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Advocacy, Law & Government

In this section you will find a summarry of the Acts of major relevance to ASD, links to sites that publish the Acts in their entirity, and other related information.




Overview of your legal rights

An overview of your rights legally

Before dealing with health organisations and the education system, it is wise to know your rights. On this page is a basic outline of your rights, as related to the law (for those not keen on reading every line of every law).

Legislation and regulations

NZ Government Online
You can access this through the government website and also through the following sites. The site will let you download sections of legislation free, but downloading regulations promulgated through parliament (e.g. Early Childhood Regulations) does have a cost.Full copies of things like the NEGS and NAGS can be downloaded free.

Once you open this website, scroll down to Commonly Requested Information and then choose Acts and Legislation.

The knowledge basket
This website offers a range of information based services, research and debate on health, policy and law. Some of the services the site offers are as follows:

  • The Bills Digest, created by the New Zealand Parliamentary Library. Highly trained professionals summarise the content of Bills before Parliament.
  • GP Legislative Databases.
  • NZ Acts (unconsolidated, Regulations, Bills, Hansard and more).
  • Providing the New Zealand public with online access to an up-to-date database, added to daily as new pieces of legislation travel through the Parliamentary process.

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Summary of Acts

The Children Young Persons and their Families Act 1989
Consent in Child and Youth Health Information for Practitioners
Informed Consent for Families and Staff
Public Health and Disability Bill 2000
New Zealand Disability Strategy
DEAS(Disability Empowerment Advocacy and Support Service)
The Education Act 1989
The Education Standards Act 2001
The Rights of Children with Special Needs to attend School
The Guardianship Act 1968
Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994
The Code of Rights 1996
Health and Disability Commissioner
Human Rights Act 1993
Intellectual Disability Compulsory Care Bill 1999
The Protection of Personal and Property Act 1988
The Privacy Act
Health Information Privacy Code 1994

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New Zealand Disability Strategy

Fifteen objectives underpin The New Zealand Disability Strategy, which was launched in October 01.

  • Objective 13: reads – "To enable disabled children and youth to lead full and active lives" (p27).
  • Objective 15: reads – "To value families, whanau and people providing ongoing support (p29)It focuses on consultation and collaboration, involvement in policy and service development, improving support and choices, providing information, and access to education, health care, rehabilitation, recreation and training"

Click here to read the full document

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Services to contact & additional information

Occupational Safety and Health Service

Learn about the hazards of your work, health and safety law and have access to health and safety Publications As well as report an accident or illness in your workplace.

Youth Law

YouthLaw provides free confidential legal advice, information and advocacy for children and young people up to the age of 25 anywhere in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

They can help with just about any issue, including criminal, traffic, education and school related, family domestic violence, police, employment, and alcohol and drugs matters. They have a Maori Youth Solicitor and a Samoan Outreach Worker/Solicitor available. Youth law have pocket sized cards available free, on young peoples rights in relation to, interactions with the police, school, work, drugs & alcohol, using the roads and being a consumer.

They can be contacted collect on (09) 309 6967, or email at youthlaw@ihug.co.nz. Or you can visit them at 125 Albert St, Auckland Central, write to us at PO Box 7657 Wellesley St, or fax us at (09) 307 5243.

Raising awareness with law enforcement services

This site is an invaluable resource aimed at raising awareness and facilitating communication between people with autism and their families and law enforcement professionals.

It is useful to review to review this site to avoid misunderstanding by law enforcement professionals, and the community. Given some of the typical manifestations of autism spectrum disorders, such as running away, unsteadiness, impulsive behaviour or failure to respond,behaviours may be misinterpreted with serious consequences. For individuals with ASDs, this site offers advice on how to behave in encounters with police and other law enforcement professionals.

NZ Government Websites:

Justice Action Group
The Justice Action Group (JAG) is a service that supports people with an intellectual disability when they come in contact with the criminal justice system or when they are at risk of doing so.

NZ Government Executive: Homepage of the NZ Cabinet
This site has access to all Ministers, M.Ps, e-mail and contact details, press releases, government papers, speeches, policies around new law, newsletters, etc and a quick link to nzgo (New Zealand Government online which has information on just about everything!)

NZ Government Online
NZGO is the Official Gateway to New Zealand Government. This website provides an overview of New Zealand and its government, access to government services information and employment opportunities, as well as government agency contact details.

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