Research

We need more funding and resources, if we need to see changes happening fast. The idea that how can people on the ground be able to influence people in all walks of life. Governments should be quickly acting and giving money to these organisations, and they should not be thinking that they are experts just because the make the policies.

A simple thing for me, to put money where the needs are. In the last 18 months, we have put $18m into suicide prevention. Not a cent gone toward men, yet 74% are male.

Māori suicide rate is 17 per 100K. Male is the same rates. Specific funding for Māori, none for men. There should be funding for Māori, but if you look at numbers, you should also be funding for men as well. Māori suicides take up 24%. Men take up 74% - so there should be financial focus there. There is some overlap on those stats. Much of the money given to Māori, the majority is female focused. Young Māori men have tragically high suicide rates, we measure per 100K. with Māori men, it's getting to one in 5000.

Doing more [creative communities and events to support connection and storytelling] would require spending more time, forming a trust and getting grants.

For example, you have to already be an organization to apply for funding.

For example, in certain situations and organisations, under 20% of funding going there is going to Māori/Pasifika communities which is not good. So, again, people who don’t get the benefits they should get this makes them feel not belonged, and even then they make not speak up about it.

We’d like funding as well, to get our kids back [who have been taken by CYFS].

Invest the same amount as you do in able communities. [disability related]

The corporate world tends to support child cancer, which is really important, but disorders like Tourette’s will never get corporate support.

The Lange experiment of breaking up the Councils and putting them in one area, has really failed the provincial towns. Kerikeri gets all the money and the other towns are neglected.

Funding is going to Māori leaders; it’s not being dispersed. We all know it. It’s not been dispersed equally. We have to meet a certain criteria, but we come from here. I’d rather earn my own money.

We need a redistribution of wealth that favours the wellbeing for all, rather them having to be on the sideline. Our borders are closed now, but I would like a redistribution of wealth, so NZers could go where they want to go.

We live in this capitalistic system, and there’s not a lot of support. I have a lot of sympathy for those who have fallen through the cracks, people who are seen as worthless.

with [xxx] and the people we work with, one of the big things is to lift benefit levels, to livable incomes. Where you honour all the unpaid and volunteer work people do in their communities. Currently they’re experiencing poverty because they don’t have incomes.

The universal base income.

Paying the living wage to everyone, including beneficiaries - actually, paying a universal basic income

I think that's not just migrant communities, but it's also people who are on the dole. Not giving them enough support. There’s a lot of discrimination and judgement on people who are on it, people who are struggling and not on the living wage. Even the living wage is not enough. Being anyone on the benefit they just don't have that support.

In Māori and Pacific and lower income and non- Māori it is income and financially driven. They need help to manage. We have one of the highest rates of unemployment. The urban drift. We have a community of people who do strive and want to get better but are not at a point where people are comfortable to come forward and get help that is there – to get help for managing money. Giving them the kaha, the strength, to go somewhere and ask for help. Rather than do that they will get into this cycle.

In the workplace. We do still see people who are disabled, who have Muslim sounding names, who wear hijab, Asians who have Chinese names, Vietnamese names — they don’t get called for a job, they don’t get offered a job. Employers can always say, ‘we found a better candidate.’ Not sure what is happening in NZ, but to say there are no discriminatory practices in NZ is not true.

I need to find a place where I can use my potential in a way that I can make a living out of it, then I will feel complete.

Need employers who are more open to hiring employees with a disability.

Some of these people are highly educated people who want the chance to use their skills, some of which this country really needs. Such as medical skills (xx's wife). How can our country make it easier for the people with skills we’re really in need of, how can those barriers be removed so that we can use the skills that we need and those people can make a contribution and feel valued. That’s what we need.

Easier to participate in the community. Remove employment discrimination, so that employers are willing to employ me to use my postgraduate qualifications and experience for paid employment (max 2 hours per day).

The last company I worked for said they were diverse because they hire migrants. But these people are just as capable as doing the job as anyone else, but they shouldn't be hired to make your company look diverse, but because their skills are on par with everyone else.

For every new person [in a job], you need to set up buddies assigned to them. You can have cliques [at work] as well. And that’s hard to get into as well.

Many people are not getting chances because of race. My husband should have gone ahead but other people were promoted. The company lost a lot of business when he left. He had all the relationships. They know he was one of the best. He blames race. Now he’s keeping the money and working for himself. People have mortgages and so they put up with it for a long time [ie they won’t leave a work situation of discrimination because of financial pressures]. You can’t go and say “you’re not giving me this [promotion] because of colour".

Self-motivation. At my workplace, there is a lack of appreciation. If a person gives his hundred or two hundred %, if you give verbal appreciation, it would help. I’m hearing that I have an attitude, I don’t know who is doing that. That is a new thing for me. People are back bitching kind of thing, I don’t know why they do. If I’m hearing like this about me, I started ignoring that thing, I have changed myself. Talking with people like [xx], I know I’ll feel relaxed and good. If I talk with [xx], I know I’ll be fine. There are some people who are jealous of me, I don’t know. That is not good for any individual. Sometimes it feels bad. You can’t concentrate on work, study. Here we have to do everything by ourselves, cooking and everything. If your mind is not stable, you can’t give your best. Someone who is readily available to give guidance. Dedicated staff at the workplace.

The profit motive invades everything. We need a different polarity in society, that’s not just about profit and making rich people richer. You’ve got Venezuela being embargoed during a pandemic. Cuba sending doctors around the world, and being vilified.

That’s a lot from capitalism.

Societal pressures cause tribalism, and wanting to blame another tribe for their problems. But stress causes this [the problems]. The solution is we need to step away from an economic growth model. I try to articulate this from the pulpit, things like gratitude, and simplicity - learning to live with less. The easiest way to lower stress is to lower expectations [emphasised word].

Recognition that real poverty in NZ is an adult problem and not just a child problem.

Ratana Dasa [this is what it sounded like but can’t find anyone of that name], his book: talks about economic violence. If someone deprives someone else of the material needs of their existence for gain, that is violence.