Major changes are needed in the way cities act and think if they are to have societies that work and where children can
feel valued and loved, says Christchurch's Mayor Garry Moore.
He told the International Cities of Tomorrow Forum in Christchurch today that it was important that all cities try to
make changes if they wanted to invest in a positive way in their futures.
"If we are to aim toward cities that truly work; toward making every child feel valued and loved; there is going to have
to be a major set of changes brought into the way we act and think," he said.
Any major issue that had brought politics and politicians into disrepute here and overseas, it has been the behaviour of
the powerful toward the truly powerless. "You do not get much more powerless than a child," he said. There was a
colossal imbalance in power that comes in part from the way society had developed.
"In the last few decades the gender imbalance brought about by the changes that saw men to go work and women, the young
and the old stay home, has started to even out," Mr Moore said.
The gender issues in power were continuously debated and addressed. The same did not hold true for either the young or
the old.
"The plight of the young will stay static in power terms until we start to deliberately set out to deal with this
issue," he said. The present power system tended to push the very qualities the changing world needed, such as
creativity and innovation, out to the margins in the world of the young.
"We have a the fairly ludicrous situation that we expect people to take part in the democratic process after 18 while up
till then their practical experience is all too often diluted forms of 'you will do this.'"
"It is also time that we stopped putting the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff with children's lives and faced the
reality that the earlier those at risk are helped, the less chance they will waste their lives and taxpayers' money
later as crime statistics," Mr Moore said.
It could be time to start benchmarking every legislative move at local level against the impact of that action on the
young, he said.
The forum started today and will end tomorrow. The City Council and its partners in the International Cities of Tomorrow
concept have organised the forum as part of a commitment to advancing the role of local government in enhancing the
welfare and wellbeing of children, young people and their families through community governance and strategic
management.
Further information: Liz Ellington, City Council Community Relations: 371 1962.
NB: All sessions are at the Copthorne Durham Hotel, Durham Street, Christchurch. .