E muamua ona ou ta le vai afei ma ou fa'atulou i le paia lasilasi ua fa'atasi mai. Tulou ou ponao'o Samoa i le afio o Tupu ma E'e. Tulou ou Faleupolu. Tulou auauna a le Atua. Ou te fa'atalofa atu i le Paia ma le Mamalu o le aso.

Taloha ni, Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Ni sa bula vinaka, Namaste, Kia orana koutou katoatoa, Ia Orana, Gud de tru olgeta, Talofa, Kia ora tatau and Warm Pacific Greetings to you all.

I would like to acknowledge:

- my colleague the Honourable Clatyon Cosgrove, Minister of Statistics;
- New Zealand Olympic Ambassador Danyon Loader;
- Ann Hodson from the Cancer Society of New Zealand;
- Cathryn Ashley Jones, Acting Government Statistician;
- Garth Nowland Foreman, Chair of the Advisory Committee for Study of the Non-Profit Sector;
- And all of our friends from the community and voluntary sector.

Today is a great day! We are celebrating the release of information that will have a major impact on the way we view New Zealand society.

The people who brought you the staggering fact that we have approximately 97,000 non-profit institutions in New Zealand, have today launched a report with even more interesting and revealing facts and figures.

For the first time, Statistics New Zealand's Non-Profit Institutions Satellite Account gives us an idea of the economic value of the non-profit institutions that, for so long, have been an integral and absolutely invaluable part of the economic and social fabric of this beautiful country of ours.

As Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, this is a day I have been looking forward to with great anticipation.

This Satellite Account is packed full of information that we have all needed for a very long time. And it confirms what we know about one aspect of our national identity that we are a nation of givers.

For the first time ever, we now have a measurement of time given by volunteers to non-profit institutions.

More than one million volunteers gave more than 270 million hours of unpaid labour to non-profit institutions in 2004.

When valued at a market wage, the value of this voluntary labour increases the economic contribution of non-profit institutions to $6.95 billion or 4.9 per cent of GDP - similar to the contribution of the entire construction industry.

But that said, it is important to note that there's a whole realm of voluntary activity that is not included in this Account, and that is "informal" volunteering.

This term describes those of us who help our elderly neighbours clean out their guttering, or take our neighbour who can't drive to the supermarket.

It is also important to reinforce the fact that the "value" of volunteers is not solely economic the gifts of humanity, relationships built, community caring and connections we make as volunteers are unquantifiable. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't measure what we can, which is why the Satellite Account is so wonderful to have!

One of perhaps the most important aspects of the Satellite Account is that while it is Stats New Zealand that has done the hard slog to produce this Account, the robust and pertinent data it contains is due to a tremendous collaborative effort between Stats New Zealand, the Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector and the Committee for the Study of the New Zealand Non-Profit Sector, which is made up of community people.

The Committee, supported by the OCVS, has provided the forum for rigorous and extremely important debate that has enabled Stats NZ to draw on the best minds and expertise in this area to produce the best outcome possible.

This collaborative model is to me the way we best use the resources and the extraordinary expertise we have available within the sector and government.
When the sector, government agencies, researchers, and where appropriate, business and corporate interests come together to solve a problem or create a new initiative, that is when we see the best outcomes for our communities, and therefore for New Zealand as a whole.

The Labour-led government is committed to building respectful relationships with the sector and that is what the Statement of Government Intentions for an Improved Community-Government Relationship is all about.

There are many examples now of that relationship improving. Not that we are there yet we know that but we are all trying.

So thank you to all of you who contributed to this very important and significant Satellite Account on Non-Profit Institutions.
We are all richer for the information we now have available to us. Let's go away from here and start putting it to good use.

Meitaki Maata.

ENDS

Super-Wards: Commission Proposes New Boundaries For Auckland

The Local Government Commission presented its proposals on the boundaries and representation arrangements for the new Auckland Council today.

Under the Local Government (Auckland Council) Act 2009, the Commission is required to determine boundaries for the new Auckland Council, wards and local boards, ward and board names and the number of members per local board. More>>