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Pacific Wardens Funding Will Improve Coordination - Auckland Councillor
Teuila Fuatai, RNZ Pacific Senior Journalist
Community leaders say a funding injection for Pacific wardens could pave the way for a national structure similar to the Māori wardens model.
Pacific wardens are volunteers who provide support at big community events and activities. They operate in different parts of the country, including Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland and Waikato.
Among this year's budget announcements was NZ$1 million in funding for the Auckland Pacific Wardens Trust. The funding has been allocated over four years, with the trust due to receive $250,000 per year to co-ordinate the service in Auckland and Waikato.
Long-serving Auckland councillor Alf Filipaina and Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti discussed the potential impacts of the funding at a community event on Wednesday in Māngere, Auckland.
Filipaina said the funding would enable training for volunteers and would improve co-ordination between different groups of wardens across the city.
"It will really get them radios, communication... jackets, so when they are deployed anywhere around Tāmaki Makaurau, they know where they come from."
It would also help support wardens through petrol vouchers and phone cards, he said.
In 2010, Filipaina was one of four community leaders who brought together different Pacific warden groups across Auckland into one co-ordinated service.
Filipaina said this year's multi-year budget funding announcement was particularly significant for building capacity in the Pacific warden service.
He believed there were between 100 and 120 Pacific wardens in Auckland currently.
"You could utilise this money to build that capacity, even a national Pacific wardens organisation," Filipaina said.
"We're starting [with] this region [and] Waikato. I think there's [Pacific wardens] in Christchurch. But…we need to bring all those together, that's the key thing…and on a very similar model [to] the Māori Wwardens.
"Because why should we start looking at another model when their model works?"
Māori wardens have been operating in communities across the country for more than 150 years. They have legal responsibilities under the Māori Community Development Act 1962, and work in a range of ways, including by providing emergency management, being present at big events, and supporting whānau in the justice system.
Reti said he wanted to see Pacific wardens providing support across different types of community activities and events.
"My expectations are to have increased visibility of Pacific wardens in the community - not just at events, but generally in the community," Reti said.
"I would like to think that that could go beyond that, from the one-off big events to day-to-day, weekend-to-weekend presence and visibility of the Pacific wardens, where they could be most utilised and most valued."
RNZ
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