Media Release
Prime Minister recognises safer community work

For immediate release on 19 June 2009

The social contribution of councils was recognised last night when Porirua City Council was awarded the Prime Minister's Award for Public Service Excellence at this year’s IPANZ Gen-i Public Sector Excellence Awards.

The ‘Safer Porirua’ project, a joint initiative between the New Zealand Police and Porirua City Council to make Porirua a safer community, won the category for excellence in working together for better services, as well as the supreme award, called the Prime Minister’s Award.

Mike Reid, Manager for Governance, Local Government New Zealand, said this was a tremendous achievement and recognised the excellent work that Porirua and other councils carry out in the social area for the well-being of their communities.

“There are many social issues facing communities that require working together across different organisations. Our social stakeholders, the police, licensing authorities, housing suppliers and community groups say they can’t achieve what they want without the assistance and leadership of councils.

“We congratulate Porirua City Council for its efforts and recognise the unique and important contributions councils can make in this area,” said Mr Reid.

The ‘Safer Porirua’ project is a collaboration between the New Zealand Police, Porirua City Council and other community agencies to achieve World Health Organisation accreditation for Porirua as an International Safe Community. Porirua was awarded this status in 2008. There is already evidence of improvements in safety outcomes since the initiative began in 2005, including an improved perception of safety, the lowest crime rates in the Wellington region and a reduced rate of serious and fatal road injuries.

The public sector Awards programme, which was launched in 2008 by the Institute of Public Administration New Zealand (IPANZ) and ICT leader Gen-i, acknowledges and celebrates excellence across public sector agencies from central and local government.

Winners were named in five categories, each designed to highlight significant public sector initiatives making a positive difference to communities. Projects were judged by an independent panel looking at excellence in terms of vision, innovation and results.

ENDS

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