Govt invests in making Auckland CBD safer and (with $113.7m) in giving greater strength to disabled people
More evidence of a government belatedly burnishing its law-and-order credentials can be found in an announcement today from the Minister of Police and the Minister for Auckland Central.
Their glad tidings are that “Central and Local Government” are investing in a range of new measures to tackle low-level crime and anti-social behaviour in the Auckland CBD to complement a greater Police presence in the area.
This initiative involves modest expenditure: new “safety hubs” are being established with the support of $100,000 of Government funding.
“Local government” in the opening sentence of the press statement is a reference to the Auckland Council, which is not named until the 13th paragraph although it is chipping in another $100,000.
The government also is pitching for the votes of the country’s one in four people who are defined as disabled.
The Minister for Disability Issues, Priyanca Radhakrishnan, has confirmed a total $113.4 million over the next four years “to continue to transform the disability support system”.
This comprises $73.7 million over the next four years and a further $40.5m in “outyears” (which may start on election day next month for the minister’s cabinet career).
Looking into this expenditure, Point of Order learned we must be careful about what we say about the people who will be helped with this money.
The country’s social engineers have decided:
Disabled people vs people with disabilities
In New Zealand we use the term disabled people. During the development of the New Zealand Disability Strategy there was much discussion and consultation on the language to be used and in the end ‘disabled people’ was chosen- rather than ‘person with disability’, ‘people with disabilities’, ‘people with experience of disability’ etc.
The government’s latest push to win our hearts and minds is recorded here –
“Local government” in the opening sentence of the press statement is a reference to the Auckland Council, which is not named until the 13th paragraph although it is chipping in another $100,000.
The government also is pitching for the votes of the country’s one in four people who are defined as disabled.
The Minister for Disability Issues, Priyanca Radhakrishnan, has confirmed a total $113.4 million over the next four years “to continue to transform the disability support system”.
This comprises $73.7 million over the next four years and a further $40.5m in “outyears” (which may start on election day next month for the minister’s cabinet career).
Looking into this expenditure, Point of Order learned we must be careful about what we say about the people who will be helped with this money.
The country’s social engineers have decided:
Disabled people vs people with disabilities
In New Zealand we use the term disabled people. During the development of the New Zealand Disability Strategy there was much discussion and consultation on the language to be used and in the end ‘disabled people’ was chosen- rather than ‘person with disability’, ‘people with disabilities’, ‘people with experience of disability’ etc.
The government’s latest push to win our hearts and minds is recorded here –
Latest from the Beehive
9 SEPTEMBER 2023
Central and Local Government are today announcing a range of new measures to tackle low-level crime and anti-social behaviour in the Auckland CBD to complement Police scaling up their presence
8 SEPTEMBER 2023
The Government has confirmed $73.7 million over the next four years and a further $40.5m in outyears to continue to transform the disability support system, Minister for Disability Issues Priyanca Radhakrishnan has announced.
Standard and Poor’s is the latest independent credit rating agency to endorse the Government’s economic management in the face of a deteriorating global economy.
In the law and order announcement, Carmel Sepuloni says the government has gone to a lot of effort to establish the bleeding obvious:
“Having engaged with various businesses and stakeholders, it’s clear that to keep the heartbeat of Auckland’s CBD alive and thriving, locals and businesses need and deserve to feel safe,” Carmel Sepuloni said.
Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson echoed this, saying Aucklanders deserve to feel safe when moving in and around Auckland’s central business area.
“We welcome any initiative that gives people confidence to spend time in the city centre enjoying all that it has to offer,” said Deputy Mayor Simpson.
Point of Order can spare Sepuloni and her government the need to conduct similar consultations elsewhere.
New Zealander deserve to feel safe everywhere…
The statement further states the obvious in saying “police have an important role to play in preventing and responding to crime” – but it goes on to acknowledge there is more the government can do to support the cops in tackling some of the anti-social behaviour that makes central Auckland feel unsafe.
In addition to retaining the safety hub at Queens Wharf established by Heart of the City for the Women’s FIFA World Cup, it is establishing three additional hubs at High Street, Queen Street and Karangahape Road. .
Working together with volunteer wardens and Community Patrols New Zealand, the four new safety hubs will be developed as a base for community patrols and Māori and ethnic wardens, allowing a more effective presence in the city centre of safety personnel.
These hubs will be a base for community volunteers, like Community Patrols NZ volunteers and Māori wardens, to provide additional safety support at key locations across Auckland Central.
