President's
Report 12 December 2015 Janet Robin
Tēnā kōutou katoa, Greetings everyone.
The lack of affordable housing, and the
government's attack on state housing, has been a major issue this year. Deaths of State Housing tenants, including a
small girl, due to poor housing conditions such as mould and lack of
insulation, hit the headlines early in the year. Increasing numbers of
individuals and families are becoming homeless, living on the streets or in
cars, garages etc. And yet the
government continues to sell off state housing.
Several of our members attended a meeting
in Glen Innes in February, which had been called to set up a national network
of housing activists. A new organisation was formed called the State Housing
Action Network.
Around this time the National Party
Minister, Nick Smith was addressing a public meeting in Henderson, and some of
our members picketed this meeting.
Keith and myself became the delegates for
West Auckland for SHAN. Unite Waitemata gave its full support to SHAN and to
this West Auckland branch. As West
Auckland SHAN and Unite Waitemata we
worked hard to distribute flyers, petitions, and posters, contacting the local
media, and calling a public meeting in Henderson. The meeting was well
attended, with a large contingent from Glen Innes present, and some people from
local housing and community organisations, political parties, and community boards. Despite this initial burst
of energy and enthusiasm, the level of energy and commitment to this type of
activism was not sustained throughout the year. I planned to do a screening of
the film "A Place to Call Home", at one of our branch meetings; but not
many people attended and the video player didn't work.
Unite Waitemata renewed its action around
housing towards the end of the year, when some of our members participated in
the hikoi for housing, organised by the
Child Poverty Action Group, Auckland Action Against Poverty, and others.
Attacks upon beneficiaries have escalated, with
many reports of appalling treatment of beneficiaries at WINZ offices. Since the
shooting at a WINZ office in Ashburton at the end of2014, WINZ offices now have
security guards at every door.
The extra $25 per week for families on benefits,
included in this year's budget, came after strong public pressure to do
something about poverty, poor housing, and homelessness. Most beneficiaries see
it as being too little too late.
For much of this year we have met at a room
on the grounds of the St Lukes Church, in Mt Albert, because of a large increase
in the cost of hiring a room at the Avondale Community Centre. The Mt Albert
room was much cheaper, and quite comfortable, but some people found it
difficult to get there, and attendance dropped off. Some of our members are
currently looking for another room for 2016.
After the Australian Government passed
draconian laws preventing people from getting welfare benefits or tax concessions
if they didn't vaccinate their children, our branch voted to oppose this, and
to oppose our government doing anything similar here, should it wish to do in
the future.
Our members have attended several rallies
and demonstrations about the TPPA, Climate Change, Refugees and other issues.
I have continued to help people with
issues with WINZ.
Our two facebook groups are still going
reasonably strong- the Waitemata Unite Group, and the Unite Waitemata Community
Page. Not much has been posted on our website
http://waitemataunite.blogspot.co.nz
however I recently edited the page slightly and changed some of the
colours. We can still be contacted at unitewaitemata@gmail.com.
I
recently attended the 2015 Unite National Conference. Some of the security
guards at WINZ offices are members of Unite. A delegate reported that they work
under poor working conditions and don't feel safe. Gerard Heihir , the Secretary of Unite,
reported that he had spoken to the PSA, as instructed by a remit introduced by Unite Waitemata to
the 2014 Unite National Conference,
and passed at that conference. The
remit asked him to talk to the PSA about supporting the rights of beneficiaries, and opposing the
welfare cuts; in order to create safety
for both beneficiaries and case managers at WINZ. However, apparently the PSA
told him that their focus was on security, rather than prevention of problems by
creating good relationships and supporting people's human rights.
Recently it was revealed that Work and
Income had been wrongly starting the payment of people's benefits a day late
whenever they enrolled for a benefit since 1998. So some people have applied for a refund of
their missing days' pay, and are starting to get paid for this. It is still
possible to get some money back up till January 8th 2016, but the Government
has now passed a law preventing people getting their money back after that. More information is on the Waitemata Unite Group
page on Facebook, and on the page Claim
Your Missing Day from W@I.
Some of us recently attended a picket of
the National Party end of year party , in Te Atatu, organised by Auckland
Action Against Poverty.
Our activism reduced a little in the second part of the year. Our core group remains committed and we will continue to meet in 2016.
