Our future lies within our young people: Pat Handcock

The council has a role to play in creating better pathways for our young people, Palmerston North city councillor Pat Handcock says. Photo / Kevin Bills Media

OPINION

With long-term plan submissions closing on May 9 and hearings and deliberations to come, it is a busy time for council staff and elected members. There are many pressures on budgets and we need to resolve infrastructure deficits. I look forward to hearing what you have to say.

For this column, I want to talk about an issue that is important to me, and it should also concern everyone in our community — the wellbeing of our young people, our tamariki and rangatahi.

Towards the end of last year, I submitted a notice of motion asking the council to conduct a Youth Wellbeing Forum in early 2024, complete a sector-wide scan of the youth sector, and also look at options for adopting a youth wellbeing plan for the city.

Palmerston North has experienced, like everywhere else in New Zealand, an escalation of incidents involving young people, more so in recent years. Understandably, these issues have drawn widespread concern throughout communities and within the Government.

The council hosted the Youth Wellbeing Forum in early April, and it was well supported by about 100 people who work in the youth sector. Participants included representation from government organisations as well as those who work in non-governmental organisations.

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It was clear there are many organisations and people in our city who work extremely hard, and are dedicated to getting better outcomes for our young people. They do amazing work.

There is general support for better collaboration and collective impact, more cohesion and information sharing, as well as more certainty around funding. The full report on the forum is on the council’s agenda for Wednesday.

As chairman of the Safety Advisory Board, I often hear commentary critical of government services — that if they did their job the problems would go away.

If we rely on that approach, we are always reacting.

Government agencies (primarily the police and Oranga Tamariki) then rely on case management to find better outcomes for the young person(s) they are dealing with.

The more cases, the more resources are required, and eventually they are working beyond capacity. As neighbourhoods, communities and a city, how do we get in front of these issues so we invest in initiatives that nurture and create better pathways for our young people?

The council has a role in this — not the lead, but a definite role. We have a legislative requirement under the Local Government Act to support social, cultural, economic and environmental wellbeing.

The cornerstone of our future lies within our young people. For me, it is obvious where we need to focus our efforts.

Pat Handcock is a Palmerston North city councillor.