I spoke with disability advocates Blake Forbes and Nick Ruane this morning about the ongoing review of the Total Mobility subsidies provided by the Government for taxi services for disabled people. The full video is above.

They met Transport Minister Chris Bishop this week to talk about the review, which is running headlong into a July 1 deadline to start a revised scheme with a lower subsidy (65% rather than 75%) and tougher eligibility criteria, designed to reduce the number of trips pensioners in Auckland are taking.

It’s designed to try to cap the size of Government at 30% of GDP, despite increased costs of ageing and the growing incidence of health issues.

Nick has written regularly about the review, as has Paul Singh here.

Thank you Susan St John, Paul Singh, Sarah Melville, Rosemary Hipkins, Virginia McMillan, and many others for tuning into my live video with Nick Ruane and Blake Forbes! Join me for my next live video in the app.

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