Damien O'Connor talks with community service providers

June 2nd, 2011
[by David Armstrong]

Labour Member of Parliament and Mahana resident Damien O'Connor discussed his party's core policies and listened to the concerns of local community workers at the monthly Community & Whanau meeting yesterday.

Twenty three people, most representing community service agencies, gave Damien a good hearing and appreciated the passion with which he spoke of what he sees as a national lack of strategic planning needed to address problems arising from an increasing socio-economic gap between Kiwis.

"If we don't address these disparities, at some point there will be a reaction borne out of desperation" by those left behind, he said, citing changes in taxation which have made poorer people worse off while richer people are paying proportionately less. He described himself as "frustrated" by his present inability to influence government policies.

The feedback he has been getting over many years tells him that the Kiwi sense of "community responsibility" of past times is being continually diluted and replaced by a reliance on "individual responsibility", where people are focusing on looking after themselves and their families and believing that everyone else should just look after themselves.

Our communities are not accepting responsibility for situations where, for example, New Zealand is now 29th out of 30 OECD countries for protecting children from abuse - "an outrageous statistic", Damien said.

He described John Key as a good day-to-day manager, but his previous job as a currency trader reacting to short-term events meant he had never had to work to a long-term strategic plan, which is showing in the government's handling of social issues which lack a strategic view.

He said Labour is seeing some of the policies popular in the past are no longer working, and the party is looking at new ways of dealing with the resulting problems.

He outlined some resulting key election policies including a "fairer" taxation structure (including the first $5000 tax free), a minimum wage of $15/hour, restoring community and adult education, returning early childhood education assistance to previous levels, a focus on support for children in their first five years, and no state asset sales.

Damien believes that the state should not be chipping away at core social services by contracting them out to private and voluntary groups, which can then be gradually starved of funds.

The liveliest audience discussion centred on ways of getting disadvantaged, and particularly mentally ill people, into meaningful employment and how raising the minimum wage would make this harder. Also some service agencies such as aged care, as well as small business owners who are also struggling to stay afloat, could be further hurt by raising wages.

Damien acknowledged that these issues would need addressing, possibly with other funding assistance, but New Zealand as a whole needed to "gear up the economy" overall as a longer term strategy to lift standards of living across the board.

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In its monthly roundup of community events, the group heard that, following a successful trial, the Family Service Centre is now providing budgeting seminars at Community Link every first Wednesday of the month from 1-3pm, open to anyone wanting help with budgeting.

The Salvation Army reported a rise in the use of its food bank, now that orchard work is coming to an end, and said that more donated food would be appreciated.

St Thomas Anglican Church is preparing a seminar for people over 65 to provide information on what entitlements they have. It will be run later this month. And Motueka's Amnesty International reported with pleasure that one of the political prisoners which it has been supporting in Myanmar has been released, adding to one other that was released late last year.

Comment by Mark Scales:
[Posted 5 June 2011]

Damien's passion is what sets him apart from other political representatives. This is what has been missing from local and national politics.

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