The Green Party reacted with outrage today after Ms Mathers was told she would have to fund her note-taker from her MP support budget, or that the party would have to fund it. The note-taker provides Ms Mathers with an instant transcript of what is being said in the House, and the MP said that without it she could not participate in Parliament.

The cost of the staff to take notes was estimated to be $20,000-$30,000 a year. Greens co-leader Metiria Turei said she would expect all members to have good access to the goings on in Parliament regardless of disability. "We don't think it's fair, we think it's discriminatory, we think that it's a barrier to people with disabilities, and it's unnecessary - it is not such a high cost that the Speaker and Parliamentary Service could not cover that at least until we get proper captioning.''

Article sourced from NZ HERALD - http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10785474