Hon Ruth Dyson
Minister for Social Development & Employment

18 September 2008 Media Statement

Pathway to Partnership safe with Labour

Social development Minister Ruth Dyson today warned social service providers that only Labour can be trusted to continue the existing strong partnership between government and the community and voluntary sector.

Ms Dyson received a warm reception as she outlined Labour’s vision for developing services provided to children and families at the Social Service Providers Association of Aotearoa Conference today.

The Minister described the investment that Labour will make to move essential services delivered by over 800 providers to full funding by 2012. But she made it clear that the initiative is not just about money.

“Pathway to Partnership is about changing the way we work together and work with families” said Ruth Dyson.

“Pathway to Partnership will demand that we all focus more on achieving outcomes and less on outputs or programmes. It will demand that organisations work together to reduce duplication, share ideas about what works and get more resources into what really makes a difference”.

Ruth Dyson also warned that the National party had made no commitment to continue either the funding or the partnership approach developed by Labour.

“Last year, when John Key talked about funding for the community sector, he spoke about allowing providers to include costs when putting together competitive bids for contracts. He said that it was unrealistic to talk about partnership in what was essential a contractual relationship.”

"Such an attitude demonstrates a lack of understanding how communities work, and how services can make a difference for vulnerable families”.

"In a corporate trading environment trust might not be a commodity, but in the world of social service providers trust and partnership are vital at every stage of engagement”.

ENDS

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