South Auckland, a way forward.

The rash of homicides in our communities over the last year have left many of our citizens angry and frustrated. This has culminated in Sir Barry Curtis likening parts of our community to the community and family scenes depicted in "Once were Warriors."

The worst sentiment that has been expressed to me through this time however, is of hopelessness."What can I do,I can't do anything." There is much that we are doing and can do yet, but we need to do it together.It is time for a call to arms, for the future wellbeing of young people, families and community.Our people need hope, a beacon, a plan to act and focus on.It is time we met to bring together a plan for our future.

The first thing we need to do is to recognise that no matter how challenging these present times are, we stay proud of ourselves and our communities.We need to balance these tragedies, with how well we are doing.

Economic growth twice the national average, three of the fastest growing business zones in New Zealand.Home of the country's pre-eminent technical institute, and most successful schools, with major gains in recent years for our lower decile schools.Leading the national pacific sound wave, and nursery to many of our brightest sporting stars.Strategically straddling the major roading /rail links in the region and host to our international airport.It is little wonder that our city is growing at a population rate ,twice the national average.We have a lot to be proud of and people want to shift in and share our economic, cultural and social wealth.

We are though at a critical juncture in our history and we need to recognise the seriousness of our challenges and formulate actions to meet them.To provide hope, we need a unity of vision across our communities, and a plan of action out of that vision on a range of fronts.We are already building a unified South Auckland front relating to the establishment of Community youth worker teams to confront the youth gang issue, with a high level of collaboration developing with the rolling out of these teams in Mangere , Otara, Otahuhu, Papatoetoe and Manurewa.This is an initiative conceived within and owned by the community, but endorsed by Government and its agencies.

Our challenge though is not just about the rising prominence of the of the youth gangs.They are a symptom of the underlying problems that primarily relate to a child being failed by it parents and family.The challenge incorporates, health, education, justice, housing, and welfare.

Government has responded by announcing a 26 point plan for youth and family violence in South Auckland.This plan is based on the whole of Government model of co-ordinating agencies actions in our communities.For us it is a hope-less plan, unless our communities buy in to its proposed actions, and own them , like we do the youth worker model.

Our Council also has a plan called Tomorrows Manukau.It too seeks inter- agency collaboration, but its existence would be unknown to 99% of our community.Our community needs a plan for today, that is driven by the experience and knowledge of those within our community working at the coalface, because these problems in our communities are not the Governments problems.They are ours, and we need to own the solutions to them.

How we go forward is not necessarily about more money ,but more, how we are spending the money now coming into South Auckland.We urgently need to redirect police resources at the proliferation and availabilty of drugs, particularly "P".If we do not get on top of our tinnie houses and "P" labs, the increasing use of drugs will propel the growth of these gangs,wreck families, drive our burglary and property offences rates up and ensure the wastage of many more young lives.

We need to acknowledge that the crucial period for determining how our kids fair is the first 5 years.The CMDHB, CYFS and WINZ must invest resource at this level, in particular in families of highest risk , to give all our kids the best possible start.The Wraparound model has to rolled out across all our communities over the next 3 years.

Some of our families are still buried in benefit dependency cycles,lacking the confidence to really make the break to independence.It is time for WINZ to focus direct personal support into these families to empower and encourage them to independence beyond the state.

80% of our families have successfully surfed the wave of the economic boom.Across our city we have unemployment at historical lows.The 20% who have not benefitted , is because they have not been able to bridge the skills gap. The new jobs increasingly require IT skills, with many leaving school with crucial IT skills shortages.An even stronger , more coordinated effort by all agencies is required to bridge this gap.

We cannot afford to witness the wastage of more of our young peoples lives to drugs, violence, inertia.These are our problems.They reflects on our place, on Manukau City, on South Auckland, on our pride.They are holding us back from achieving greater pride, safety, harmony and economic growth in all our communities.

It is time for us to unite as citizens of South Auckland and seek fresh idea's,and a real consensus from within our community as to how we proceed forward as a people.It is time for a conference of our community.

Great community spirit and personal contribution built our towns and city. At this crucial time we need to draw on that spirit of sharing to shift our families and community up a gear.We can succeed with these challenges.Our city is a migrant city and culturally diverse, but people who migrate, do so with energy and great positive hope.We can channel this positive energy, and with our community spirit succeed and overcome the challenges of today.

LenBrown,

Mayoral Candidate.

ENDS

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