Hon Luamanuvao Winnie Laban's Speech – Fono 2006

Talofa lava [Samoa]. Malo e lelei [Tonga]. Fakalofa lahi atu [Niue] Ni sa bula vinaka [Fiji]. Namaste [Fiji Indian]. Kia orana [Cook Islands]. Ia Orana [Tahiti]. Gud de tru olgeta [Papua New Guinea , Melanesian] Taloha ni [Tokelau], Talofa [Tuvalu] Kia ora tatou [NZ Māori], Warm Pacific greetings to you all here today.

Acknowledgements

Thank you Pefi for your warm introduction.

To Eseta and the Pacific Islands Food and Action Group thank you for the invitation to speak today, I'm delighted to have been asked to come back to your national fono.

Also, welcome to our other speakers Doctor Debbie Ryan, Kaye Dennison, Malia Hamani as well as our regional health workers and stakeholders.

I would also like to thank our communities' church ministers, Reverend Namata, thank you for your opening prayers this morning, and our other ministers who have taken their time to support this fono.

Today's national fono comes following the continued work of the action group as well as their partner the Agencies for Nutrition Action. Together over the last four fono, they have covered issues such as obesity and Pacific people, and the wellbeing of our families.

One community based programme – the Matavai Mo'ui 'o Lotofale'ia programme at the Mangere Tongan Methodist Church – addresses one basic element of our community's health and wellbeing: having quality drinking water.

Matavai Mo'ui o Lotofale'ia is just one example of programmes undertaken through the Counties Manukau District Health Bard's Lotu Mo'ui grants scheme for local churches – and also an example of how fono like Tino Lelei can inspire any group to strive forward to improve wellbeing for our communities.

However, the programme does more than just work to improve water quality. Matavai Mo'ui o Lotofale'ia was thought up, planned and executed within the church community.

This programme shows that our communities are leading the way in strengthening themselves and advancing their own wellbeing.

I'd like to congratulate the Pacific Islands Food and Nutrition Action Group and also Margie Fepulea'i from the Counties Manukau District Health Board for your combined efforts in improving the health outcomes for the local community.

I would also like to acknowledge other Pacific people who are leading the way in food and nutrition related issues: Dr David Schaff, our first Pacific epidemiologist, who is part of the team addressing Pacific obesity; and Tapa Productions who produced a DVD and set of resources with the NZ Food Safety Authority, public health representatives and people from Pacific communities in Auckland and Porirua. The 'Umu Pasifika' booklets were produced in different Pacific languages and aimed to improve knowledge about food safety. These resources have proven to be successful and 'hit the button' with out people, especially the mascot Feleti.

Today we celebrate our older Pasifika people and the importance of unity with our families, communities and cultures.

Our older Pasifika people are the foundation on which our communities are built. They are the ones who, not only, navigated our journeys from the Islands to New Zealand – but also navigated our communities through their formation. Through leadership in aiga, church and in the community – our older Pasifika people navigated us to the porition we are in today, and it is in this context that we know who we are, and we know where we come from and where we are going.

Five years ago, this Labour-Led Government launched the New Zealand Positive Ageing Strategy. The strategy covers 10 goals that look after our senior citizens in terms of: income; health; housing, transport; safety; culture; our rural older peoples; positive attitudes towards older peoples; work opportunities; and community.

To support the New Zealand Positive Ageing Strategy, the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs is working on building interaction between the older and younger generations. We recognise that language is a valuable tool, which our younger people need and our older Pasifika people can deliver.

To this end, as part of Budget 2006, Hon Phil Goff and I announced that over the next three years, the Labour-led Government will spend $600,000 on a programme to revitalise the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau languages that are at risk of becoming extinct in New Zealand.

The 2001 census found only six per cent of Cook Islanders, 12 per cent of Niueans and 30 percent of Tokelauans born in New Zealand could hold an everyday conversation in their mother tongue.

The people from all three island groups are New Zealand citizens and the centre of population of each group is now in New Zealand.

Those languages risk being lost within the next 30 years if cultural knowledge and language skills cannot be maintained and passed onto younger generations. Given the small populations still resident in the islands, this puts the culture and language heritage of these areas at risk.

At a practical level it also allows people to fully participate in symbolic family and cultural activities, which in turn helps build strong, confident communities.

Our younger Pasifika people need our older Pasifika people to teach them and guide them through learning our Pasifika languages.

Helping Pacific languages to survive and flourish is an important part of New Zealand's identity as a Pacific nation, which is why the government set up and funded the National Pacific Radio Trust, which, in turn, launched Niu FM, New Zealand's first national Pacific radio network. Our Pacific people like to express ourselves in our languages through the 'talkback' programmes on local community radio stations – including my mother who is a regular contributor to Samoan Capital Radio in Wellington.

Earlier this year the Senior Citizens Minister, Hon Ruth Dyson, announced a number of initiatives to support our older people.

Superannuitants with a spouse or partner in long-term residential care are now eligible to be paid the single, living alone rate of New Zealand Super.

That equals more than $3000 per year for a superannuitant living alone, or over $2000 a year for a superannuitant sharing with another person.

This government also celebrates our older people who give their time working as volunteers for aid agencies overseas. From 1 July volunteers working abroad for aid agencies qualified for up to three years' superannuation payments.

The health of our older Pacific people is another area our government is focusing on.

Since July 2004, everyone aged 65 or over enrolled with a Primary Health Organisation (or PHO) has been eligible to get cheaper visits to their family doctor or nurse. And everyone aged 65 or over enrolled with a Primary Health Organisation now only pays a maximum of $3 for prescribed medicines that are fully subsidised by the government.

This year's Budget added $750 million to the total Health Vote. Over the past seven budgets we've undertaken the largest public hospital building programme in New Zealand's history, lowered the cost of doctor's visits for many New Zealanders and put our communities back in charge of how health dollars are spent.

On Saturday mornings, at the Porirua Market in my electorate of Mana, many ordinary Kiwis come up to me and tell me how the quality of their lives has been changed by the policies of this Labour-led Government.

The Housing Renewal Project in Porirua East is improving the quality of daily life for many families, large and small, and for our older people. This Government is making our families more safe and secure. Fundamental to that is having a decent home.

More than 2,000 homes will be added to the state housing stock over the next four years, and we are increasing investment in housing partnerships with local government and community organisations.

The Labour-led government is committed to strengthening New Zealand families, young and old, so that all New Zealanders are able to maintain active, fulfilling lives, and participate fully in our communities. We want all New Zealanders to have the support they need to be secure.

I'm proud to be part of a Government who recognises that our Pacific communities are a strong and vital part of the total New Zealand's national identity. I'm also proud to be part of a Government committed to increasing the wellbeing and opportunity for our Pacific families, particularly our Pasifika older people.

Congratulations on your efforts to date and your continued commitment to the Tino Lelei Fono and this year's theme: Celebrating our Pasifika Older People.

Ia Manuia lava.