Nationally, Balance Aotearoa holds a role as a voice of tāngata whai ora/ tāngata mātau ā-wheako on the Disabled Persons’ Organisations Coalition. In this space we meet with government representatives on a 6 weekly basis and advise the government how to better meet the needs of our communities. In this capacity we help to steer the direction of New Zealand’s Disability Action Plan, disability strategies of government departments, and the government’s engagement with disabled communities (up to 25 percent of the total population of Aotearoa). It also means that we form part of Aotearoa’s Independent Monitoring Mechanism for the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – an important duty of civil society to hold government to account on its international human rights obligations.