Speech: Turia - Recession in the Midst
te-pati-maori
Thu May 07 2009 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Speech: Turia - Recession in the Midst
Thursday, 7 May 2009, 2:35 pm
Speech: The Maori Party
Te Wai Pounamu Alcohol and Drug, Mental Health, Gambling and other Addictions Connections Hui
Thursday 7 May 2009; 11am
Hon Tariana Turia, Associate Minister of Health
Recession in the Midst
On Tuesday, the Timaru Herald led with a shocking headline, “Recession mental health warning”.
In a context in which South Canterbury social services were recording a rising demand for food parcels; Peter McGeorge, the chairman of the Mental Health Commission, was warning that up to a quarter of all New Zealanders could develop mental health problems as the recession bedded in.
He referred to a base of international evidence which made a connection between increasing levels of unemployment and financial hardship, and rising tides of anxiety, depression and substance abuse.
In short, unemployment is bad for your health.
This works in two ways.
Firstly, people in poor health tend to be unemployed.
And secondly, all people, regardless of their health status, suffer from poorer health outcomes when they become out of work.
Of course it’s not just labour market outcomes that we need to look at.
The relative income levels of our communities position us differently to face the recession.
The most economically deprived communities already present with the poorest health outcomes. It is these communities that have higher rates of smoking and alcohol use, and unsurprisingly, it is these same communities that have higher rates of cancer and heart disease.
Poverty is one of the highest determinants for health outcomes.
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When the question is, shall I get bread and milk to feed the kids, or pay for my regular health check, the answer is inevitably food on the table.
Nutrition suffers, resistance drops, breeding hopelessness under the strain of financial tension.
And the results are quickly seen in your services – in alcohol and drug addiction; in problem gambling; in mental health.
It’s all connected.
And that’s the key.
Connections.
This hui, promotes the theme of recession in the midst, under the umbrella of the Connections Hui 2009.
It is a concept which we should not be surprised at, given the hosts of this hui.
He Oranga Pounamu has the mandate of Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu to not only care for the wellbeing of all Ngai Tahu whanui living within this takiwa; but also to all Maori residing here.
The driving force of He Oranga Pounamu then, is to encourage Mata waka involvement in the delivery and integration of health and social services in the Ngai Tahu rohe.
So when He Oranga Pounamu got together with ALAC to hold this hui, we should have known from the outset that this is an ideal opportunity to bring together mana whenua and manuhuri within the Ngai Tahu takiwa.
The challenge before us all, with the reality of recession upon us, is to rely on these connections, to strengthen and develop them, in order to create the collective will to draw together.
This is, of course, not a new idea.
Some of you may have seen a beautiful documentary last evening about the timeless waiata of Tuhoe artist, Kohine Te Whakarua Ponika. Kohine is known for her waiata which have become the stock of any proud kapa haka group in Aotearoa,
Her words and rhythms were inspired by the connections she made all around her - to the land, to the drip of a tap, to the precious knowledge of a past, to the tupuna she dreamed of, to the knowledge of the flora and fauna all around her.
She made your ears see, and your eyes hear, as the music expressed and reconstructed the traditions of her people
She connected people through time; through whakapapa; through love.
These are the skills and strategies we must now apply to the contemporary challenges facing all Maori living in Te Wai Pounamu.
These connections extend beyond to the peoples of Pacific; to tauiwi; to our refugee and migrant communities.
As Martin Luther King once said, ‘we may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now’.
These connections are inter-generational; they must bring together urban and rural; bound together in the language of rapport.
You might recall the activist catch-cry – if you have come to help me, you are wasting your time But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.
And so this is the appropriate time to bring to Te Wai Pounamu, an idea that I am extremely excited about – the aspiration of whanau ora.
When we, in the Maori Party, came to make the connection through a coalition agreement with the National Government, we did it with the vision of achieving significant outcomes in whanau ora.
What we have seen in recent years, are programmes which intervene too late – after the crisis has occurred; services which are fragmented and overlap with other competing services; and contracts which are limited by short term goals.
The outputs are prescribed for individuals rather than whanau; they are shaped around specific and immediate needs neglecting the wider perspectives that lead to transformation. Compliance costs are high and there is little opportunity for collaboration and cooperation because of the constraints of a competitive market.
We need to do things differently And we will.
My interest is in starting from the ultimate outcome of whanau ora.
I have no desire to set in train more contracts for providers; to place more demands upon agencies; to expect more outputs; more activity; more reporting.
I want to do everything that I can to enhance whanau wellbeing.
And I do so, bearing in mind the knowledge that social development is a powerful generator of the productivity that leads to economic growth.
It is social development that will lead us out of the recession.
And it will be whanau that carry us through.
And so the political innovation which we must see in responding to the global recession is very simple.
It is about strengthening whanau capabilities by an integrated approach to whanau ora. A whanau-centred response will integrate health, housing, social services, justice, employment, education and lifestyle as fundamental interests in preparing our pathway forward.
What I hope will result from this very important programme at this Connections Hui, is space and active promotion for interconnections and liberation.
We must apply the principle of connectivity and liberation to all we do.
All of you know the futility of focusing on the smokes; the drugs; the suicide attempts; the treatment in isolation and ignorance of other factors.
We know at Government level that there are distinct initiatives that can be achieved in creating healthier school playgrounds; in easing the burden upon families affected by redundancy; in clamping down on loan sharks; in retrofitting houses.
But just as it is inappropriate to focus on the individual and forget the family; we can only ever hope for partial success if we fix up the symptoms from one sector and leave the rest untouched.
Our solutions lie in the collective connection more than ever; the strength of all of working together for the common goal – whanau ora.
I urge you to stop focusing on the individual and their symptoms and to focus on the whanau and their solutions.
Let us share our similarities; celebrate our differences; enable every soul to be cherished, every whanau to bloom.
Tena tatou katoa.
ENDS
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