RCV Policy on Reducing harms

Our families deserve an environment in which social harms are reduced. We have advocated fearlessly on behalf of our community and will continue to push for a safe and healthy community environment.

• We will launch a drive towards making Mt Roskill/Puketapapa Auckland’s first pokie-free community. 
• Building on the success of smokefree playgrounds we commit to delivering smokefree parks in Puketapapa/Mt Roskill over the next three year term.  
• We support a sinking-lid approach to the number of off-license liquor stores in our community and more effective controls to prevent abuse of the rules. 
• Work to build relationships with Pacific and Maori wardens to develop a presence in Roskill. 
• Tackling graffiti by ensuring that it is removed immediately, and prevented by the installation of high quality anti-graffiti murals. Work with local community on mural design.  
• Work to make Roskill a synthetic-cannabis free zone. 
• We know that poverty and inequality are the root cause of many issues in our community. We will work to ensure that all of our people receive a fair go through policies such as the Living Wage and provision of good quality affordable and social housing.

The Living Wage - It's about fairness

The Roskill Community Voice campaign is all about winning a fair share for Roskill. Local people deserve the same access to Council services and facilities, we should have our voice heard on important issues, and everyone in our community should have the right to the basics - healthy housing, proper healthcare, and a good start in life.

If we don't aim for those things in our local community then what are we here for?

Pledging our support for the Living Wage last week

The Living Wage is central to all of this. Over 200,000 children in New Zealand live in poverty. A large proportion are actually living in households where parents are working. The problem is alive and well in Roskill - particularly in our Pacific and migrant communities.

The costs of ignoring the problem are huge. We know that poverty increases the incidence of costly diseases, of crime and imprisonment, and of dependence on the welfare system. It all costs real money to 'fix' these problems, and it's not where we should be as a community.

We think that it's time to start at the source of the problem - households simply not having enough money to get by on. It simply makes no sense to allow the problems of low wages to fester, ans then to subsidise it at the back end through public spending. This is where the Living Wage comes in. It's a simple concept that says that people should earn enough to get by on (modestly) and participate in society.

Auckland Council is considering its position, and on the Puketapapa Local Board we have given our support. In the Board's closest vote of the term, both Julie Fairey and Michael Wood supported the Living Wage, and it succeeded on 3-3 split vote with the Chair's casting vote deciding matters. 3/4 C&R members voted against.

The Living Wage is not just about feeling good. It also makes economic sense. People who get paid a fair wage are able to spend more locally, supporting local businesses. Organisations in the UK who pay the Living Wage report big savings as their turn-over rates drop. Here in New Zealand companies like the Warehouse are coming on board for this reason.

It's time for Auckland Council to come to the party. There is a financial cost, but it is relatively modest. It can be paid for out of efficiencies and reductions to increases in executive salaries.

Last week we formally pledged our support to the Living Wage campaign and will actively work to make it happen if re-elected. It's about fairness.

Our submission on the Sky City deal legislation

Here is our submission to the Select Committee considering the legislation that will enable the Sky City convention centre-for-pokies deal to happen.  You can read the legislation itself, and make your own online submission, here.  The Greens also have a quick online form to make a submission that may be easier for those who want to show their opposition but don't have a lot of time.

Submission on the New Zealand International Convention Centre Bill

1.     Roskill Community Voice is a political organisation, established in 2010. which contests local body elections in the Puketapapa Local Board area, part of Auckland Council.  We are part of City Vision, and as such are endorsed by Labour, the Greens, and community independents.  We are currently represented on the Puketapapa Local Board by Julie Fairey and Michael Wood, and are running a full slate of six candidates for the 2013 elections, including Fairey, Wood and four others; Garth Houltham, David Holm, Harry Doig and Shail Kaushal.  While we are endorsed by both Labour and the Greens we set our policy independently and this submission has been primarily written by Julie Fairey, who is a community independent and not a member of any political party.  We have also had feedback from our community in the Puketapapa area and further afield in Auckland which has informed and aligned with the views expressed in this submission.

2.    Roskill Community Voice has taken a strong stance against the proliferation of pokies since our very beginning.  We have consistently advocated for measures that will reduce the number of pokies in our community and in Auckland; including a sinking lid without relocation for Puketapapa and the Auckland region.

3.    In 2012 Board member Fairey moved a Notice of Motion for the Puketapapa Local Board to oppose the Sky City Convention Centre deal on the basis that it would increase the number of pokies in Auckland.  This Notice of Motion was amended, and passed unanimously by the Board, including the following clause specifically on the deal itself:

“That the Puketapapa Local Board supports a new international convention centre for Auckland, but does not support any deal that  would result in an increase in gambling machines in Auckland,  including an increase in any venue, in accordance with our position on gambling machines in our 2011 Local Board Plan.”

4.     Roskill Community Voice does not support the international convention centre deal, even with the reduction in pokies that has now been agreed.  We consider the business case for the International Convention Centre weak and flawed, in particular the reliance on an increase in harmful pokies and electronic gambling tables, as well as an increase in casino space, to secure Sky City’s funding for the construction.  In a very short period of time the limited public benefit of not paying for the cost of construction will be overtaken by the very real public costs of gambling harm.  Any ongoing jobs created are likely to be much lower than the estimates given in the media, as shown by comparable developments in Australia.

5.  We specifically object to the 35 year licence guarantee, which inhibits future governments and council from measures to limit the harm from the casino, by requiring multi million dollar compensations to Sky City.  This is not only a bad way to make law it also undermines the sovereignty of future Parliaments.

6.  We further object to the expansion of gambling for a business which returns a far smaller share of its revenue to community projects than other outlets whose facilities are being (properly) reduced.  Casinos pay a very small portion back to the community and make very large profits, as well as causing significant harm to individuals, families, businesses and communities.   

7.    We also hold very real concerns about the process by which this legislation has come about.  The tender process was not sufficiently transparent, with Sky City appearing to be favoured early in the process.  In addition subsequent negotiations between the Government and Sky City do not seem to have delivered a very good deal for the Government party, perhaps in part because key Ministers and the Prime Minister were vociferous in their support for such a deal to the point where it became politically necessary to them for a deal to be concluded with Sky City, to the detriment of their bargaining position.

8.    Roskill Community Voice feel strongly that this is a deal that is being imposed on Auckland by Parliament, which is clearly not wanted by Aucklanders and is the equivalent of a whole new casino in our city.  It is in direct contradiction of the wishes of many communities, Local Boards and the Governing Body of Auckland Council.  We submit that the legislation should not proceed.

9.      We would like to appear to speak to our submission and request that the Committee travel to Auckland to hear submissions.