The hubs will be staffed by Community Patrols NZ volunteers and Ngā Watene Māori O Akarana wardens, and supported by the Police.
The hubs will be open to the public – they will be equipped to respond quickly to minor incidents, provide assistance, and to help connect individuals with emergency services.
The establishment of the additional safety hubs is expected by the end of next month, with the support of $100,000 of Government funding.
“Police will always be the first responders to crime, but these wardens and Community Patrollers are able to deal with lower-level anti-social behaviour, which will free up Police time to deal with more serious crime,” Ginny Andersen said.
Police will continue to provide support to community warden groups and patrol groups participating in the Safety Hub, she said.
“In addition, Police have significantly increased the number of foot patrols by 243 per cent in Auckland’s city centre over the past year and established a new base to assist with their increased foot patrols.”
Mayor Wayne Brown says Auckland Council will be matching the $100,000 for the initiative from funding set aside in the annual budget for safety initiatives.
“Auckland Council has committed to a full-time coordinator to ensure a joined-up approach with the Māori, Pacific, and ethnic Wardens, alongside Community Patrols New Zealand and Police. Further funding could be made available if the hubs prove to be a success” Wayne Brown said.
The statement from Priyanca Radhakrishnan draws attention to an exercise called “the Enabling Good Lives (EGL) approach”, which is described as “a framework which guides positive change for disabled people, families, communities and governance structures.
The funding now being allocated was initially set aside as contingency funding before the establishment of Whaikaha – Ministry of Disabled People.
The minister says it “strengthens protections for disabled people…”
But any suggestion that disabled people need such strengthening is at odds with the te reo component of the ministry’s name:
Whaikaha means to have strength, to have ability, to be otherly abled, and to be enabled. “Tāngata Whaikaha means people who are determined to do well, or is certainly a goal that they reach for.
Moreover the Whaikaha – Ministry of Disabled People website says a great deal of effort (and money, no doubt) was invested in deciding the ministry’s name.
When Cabinet agreed to establish the new Ministry in October 2021, they gave the Minister for Disability Issues, Minister for the Public Service and Minister of Health authority to determine its final name.
Officials and disabled people who first discussed how to create the name agreed it should include te reo Māori, English and New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL). This would make the new Ministry the first government department to have a name with all three languages.
The Establishment Unit, the Community Steering Group and Governance Group worked closely together to ensure the new Ministry’s name is one the community and the staff of the Ministry will be proud of.
A fellow named Maaka Tibble, a Ngāti Porou kaumatua who is also blind, suggested ‘Whaikaha’ or ‘Tāngata Whaikaha’, which are based on disabled people’s strengths.
The use of the word then required his approval, which was given on the condition it precede the English bit of the ministry’s name:
Engagement was key to our process to find the reo Māori part of the Ministry’s name. Engagement included groups in the disabled community, Iwi chairs, and the wider community.
Input and ideas were discussed, including the importance of the name having meaning for the whole disabled community, being easy to pronounce, and reflecting a positive view of disability. This journey quickly led to the word ‘Whaikaha’. Maaka Tibble was happy for Whaikaha be used in the Ministry’s name – provided that it was “at the top of the letterhead”.
Our steering and governance groups enthusiastically endorsed ‘Whaikaha’ as the reo Māori part of the name, and in line with Maaka Tibble’s wish for it to be at the top of the letterhead, strongly agreed that it be the first part of the Ministry’s name.
The “contingency funding” will enable ministry to deliver the following:
- Improved safeguarding for people who are at risk of abuse (2,500 people will experience change over 4 years).
- Improving safeguarding will help respond to the issues raised by the Royal Commission on abuse in state care.
- Extending EGL to historically under-served communities (1,000 people will experience change over four years).
- This initiative will begin the process of extending EGL to two new sites. This work will explore opportunities to integrate with Whānau Ora.
- Transforming existing disability support services (5,400 people will experience change over 4 years).
- This initiative will change how existing disability support services operate.
- Building community capability for partnership and stewardship (e.g. disability leadership groups).
- This will fund the establishment of regional leadership groups and the building of their capability and capacity.
- System infrastructure changes.
- Developing the data and payment system used in the demonstration sites into established systems.
- Transformation management.
- This will establish a Transformation Management Office (TMO) within Whaikaha to plan and implement the work programme. The TMO will oversee the detailed development and implementation of the contingency funded initiatives.
Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
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