Community and voluntary groups should play a direct role at the highest level of local government in Auckland, says Community Waitakere.
Deputy chairwoman Rachael Trotman urged the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Auckland Governance to establish a regional social forum that would appoint people from the community sector
to relevant committees at regional level.
The role of these paid appointments would be to advise on social issues and act as conduits between regional government and the community sector. They would have speaking rights, but not necessarily voting rights.
She said business interests had long had access to local government decision-makers and the commission offered the opportunity to address the "invisibility" of the community sector.
"The voices of those who work directly with the vulnerable and disadvantaged in our communities, and with local people generally, rarely get heard at decision-making tables."
She said the forum would be funded by the regional council and central Government with representatives from the community, philanthropic and academic tertiary sectors.
The forum would also raise and debate social issues in the region, and link the community sector across Auckland.
One of the commissioners, Dame Margaret Bazley, a former chief executive of the Ministry of Social Policy and Director-General of Social Welfare, asked if the forum would take a strategic view on social issues, including a vision for children, the elderly and migrants.
Rachael Trotman said the forum would take a macro view of the region. Some councils were doing work on social issues, but people in communities were being addressed unevenly.
