This had occurred all over the country because the Government wanted to spend less to get the budget back into surplus, she said.
Funding was disproportionately spent on government priorities.
“I am a strong believer that government funding needs to follow what the community needs are. There is a strong move by the Government at the moment to restrict funding to Government priorities.
“The Ministry of Social Development has basically said they want all the funding to go towards victims of violence and vulnerable young people. That leaves a lot of people out. All the needs of the community need to be addressed.”
This included the need to better support homeless people here, she said.
“No one should be homeless in a place with such rich natural resources.”
Supporting Our People, Our CommunityMs Logie helped hand out meals to people with the homeless support group Our People, Our Community on Tuesday evening. She will write a letter supporting the organisation’s application for funding.
“It is always good to support people who have identified a need and are responding to it. The Government needs to get behind groups like this more often.”
New businesses here also needed better support.
“The number of unemployed in the region is a pretty clear indicator that something is not right. I do not think it is about Gisborne, this place has a lot going for it.
“The people are really innovative and there has been some good ventures into things like forestry and wine-making. But we need to have a government policy that really gets behind regional economic development and listens and responds to new initiatives because, clearly, that has not been happening.”
Low voter turnout here for local and central government elections was an issue she discussed with district councillor Meredith Akuhata-Brown. It was important that everyone’s voice was heard.
“We talked about how more support was needed to make sure all people felt they were able to be heard and listened to, at local and central government levels.
“A lot of people think we go off into these buildings and
make these decisions and do not care what they want.
But that is the only reason we are here.”A potential way to encourage people to vote and have their say could be to fund positions within local and central government to support democratic participation, she said.
“In one place in America there is a whole agency dedicated to encourage democratic participation. They go out to people in a community and say the council would like to hear what you think of this plan, and help people write submissions.”
They also talked about a need to help new community-based businesses that would provide job opportunities for people and living wages.
“In the current environment, it is hard for new businesses to get started and have a fair go, and changes to employment law have made it harder for people to negotiate decent wages.”
The Tairawhiti Mixed Fortunes action-group told Ms Logie many people have been marginalised here. They were trying to help these people, she said.
“The group is looking at lobbying the Government to improve local services and help people have their voices heard.
“These are issues policy makers need to look at. I am interesting to hear how that goes and whether there is a message the Green Party can adopt.”
