Tell us what’s important, Waitematā

Our local board has come up with a three-year plan outlining the key initiatives we want to focus on. Now we need your help to check if we’ve got it right. Submissions must be received by 4pm Monday 14 August.

For more information go to: akhaveyoursay.co.nz/localboardplans

I t ’s your place. Your voice.

All events are free and take place in the library. Have a look at our Facebook page for more information about these events. Speaking of which, our Facebook is a great place to find more books to read – we post book recommendations from our librarians every Friday.

We also have some events for adults: Matariki Poetry Night on Thursday, 20 July.

Doors will open at 6pm, and the event will start at 6:30pm. There will be wine, snacks and an excellent display of poetic talent. This is open mic, so come prepared with a poem of your own if you’re feeling brave. We also have our monthly Leys Bookchat meeting on Thursday, 27 July at 10am in the library – come along to hear what other bookworms in Ponsonby have been reading.

Lastly, do your kids read a lot during the school holidays? We have another Beanstack Challenge (Ngā Tamariki o Matariki – The Children of Matariki) with prizes to be won for keen readers, so come into the library to pick up one of our challenge logs.

Go to aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/schoolholidays to learn more about this programme.

Monday - Friday 9am - 6pm, Saturday 9am - 4pm, Sunday closed. (CHLOË – Manager)

PONSONBY U3A: JUNE 2023

The Waipareira Trust

At the June meeting of Ponsonby U3A, charged with educating members on the Waipareira Trust, Chief Executive John Tamihere delivered a lively and educative session. He outlined the sociological changes that gave rise to the Trust, the tikanga that guided its formation, its work to date and the challenges faced by the Trust over time.

Urban drift was swift and brutal. After WW2, the population in New Zealand was 84% rural but by 1972 it was 78% urban. As they moved off the land, many Māori families landed in West Auckland, resulting in a whole bunch of different tribes coming together. Conceived in 1968, the Hoani Waititi Marae was opened in 1980 to unite all iwi in protecting and nurturing Māori values in an urban environment.

In 1982, what would later become Te O Waipareira was established to deliver the Kokiri Programme in West Auckland. This saw throughout the 1980s resources including development funding, education services and employment programmes begin to move out into the community from the Department of Māori Affairs into the hands of runanga iwi. Focusing on long term solutions for Māori, there was investment in health, welfare, education and justice facilities run by the Trust.

John asserts that one of the chief challenges to Māori development is building a sustainable middle class given the appalling statistics. Roughly speaking, one third of the Māori population is in prison, one third is on welfare and one third earns under $54,000 per year. To address this, Māori voices were developed in broadcasting and in 1992, a multi-tribal Māori Fisheries Settlement was made with Sealord and the government.

In 2014, the National Urban Māori Authority signed the historical Te Pou Matakana, the largest government contract given to Māori, for Māori, by Māori. Te Whānau O Waipareira takes a central role in running it. A building industry was started with a major development site in Waterview and later elsewhere, enabling Māori to get their children into trades.

An agreement was negotiated with Pharmac to support the Trust’s major health campaign by lowering the costs. The Trust was the first to advance a model of healthcare that accommodates diversity by medical services going out to the people. Nurses do triage and follow up and general practitioners do quality assurance. This model has been adopted for indigenous people in North America.

And underpinning these initiatives is the ongoing challenge of education, the eliminator of differences.

Kathy Walker, longstanding Ponsonby U3A member, treated members to a rousing 10-minute talk. Kathy spent a summer working on an idyllic Greek island in the north Aegean Sea. Lesbos is famous for producing the best ouzo of Greece and for being the land of the famous Greek female poet Sappho, who lived in the 7th Century BC and wrote wonderful poems about her lesbian relationships as well as hymns, love songs and poems on various themes.

Kathy tripped us through the varied scenery, petrified forests and salt marshes and the beautiful architecture, dating back in the case of one aqueduct to 3rd Century BC. Sadly, Lesbos is now an island of contrast. One side is home to writers, poets, politicians and celebrities and the other encamps Syrian refugees whose population has swelled to over 42,000, almost half the population of the whole island. Conflict is rife. Lesbos has gone from paradise to paradise lost.

