Our built, natural and social environments are saturated in political decisions.
Those decisions reflect priorities: what gets resourcing, what gets protected, who get what opportunities.
These historical decisions are why there’s an approximate $100 billion infrastructure deficit in this country, felt profoundly in our neighbourhoods throughout the Auckland Anniversary floods.
They’re why we have the greatest rates of wealth inequality on record, contributing to challenges with social cohesion, crime and, obviously, child poverty.
It’s why the many hard-working and incredible migrants who contribute to our city and communities are unnecessarily fighting through a callous and inhumane immigration system which, as your local MP, I have the privilege to support them through.
But the past does not define our future.
Aotearoa New Zealand has been the international petri dish for many a ‘radical’ economic transformation: in the 30s and 40s with the social safety net and in the 80s and 90s with the concerted effort to shred that social contract.
In 2023, in the face of these climate change charged weather events and recent IRD and Treasury research showing the wealthiest in this country pay a lower effective tax rate than the average Kiwi, we are presented with the clear choice to transform public and economic policy once again to meet the challenges of our time.
I saw the consequences of current, systemic exhaustion in the faces of local Principals I met recently to talk about challenges in the education sector.
They pleaded for cross-partisan accord on resourcing to ensure adequate staffing and ratios for our teachers to teach and kids to learn. They lambasted that the curriculum has become such a political football.
They spoke about their schools, understandably, being the catch-all for community stress, fatigue and complexity.
While we can and should fund our schools properly, the underlying drivers of the problems landing in (or not, as school absence figures also point to challenges with) our classrooms are economic.
They speak to deprivation in our communities – not just of resources, but of time and a constant bombarding of the ‘unprecedented’ (think pandemics, flooding and now record inflation) eroding bandwidth.
The Police, our business associations, bars and venues tell me the same thing. People are tired and stressed.
Resilience isn’t a commodity you can buy off the shelf. It’s a community trait. It’s the safety that comes with knowing our neighbours and being able to spot and prevent unacceptable behaviour through accountability and responsive public services.
It’s the support that comes with having time to invest in relationships with friends and whānau. It’s the innovation that comes from high trust for community-minded people testing ideas like community patrols and activating public spaces for celebrations of who we are, like Ponsonby Market Day.
It's why, as the speeches in Parliament reflect, I was disappointed with the Government Budget in mid-May.
It chose not to transform, but to tinker. While we can celebrate the wins of extended free and half-price public transport, early childhood education for two-year-olds, homes insulation and the waiving of prescription fees, the underlying drivers of many of our social ills remain.
They are inadequate incomes, crumbling public infrastructure and insecure housing. The Greens, as always, keep taking that fight to the halls of power.
While we continue to grapple with the outcomes of this economic model in Auckland Central, doing everything to support and advocate and help people navigate the system, we also continue developing our own community solutions.
Whether it’s supporting teachers in their fight for fair pay and conditions, our firefighters in getting the resources for a station rebuild, wrangling council and Government to restore the St James, For the Love of Bees community gardens, Sunday Blessings, our Māori Wardens or local businesses in getting outdoor dining, we should never discount our own grassroots power to change our world locally. (Chlöe Swarbrick)
Chlöe Swarbrick, T: 09 378 4810, E: chloe.swarbrick@parliament.govt.nz
www.greens.org.nz/chloe_swarbrick
#ponsonbynews #iloveponsonby #ponsonby #auckland #aucklandshippestrip #onlyponsonby #ponsonbyroad #Greylynn #freemansbay #westmere #ponsonby #hernebay #stmarysbay #archhill #coxsbay #westernsprings #chloeswarbrick #thegreens #greenparty #aucklandcentralMP
29 May 2023