Archive for March, 2008

First milestone for Crossways

March 27th, 2008

It was a real pleasure to attend the Crossways Community Trust meeting tonight to hear the news that the Trust has met the first fundraising milestone to purchase the Crossways Community Centre in Mt Victoria. As part of the agreement with the current owners, the Presbyterian Church, and the Wellington City Council the trust was required to raise $450,000 by 31 March. They have done so, with the support of some very generous benefactors. A hearty congratulations to all those involved.  The next task is to raise an additional $550,000 by 1 September.

Crossways is a great community facility, which has been owned by the church since the late 1970s. Last year they made the decision to sell the Centre to help provide the funding needed to repair and upgrade the St Andrews on the Terrace.  The Crossways Trust was formed to try to keep the centre in community ownership. You can find out more about their campaign here and here.

I have been working with the Trust on a proposed education precinct, which forms a key part of a sustainable future for the Centre. This proposal would bring together the existing creche and the Clyde Quay Kindergarton at the Centre, working closely with Clyde Quay School. This is an innovative approach to the early years of education in Mt Victoria, that would also help support the on-going viability of this community facility.  There is a lot to do to make this a reality, but the energy and enthusiasm of those involved is inspiring.

For me places like Crossways are integral to building strong communities. They provide focal points for our communities when the pace and dynamics of urban life make connecting with our neighbours increasingly difficult. We need to support and develop such facilities right across Wellington and New Zealand.

Posted in Wellington.  |   0 Comments

a busy week out and about in Wellington

March 20th, 2008

For me it has been yet another busy week, joining in a range of Wellington activities.I participated in the Irish Society St Patricks Day Debate on Sunday. It was a lot of fun to join the rainbow coalition team of Chris Finlayson and Charles Chauvel taking the negative on the moot “That Irish Democracy works” against the Irish Society team. In the circumstances it was not a great surprise that the home team won, not that I am suggesting any judging bias….

labourfour.jpgI also joined a group of supporters on the Walk to Work Day yesterday, and met up with local MPs there as you can see in the photo above. Wellingtonians are avid walkers, and our fantastic, compact city helps us lead the way in getting to and from work in a sustainable manner.

I also attended the 50th anniversary of Stagecraft Theatre Company last night. Stagecraft is a great example of the kind of community spirit that can and does exist in a city environment like Wellington. As Judith Tizard said at the celebrations last night, 50 years in amatuer dramatics is an amazing feat. Was fascinating to learn a bit more of the history of Stagecraft, that began life as an initative of Workers Educational Association (WEA). A huge congratulations to everyone involved at Stagecraft.

Posted in Wellington.  |   0 Comments

Welcome to the (urban) jungle

March 20th, 2008

Congratulations to former ACT MP Stephen Franks on being selected as the National candidate for Wellington Central. It is great to finally have an opponent, as it has felt a bit like a phoney campaign at times over the last few months.

While I disagree with much of what I have heard and seen Stephen say, I respect him as an intelligent person. I look forward to a campaign where we debate values, issues and policies.  It is interesting to see Stephen say that ACT and National share many of the same values.  I think it will fun exploring what those might, and might not, be.

As a starter for ten it would be good to hear Stephen’s views on John Key’s ‘sinking lid policy’ for the public service. Mine are here, for anyone who missed it. Anjum Rahman has written an excellent post here, that gives real examples of the valuable work done by the very public servants who John Key seems to consider surplus to requirements.

Over to you, Stephen….

Posted in Wellington.  |   1 Comment

slash and burn, or build and prosper?

March 13th, 2008

It is disappointing to see that John Key has taken the politically easy approach to the future of the public service in his speech to the Press Club.  Disappointing because it continues National’s legacy of de-humanising hard working public servants as useless bureaucrats, and offering solutions such as Tony Ryall’s ‘bureaucratic bonfire’.  Public servants in New Zealand are generally hard working people, with families to support, and who serve the government of the day whoever it is. They deserve better from Mr Key.

It is also disappointing because it is a visionless approach, based on urban myths, carefully chosen statistics and vague politically motivated proposals. What is needed in terms of the future of the public service are some positive, creative steps that ensures all New Zealanders have public services that are relevant and enabling partners in their lives,

Labour inherited a demoralised public service undermined by budget cuts, contracting out and armies of consultants. It has worked hard in government to rebuild a positive culture in the public service. It has increased nurses, teachers, social workers, prison officers at never seen before rates.  It also has employed more people to support these services, in part because the government is doing more. If you provide tax credits to three-quarters of New Zealand families, make student loans interest free, put half a million people into a superannuation scheme, it takes a bit of managing,

So what is the next step for public services in New Zealand?  It is a good time to take stock of the changes made in the last eight years. I am not one who believes that everything is perfect in the public service, but the answer is not a randomly chosen cut in funding.

What we need is to work with the public service to create a culture where services are clearly aimed at finding solutions for communities and individuals to support them in their daily lives. This will mean bringing services closer to people and enabling communities to drive the programmes that support them. Average citizens have the right to be involved in decision making about the services that effect them.

It will also involve acknowledging that most problems the public service addresses are messy. A family in crisis will rarely have their problems solved by one intervention. It might require support for housing, health issues, parenting, finding work and many other areas. Government agencies are not always good at dealing with these complex problems. Ministries and departments still all too often exist in silos.

We need to re-look at the legislation that controls and directs the public service (such as the Public Finance Act and the State Sector Act) to see how it can be changed to break down the silos, get officials to work together better and focus on the needs of the public. This will involve using new technology and adopting flexible work practices.  

It is easy to say that they should just be able to get on and do this. But observers only need to think about their own workplace be it a newspaper, a bank or a bar and think about how hard it is to get people from different sections to change the way they work or think about each other’s roles. For our public services, multiply that difficulty many times over. But it can be done. We need to give public servants the mandate to think creatively, support them to take some risks and trust them to implement programmes.

If you are looking for a future vision you could do much worse than some of the proposals put forward by DEMOS, the UK think-tank contracted by the PSA in 2006 to look at where public services might go.  They talk about future public service that is based on community development, meeting the publics need and innovation. That seems to be a far better base to move forward from than populist attacks on public servants,

John Key may still think of the public service as Jim and Beryl from Gliding On,  Life has moved on, public servants are hard working and focused.  The chance is now there to take the next steps to innovative, flexible, community services that play a positive and practical part in our daily lives.

Posted in Social Justice and Wellington.  |   0 Comments

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