Steve Tollestrup

Key to the success of the new local boards will be their relationship with community groups. For Future West community based organisations and groups are absolutely vital to ensuring local democracy thrives  and meaningful engagement  and accountability is in place. A commitment to community partnerships is a core promise we are making to the Waitakere Ranges voter.

You can expect Citizen’s and Ratepayers to come out with all sorts of wonderful promises of support for local Community groups. Beware – facts on the ground are very different.

Citizens and Ratepayers on the Auckland City Council denied $80,000 for community assistance on the same day they voted in $36 million extra dollars for Rugby World Cup events. Among those who had received cuts from  Auckland Sexual Abuse HELP Foundation Charitable Trust; Cystic Fibrosis Assn of New Zealand, Auckland, Laura Fergusson Trust for Disabled Persons Auckland Inc.

Expect cuts to local Charitable funding from a C and R dominated local board or City Council. These will include community welfare, education, sports, arts, and environment. Cuts will hit particularly hard the elderly and unemployed who presently enjoy access to many local programmes provided by Waitakere based charities and churches.

This is no exaggeration. You do not need a crystal ball. We can all see the future by looking no further than C and A’s National Party minders; cuts to enviroschools, Combined Beneficiaries Union, community education and pre-school education just for starters.

Future West is committed to your community voice through a strong partnership with local Waitakere Community based organisations.