, and permit compulsory ‘treatment’ interventions, including:

a. Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992 (noting that this is already committed to in the Disability Action Plan);

b. Intellectual Disability (Compulsory Care and Rehabilitation) Act 2003;

c. Substance Addiction (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 2017, and

d. Any sections of the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 — Children’s and Young People’s Well-being Act 1989 that enable arbitrary detention, solitary confinement, restraint, or actions that may constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

36. Request that the Law Commission’s review of ‘adults with impaired decision-making capacity’:

a. is co-designed with disabled people;

b. is informed by a human rights approach that recognises universal legal rights to access support to make decisions, and that maximises participation;

c. reflects an understanding of substitute decision-making as an option only of last resort after all supported decision-making options are exhausted, and that any substitute d. decision should be based on the best interpretation of the person’s rights, will and preference;

d. enshrines the importance of regular reviews and robust monitoring mechanisms; and 

e. considers a unified framework that could be applied irrespective of the reason for (temporary or longer term) decision-making substitution.

37. Ensure disabled people and their representative organisations have sustainable resources to lead the development of supported decision-making capability for disabled people, whānau, and duty bearers such as the health and disability workforce, legal profession, and financial institutions.