The “Passing Go - Promoting Social Well-being in the new Auckland Council" conference held in Albany on Friday 20th could well be a defining moment in the future makeup and direction of the new Auckland Council says North Shore Mayor Andrew Williams.
The conference for the first time brought together social policy decision-makers and representatives of the people who are affected by those decisions, to focus thinking on promoting social well-being in the new Auckland Council.
Mayor Williams says that he was grateful that Ministers Paula Bennett and Rodney Hide took time to address the conference and to engage in a lively ‘question and answer’ session, resulting in several delegates being invited to make contact and engage in more dialogue around the particular sectors they represented.
The new council will represent over 1.4 million people - one third of the population of New Zealand, but so far the focus has been almost exclusively on infrastructure - roads and pipes. However, says Mayor Williams, unless the new council gets its community relationships right, and has the resourcing to support them, it will do only half the job it is being created to do.
Mayor Williams says that the creation of the new Auckland Council is an opportunity to work better across the entire Auckland region, and to strengthen communication between Auckland and central government, and he warned that government must acknowledge that effective policy solutions require a co-ordinated approach.
He says that the proposed new Auckland Social Policy Forum may be a step in the right direction, but it is important that Social Policy Minister Paula Bennett takes note of Auckland input as she further develops the forum’s structure and functions.
Delegates to the Passing Go conference came from all over Auckland and included community and NGO representatives, a number of Members of Parliament, Mayors, Councillors, Community Board members and officers from local government, as well as representatives from government departments.
The ‘Passing Go – Promoting Social Well-being in the new Auckland Council’ conference was jointly organised by Raeburn House and North Shore Community and Social Services, with support from the North Shore, Manukau, Waitakere and Auckland City Councils.
Speeches