Hon Georgina te Heuheu

Minister of Pacific Island Affairs

3 December 2009
Media Statement

Auckland to reap benefits of Pacific input

Pacific people are guaranteed a voice in the reform of Auckland’s governance, Pacific Island Affairs Minister Georgina te Heuheu said today.

The Minister said she was pleased that Auckland, with the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world, would get its own statutory Pacific advisory panel.

“They will have their own input into Council decision making and that is to be applauded,” the Minister said.

Two-thirds (177,933) of Pacific people in New Zealand lived in the Auckland region at the time of the 2006 census. Manukau City had the highest count (86,616) of people of Pacific ethnicity in cities and districts.

New Zealand’s Pacific population is young and diverse with an average age of 21 years compared with almost 36 years for the total population. This age structure and growth rate means that Pacific success is critical to New Zealand’s success.

"This presents a valuable opportunity to not only celebrate the diversity of Pacific cultures as a unique dimension to Auckland city, but also to harness the goodwill and effective engagement of what is our most youthful and fast growing population,” she said.

"A statutory mechanism that has the capacity to genuinely engage the Pacific population, and that has a high level of certainty to it is far better than leaving Pacific representation to chance," the Minister said.

“Future projections of Pacific population growth support the notion that what is good for Pacific peoples will be good for Auckland.

"One of the strengths of the Pacific people is their strong sense of family, and of the ties that bind them together in communities here and across the Pacific," Mrs te Heuheu said.

“The unique mix of history, proximity, community ties and longstanding diplomatic and defence links creates for Pacific people here in New Zealand, a special place, which it is important to affirm. Including them in the new governance arrangements in this way does just that.”

ENDS

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