Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Growth in Tauranga's diversity a 'huge opportunity' says Labour MP

Sandra Conchie
By Sandra Conchie
Multimedia Journalist, Bay of Plenty Times·Bay of Plenty Times·
29 Apr, 2019 02:16 AM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Michael Wood, the Under-Secretay to the Minister of Ethnic Communities, was visiting Tauranga today to meet with several community groups.

The growth of cultural diversity in Tauranga offers a "huge opportunity" for the city to tap into this resource, says a visiting Labour MP.

Michael Wood, Under-Secretary to the Minister of Ethnic Communities Jenny Salesa, made the comment to the Bay of Plenty Times during his visit to Tauranga today. Wood is also the MP for Mt Roskill.

He was accompanied by Auckland-based Labour list MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan and locally-based list MP Jan Tinetti.

Wood was in Tauranga to spend time with several local ethnic community groups including Shakti, the Tauranga Sikh Society and the Tauranga Multicultural Council.

He also attended a Tauranga Migrant Settlement Network's meeting at the Bethlehem Baptist Church this morning and this afternoon will visit the Tauranga Mosque.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Visiting Tauranga was really important for us because we are very much aware of the enormous population growth in Tauranga generally, and within that the huge growth in diversity in the city," Wood said.

Tauranga was one of the places in the country where this was happening "more quickly" than anywhere else, he said.

"So we are really keen to be getting out and about to connect on the ground with the different community groups and agencies and learn more about their needs, and discuss any funding support that may be available to them.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"That's important so we understand what's the roadblocks and barriers are, and what we can do to work with these communities to assist and support them," he said.

"We have just been at the Tauranga Migrant Settlement network meeting and clearly there are a lot of good things happening to provide support and services to newer communities.

"But always tend to talk about the problems and challenges new communities face but I like to flip that around and say 'what it is the opportunity here?'."

Wood said in his electorate more than 50 per cent of residents were born overseas and it had developed into a "wonderful, dynamic, diverse, creative and energetic" community.

Discover more

New Zealand

'We're one country, and people all stand together'

16 Mar 06:00 AM

Tauranga united in grief over mosque shootings

17 Mar 04:00 PM

Dawn Picken: Thoughts and prayers are not enough after Christchurch

20 Mar 03:14 PM

Hundreds turn out for Multicultural Festival in Tauranga

23 Mar 06:37 AM

"I think that's the potential coming out of the diversity that's growing in Tauranga.

"It's going to be a huge resource for the city in the years to come that we have people from all around the world with different experiences, different connections and will actually help Tauranga to move ahead towards achieving that goal," he said.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

live
Bay of Plenty Times

Up to 50 people evacuated from homes after wild weather, clean-up begins

11 Jul 08:08 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Powerful example': Mum overcomes addiction to build a life helping others

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

Bay home crowd rallies behind netball's Magic

11 Jul 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Up to 50 people evacuated from homes after wild weather, clean-up begins
live

Up to 50 people evacuated from homes after wild weather, clean-up begins

11 Jul 08:08 PM

The North Island is expected to get off to a wet start this morning, with lingering rain.

'Powerful example': Mum overcomes addiction to build a life helping others

'Powerful example': Mum overcomes addiction to build a life helping others

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Bay home crowd rallies behind netball's Magic

Bay home crowd rallies behind netball's Magic

11 Jul 05:00 PM
Tearful hunter admits shooting and killing friend

Tearful hunter admits shooting and killing friend

11 Jul 05:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP