The Human Rights Review Tribunal recently gave a landmark ruling against the government, saying that the Ministry of Health had clearly discriminated against the parents who look after their severely disabled adult children.

The Tribunal's verdict went in favor of the nine parents who had legally challenged the Ministry's policy of denying payments to 'family-member carers' for the support they extend to their disabled children.

As per the Chief Human Rights Commissioner, Rosslyn Noonan, while the Ministry currently makes payments to 'carers' to look after severely disabled people, the eligibility criteria for the payments does not include family members who act as carers.

The Ministry of Health said that it intends appealing the Tribunal's ruling, because of the serious implications the decision underlines, way beyond the disability sector. The Ministry has 30 days for deciding whether or not to appeal the decision.

However, the Human Rights Commission said that the Ministry's move to appeal the recent ruling would be a 'mark of shame' on New Zealand; and would delay justice to the affected families.

Noonan said that the government should not only ensure the extension of payments to the affected family members acting as carers fro their disabled children; but also immediately introduce a policy that would do away with such a payment discrimination against carers within the family.