Relevant legislation
SAFEGUARDING FOUNDATIONS
Providers’ safeguarding / whakahaumarutia work must meet relevant legislative requirements and rights-based frameworks to be safe and appropriate.
Legislation for safeguarding in Aotearoa New Zealand
Legislation that must be applied in safeguarding / whakhaumarutia includes:
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This Act modernised the legal definition of family violence to include ongoing patterns of harm, coercion, control, and psychological abuse.
See: Family Violence Act 2018.
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This law introduced an offence for failing to protect a vulnerable adult or child from serious harm when the person is in a position of care or responsibility.
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The PPPR allows the Court to grant you a Property Administrator to look after your financials and physical property, and a Welfare Guardian to make decisions about your personal care such as medical treatment when you are unable to.
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This Act protects the rights of people receiving health and disability services. It includes the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights, and enables complaints and investigations when rights are breached.
The Act helps ensure that disabled people receiving support are treated with respect, dignity, informed consent, and freedom from discrimination.
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This Act prohibits discrimination in areas like employment, housing, education, and public services based on protected characteristics (such as sex, race, disability, age, religion).
It established the Human Rights Commission to promote human rights and handle complaints, and provided a legal process for resolving discrimination disputes, including mediation and hearings through the Human Rights Review Tribunal.
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The Privacy Act 2020 has 13 privacy principles that govern how agencies (organisations and businesses) can collect, store, use and share personal information. All New Zealanders, regardless of age or circumstance, have privacy rights.
The Privacy Act makes sure that:
you know when your information is being collected
your information is used and shared appropriately
your information is kept safe and secure
you can get access to your information.
See: Privacy Act.
See: Office of the Privacy Commissioner.
More information
DRAFT - DSS guidance on relevant legislation, when safeguarding.
DSS has prepared guidance on the relevant legislation for service providers, who are working with disabled people. This guidance provides a clear, practical understanding of their obligations when handling personal information (PI) about disabled adults. It outlines the legal framework these providers operate under, the core principles of that framework, and how those pieces of legislation interact with each other when it comes to sharing personal information about people.
Note: DSS has given VisAble permission to upload this guidance as an advanced draft. Once finalised, the published document will be made available.
Current legislative debates
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Recent legislative attention includes proposals to amend how “vulnerable adults” are defined in New Zealand law.
Some disability advocates criticise broad or poorly drafted definitions that could frame disabled people as inherently dependent and vulnerable, rather than autonomous.
These viewpoints form part of broader discussions about:
rights-based vs risk-based models, and
the importance of co-design with disabled communities in law and policy.
Access to training
VisAble offers interactive training to help you develop a deeper understanding of these topics and why they’re important.
The training also enables you to explore how to apply the information at your place, with your staff (kaimahi) and in your services, to make a difference for disabled people.
We can also provide training for tāngata whaikaha Māori, disabled people, families, whānau and caregivers.
Find out more about our training and resources Or contact us at info@visable.co.nz.