Ponsonby U3A welcomes newcomers. If you are interested in attending, first as a visitor, please call President Ian Smith on M: 021 130 2330. (CHRISTINE HART)  PN

NEXT MEETING: Friday, 7 July at 9.30am.

GUEST SPEAKER: Médecins sans Frontières

VENUE: Herne Bay Petanque Club, Salisbury Reserve, Salisbury Street, Herne Bay

ENQUIRIES: Ian Smith, President, Ponsonby U3A. M: 021 130 2330, www.u3a.nz

CHLÖE SWARBRICK: Auckland Central MP

It has been the greatest honour of my life to serve our community and home of Auckland Central these past nearly three years, let alone in the face of some of the greatest challenges of our lifetime thrown our way.

The pandemic, associated restrictions and disruptions, inflationary pressures and climate change-charged weather are just the tip of the iceberg; their ripples through our schools, households, communities, social and front-line services, businesses and institutions will continue to be felt and unpacked for years to come.

We have got through with grit, determination and collaboration. Throughout the Covid-19 lockdowns, I ended up with the boss of the Northern Regional Health Coordination Centre on speed dial as I pushed for, and we established, greater capacity for vaccinations and walk-ups and testing in our central city.

Working across our business associations and small businesses, driving an open letter campaign, we managed to win a process for negotiating commercial rent reductions and extension of Government support as the pandemic continued.

In the midst of dire stories out of student accommodation, working with student associations, RAs and students themselves, I pushed for and achieved the Student Accommodation Inquiry, in turn allowing us to secure the country’s first ever pastoral care code for domestic students and the first pathway for compensation when things go wrong.

In 2022, we went on to wrangle the largest-scale collaboration across student unions seen in decades with the People’s Inquiry into Student Wellbeing, which serves as the bible for our fight in overhauling the tertiary education system moving forward. For those following the news of massive redundancies and coursecutting across universities, this work is one of many necessary pieces of work. Like the work I’ve also recently done pulling together student associations, the Tertiary Education Union and our Education Minister for a round-table.

It took an unnecessary number of months, but working with the Washer family, we saved the White Lady food truck’s licence and have a pathway for all the more – instead of fewer – food trucks and vibrancy in our city centre.

We’ve been transparent and staunch in our stance against the initial austerity Mayoral Budget proposals, and managed through months of community organisation to help drive the largest ever submissions to an Annual Budget, ultimately softening cuts across climate, public transport, arts and culture and community.

It’s been a huge amount of mahi, but there’s still more to do. That’s why I was proud this June to launch my campaign for the privilege to represent you again for another three years.

There’s ongoing work – and news to come soon on some of my long-term work – like that to link up council and social services to relieve pressure on police and ensure those who need help get it, build flooding and climate resilience in our built and natural environment, save the St James, protect the Hauraki Gulf (especially from the impacts of bottom trawling), ensure a more people, and therefore business, friendly city centre, restore tree protection and enable greater urban food gardening. And that’s just the local work. In Parliament, I continue holding the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Treasury and Ministers to account for fiscal and monetary policy, driving evidence-based change in ADHD treatment, improve the lot for the 1.4 million renters in our country –noting Auckland Central is the electorate with the highest concentration of them – and so much more.

Our communities are strongest when we work together to solve problems, which oftentimes means working through different perspectives, interests and life experiences. That’s been a hallmark of my time in politics, which I can only begin to tell you about in, for example, my recent wonderful, colourful, solutions-focused conversations with Sir Ian Taylor.

Finally, I wanted to acknowledge and thank Archie Cafe and Cafe Cezanne for their contributions to our neighbourhood. It goes without saying that Auckland and Ponsonby are better for productive, local, family-owned small businesses giving it their all.

These past few years, I’ve been proud to see behind the scenes of many of these incredible teams and, as always, have my office doors open to discuss any issues or assistance we could provide.

CHLÖE SWARBRICK, T: 09 378 4810, E: chloe.swarbrick@parliament.govt.nz www.greens.org.nz/chloe_swarbrick