OFFICE FOR SENIORS HUI CALLS FOR DIVERSITY AND MULTICULTURALISM IN NZ POLICY-MAKING PROCESS

 

AN ETHNIC WORKSHOP CALLS FOR DIVERSITY AND MULTICULTURAL INPUT IN STRATEGIES AFFECTING THEM

Thakur Ranjit Singh

[A hui/workshop called in collaboration by the Office of Seniors and The Asian network Inc (TANI) overwhelmingly called for ethnic voices to be heard in policies and strategies affecting them. The ethnic elders/kaumatuas lamented remote control implementation by those lacking understanding, empathy, social appropriateness, and cultural sensitivities  from mainstream bureaucrats sitting in Wellington.

This hui in Auckland provided a grand opportunity to hear from the “horses ‘mouths”, metaphorically speaking. It is hoped the collated outcomes would be effectively utilised, rather than being just another talk shop , that some  seniors felt such workshops have degenerated into.

We are thankful to Wellington for their support and appreciative to the Office of Seniors, Joint Venture and TANI. Please read on for a media perspective…..]

 

The people behind the workshop. (L-R) VISHAL RISHI, Director, The Asian Network Incorporated (TANI), DIANE TURNER, Director, Office for Seniors and SARAH from Joint Venture.

As Kaumatua Uncle Harding commenced his opening Karakia and blessings, one could feel the cold wintery air seeping through a few partly - open windows into the Beeson and Henderson Rooms of Onehunga Community Centre in Auckland.

 

This was heralding Aucklanders some cold news on the first day of official winter on 1 June 2021. Uncle Harding, who was born in a small, picturesque settlement in Hokianga, Northland, however  set a warm tone for the day with a very inspiring and energetic talk.

 

Karakia and Blessings being presented by Kaumatua UNCLE HARDING

This was the venue for a collaboration hui (workshop) organised by The Asian Network Inc. (TANI) with the Office for Seniors  and Joint Venture  where a phenomenally successful and fruitful strategy consultation took place.

This gathering included over fifty community leaders and elders of various depths and lengths which reflected diversity of Aotearoa. And the workshop was equally blessed with the presence of Director of Office for Seniors, Diane Turner and Sarah from Joint Venture, both of whom flew in from Wellington for this important consultative event. TANI’s Director, Vishal Rishi was thankful for their presence, and thanked all for taking time out on the first cold day of winter to attend this important forum.

 

The Multiracial Kaumatuas/Elders

The hui was intended to hear the voices of key ethnic and migrant communities and learn from their  wisdom to contribute to the National Strategy and Action Plans. These strategies are meant to support Kaumatua/older people to enjoy their life without any family harm in Aotearoa. And the gathering went a long away in assuring that. The hui took  the form of a facilitated interactive workshop and  focused on what needed to  happen to eliminate family violence and elder abuse in our communities, especially ethnic and diverse ones.

Presentation being made to the Multiracial Kaumatuas/Elders

Representatives from Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Korean, Bangladeshi and Fiji were represented along with a number of service providers.

The  hui provided an opportunity to the ethnic community leaders to have their say in the Vision, it's principles and key seven action areas of the strategy. The message there was that there appeared to be a lack of ethnic and diverse views in implementing things for those who needed to have an input in methodologies in the first place. Hence we were honoured to address that shortcoming. 

VISHAL RISHI, TANI Director (left) with SARGEANT GURPREET ARORA, Family Harm Partnership Liaison Officer, NZ Police.

 Vishal Rishi , Director of The Asian Network Inc. (TANI) said:

We will hold more of similar huis or workshops in the future as ethnic communities’ voices are still missing from a number of national initiatives and there are not enough resources allocated to ethnic communities according to the population size. TANI has been actively advocating for putting more resources in prevention spectrum of health rather than an abundance at bottom of the cliff.

This view was also echoed by participants who called for more workshops , seminar, and education campaign for prevention of issues at source. The voices called to attack the symptoms from voices of those who were affected rather than receiving cures from “outsiders”. Among other things it was also suggested to work with Te Whare Tapa Wha Model and recognise and incorporate the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.

 

Presentation being made to the Multiracial Kaumatuas/Elders by Vishal Rishi

While the workshop notes are being collated by the workshop team, I hazard to present some advance points which I noted as a journalist. These are not exhaustive and are not necessarily official position of the workshop but are mere journalistic observations to raise awareness, our concerns and interest in such initiatives.

 

Presentation being made to the audience by DIANE TURNER from Office for Seniors

It was observed that in trying to increase the focus on prevention, among others, it was needed to create awareness through culturally appropriate methodology and language , with community led approach, supported by ethnic and social media.

VISHAL RISHI with representatives from Kashmiri Association and Pakistan Association of New Zealand. 

It was heard that government responses could be improved through coordination and cooperation within various community organisations working as a team rather than as competitors. It was also recommended, among others, that workforce needed to be strengthened to respond to family harm through recruitment, training, and promotion of diverse multi-cultural staff. At the same time, the mainstream social workers needed to be educated and coached in cultural and religious appropriateness and sensitivities to provide  efficient, but more importantly, effective services. And such changes , as past experience has shown, could be brought by lobbying through community organisations.

 

Hui in progress under watchful eye of DIANE TURNER

The manifest or main reasons for this hui is to develop out vision framework and strategic action plans which are being collated. However, the latent and perhaps the greater side-line or hidden functions of such workshops is to bring remarkably diverse and often isolated community leaders in a room where they make personal contacts to work in collaboration with their various respective organisations.

Same thing happened with my Waitakere Indian Association Seniors and Fiji Girmit Foundation NZ hats which I wore, to organise some community-based workshops with contacts that were made. Similar developments also eventuated with others.

 

Two ladies who flew in from Wellington to a road-clogged Auckland to make this workshop possible (L-R) DIANE TURNER and SARAH

We are therefore thankful to the Office for Seniors and TANI for these very fruitful and productive opportunities. Indeed a day well spent and would further prove rewarding from the final output. Vinaka.

 

[About the Author: Thakur Ranjit Singh is a journalist, Secretary of Waitakere Indian Association Seniors, and a Founding Trustee of FIJI GIRMIT FOUNDATION NZ. He is a volunteer grassroots community journalist, who covers community, especially ethnic, Indian, Pacifica and Fiji Indian issues generally overlooked and ignored by the mainstream media, generally lacking diversity, empathy and sensitivity. Thakur runs his blog, FIJI PUNDIT which endeavours to fill this vacuum]