4 December 2025
Speaker: Stew Sexton (Senior Accessibility Advisor, New Zealand Parliament)
Chair: Cristina Leston-Bandeira (Professor of Politics at the University of Leeds and Chair of IPEN)
Details: In this seminar, Stew Sexton will outline the integrated approach the New Zealand Parliament has adopted to embed practices that enable accessible and inclusive engagement with Deaf, disabled, and neurodiverse communities. This is part a wider diversity and inclusion strategy that also enables engagement with indigenous Māori communities, ethnic minority groups and young people.
This is founded on an institutionalisation approach which depends on collaboration between the main bodies of the parliamentary administration, the Parliamentary Service and the Office of the Clerk – and through the establishment of permanent staff roles to ensure that engagement of underrepresented groups remains a priority.
This online seminar will take place in MS Teams and is open to members of the International Parliament Engagement Network (IPEN).
Find out more about the network.
Image: Parliament House, New Zealand Parliament. Courtesy of Stew Sexton.