Local Government (Electoral Legislation and Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill 2024

Summary

• The Salvation Army Te Ope Whakaora strongly opposes this Bill and asks that the Select Committee recommend that Parliament does not proceed with this legislation.

Background

1. The mission of The Salvation Army is to care for people, transform lives and reform society by God’s power. The Salvation Army is a Christian church and social services organisation that has worked in New Zealand for one hundred and forty years. It provides a wide range of practical social, community and faith-based services nationwide.
2. The Salvation Army employs almost 2,000 people in New Zealand, and the combined services support around 150,000 people annually. In the year to June 2023, these services included providing around 83,000 food parcels to families and individuals, providing some 2,300 people with short- or long-term housing, over 4,000 families and individuals supported with social work or counselling, around 6,600 people supported to deal with alcohol, drug, or gambling addictions, around 3,500 families and individuals helped with budgeting, court and prison chaplains helped 3,300 people.
3. More than 40 percent of the people with whom The Salvation Army works identify as Māori. Every day, the disempowering impacts of marginalisation of culture and identity are visible in the services provided. Our organisation is learning how taking a Te Tiriti-based approach in all levels of decision-making and service delivery empowers and heals Māori and all those we work with.
4. This submission has been prepared by the Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit (SPPU) of The Salvation Army together with Te Rūnanga o Te Ope Whakaora. The SPPU works towards the eradication of poverty by encouraging policies and practices that strengthen the social framework of New Zealand. Te Rūnanga o Te Ope Whakaora provides shared governance under a partnership model between tangata whenua and tangata tiriti within The Salvation Army Te Ope Whakaora. This submission has been approved by Commissioner Mark Campbell, Territorial Commander of The Salvation Army’s New Zealand Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa Territory.