TĒNĀ KOUTOU E TE WHĀNAU O TE PŪKENGA HERE TIKANGA MAHI,

Welcome to the Local Body Elections edition of Te Mahinga Ora.

In it you’ll find a wealth of information to help you as you think about how you will vote in your local body elections, which are running from Tuesday 9 September to Saturday 11 October.

By voting in elections for our city, district and regional councils we can have our say on things important to our communities like the provision of libraries, pools, community centres, recycling and rubbish collection.

As members of the union representing 12,000 local government workers, and a union that advocates strongly for well-funded public and community services, we have even more reason for taking an interest in whom we elect.

Some of the things you may want to think about when deciding how to vote include: do the candidates support public services? Are they calling for council job cuts? And, do they want to privatise council assets?

In this issue, you can find the pledges PSA is putting to candidates across the motu, asking them to commit to acting in the interests of our members, our communities, and our environment. We also profile some of the PSA members who are standing for election.

In many parts of the country, electors are also being asked to vote on the retention of Māori wards. As a union honouring te Tiriti o Waitangi, we support Māori having fair representation across all our governing bodies, including local government.

Māori wards help affirm rights guaranteed to Māori as tangata whenua under te Tiriti o Waitangi by ensuring Māori have representation on councils. Māori wards also help bring communities together to add different perspectives and knowledge, so our councils can make better long term decisions for everyone.

You can read an insightful discussion of the benefits of Māori wards, in the Last Word column written by former Local Government Minister Hon. Nanaia Mahuta.

Another issue we profile in Te Mahinga Ora that is likely to spark debate in many local elections, will be the issue of councils paying the living wage. Many councils have introduced the living wage for workers, which has made a big difference to community wellbeing. But the Government’s pressuring of councils to save money puts living wage initiatives at risk, so you may want to check out where candidates stand on this important issue.

Local councils have a large part to play in protecting our environment and the PSA’s Eco Network shares some ideas in a column on page 24 on how your vote matters in the fight to protect te taiao.

There are several important issues we need to decide on at these elections. It’s important each of us make sure our voice is heard by voting. Please take the time to register and vote, and encourage your friends and whānau to do so as well.

Finally in this issue of Te Mahinga Ora we farewell Kerry Davies, who retired in August after serving six years as National Secretary and after 40 years in the union movement.

I want to thank Kerry on behalf of all members for making a huge contribution to the union movement and for workers. She leaves the PSA in good heart to keep up its advocacy for members when it is needed more than ever. We wish her well on her next adventure.

Ngā mihi,
Virgil D. Iraia