Northland job seeker is supporting calls by community leaders for more money in the Budget towards jobs and housing in Northland.
Photo / Michael Cunningham
Northland job seeker is supporting calls by community leaders for more money in the Budget towards jobs and housing in Northland.
Photo / Michael Cunningham
Job creation and long-term affordable housing must be the priority for Northland in the next round of Budget allocations to be announced this week, the region's community leaders say.
As all eyes are on Finance Minister Grant Robertson's Budget delivery tomorrow, the chief executives of 155 Community House in WhangāreiLiz Cassidy-Nelson and the Northland Chamber of Commerce Stephen Smith were among community leaders who commented on what help they thought should come Northland's way.
According to the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), the number of Northlanders receiving the Job Seeker benefit as a proportion of the working-age population at the end of April was higher compared with other regions around New Zealand.
Figures show 11,154 Northlanders or 10.7 per cent of the working-age population were in receipt of that payment — an increase of 2072 since the end of February.READ MORE:
Pikimaui Stone is among thousands of Northlanders looking for work and popped in for a job interview at People Potential in Whangārei yesterday after returning from overseas.
He applied for the role of youth coach and said job creation in a low socio-economic region such as Northland was critical, especially post Covid-19.
The 21-year-old worked for a year as a Latter Day Saint (LDS) missionary in Tahiti before coming back home in the last week of level 4 lockdown.
"I really enjoy being engaged with youths as a lot of them come from troubled homes and it's about motivating them. More job opportunities would be really good and hopefully the Budget caters for that," he said.
People Potential chief executive Bronwyn Ronayne said hopefully the review of polytechnics around the country did not push her organisation - that employed 80 staff in Whangarei, Dargaville, and Kaikohe and more than 1000 students - out of the tertiary sector.
She said jobs were vitally important for Northland and People Potential was hiring eight youth coaches to fulfil a contract it had with MSD.
The Northland Chamber of Commerce CEO said not only should there be more job creation but those already working should upskill themselves through a range of free and paid courses in their area of work.
"Job creation is really the crux of everything, but long-term Northlanders should get into the habit of learning and there's really no limit as to what we can do in terms of upskilling ourselves," Smith said.
He wants to see a continuation of the Government's wage subsidy but on a more targeted basis for workers who either could not get or could partially get back to work.
Cassidy-Nelson said a lack of long-term affordable housing was affecting the homeless, those who sleep in cars, and in overcrowded homes and garages.
Liz Cassidy-Nelson of 155 Community House wants the Government to fund more long-term and affordable housing in Northland in its Budget.
Photo / Supplied
She said 63 rough sleepers in Whangārei had been moved into motels while another 39 were on the waiting list.
The Government initiative in Whangārei is spearheaded by 155 Community House, Kāinga Pumanawa, Ngāti Hine Health Trust, and Kahui Tu Kaha.
"There's very little options outside motels. Couch surfing and people living in cars is also homelessness because they don't have a place to live and these are the poor cousins and the services provided to them have never been funded properly.
"A rise in benefit and funding for support providers like whanau and social services going forward is what we are asking of the Government. The things we do, we do it really well. We just want to be recognised for our work," she said.
Phillip Balmer, chief executive of Mahitahi Hauora, said while the record investment of nearly $4 billion for district health boards has been announced ahead of the Budget, the concern was what level of that funding would make its way to primary care.
If historical examples were anything to go by, he said public expenditure on primary care including pharmaceutical has decreased, from 38 per cent in 2002 to 30 per cent in 2017, while public expense on secondary care has increased from 53.3 per cent to 65 per cent over the same period.
Phillip Balmer says integrated services between primary and hospital-based care will help improve health outcomes in Northland.
Photo / Peter de Graaf
Balmer said the Social Security Act that stipulated every New Zealander should have access to free healthcare unfortunately did not include primary care, and that has resulted in fragmented rather than integrated services between primary and hospital-based care.
A different funding formula between the two has not helped either, he said.
Hence, Balmer said there were unmet needs for primary care due to cost, transport, or the ability to get an appointment.
"The historical barriers to healthcare due to these financial barriers within the Northland community means that many whanāu simply have no tradition of attending a family doctor but rather putting up with their condition as long as possible until they arrive in the emergency department often in a dire condition."
Northland mayors are also lobbying for much-needed government funding for the Big Five infrastructure projects in Northland.
Earlier this year, the mayors jointly launched Kia Kaha Northland to campaign for a four-lane expressway from Whangārei to Auckland, fast tracking of rail link from West Auckland to Whangarei, a $240m dry dock in Whangārei, and an expansion of Northport.
"Decades of neglect by successive governments means we entered the current crisis with higher unemployment and worse poverty than elsewhere.
"Now COVID-19 and the drought have truly knocked the stuffing out of our crucial tourism, agriculture and horticulture industries, risking an economic and employment calamity," they said.
