Wellington 2009

The Central region Drua fono was held on 8 April at the Westpac Trust stadium in Wellington. The Wellington fono featured a presentation by economist Suzanne Snively, a Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Suzanne delivered an excellent overview of the current economic environment and its impact on the community and voluntary sector.

View the programme from the Wellington fono.

The facilitator for the day was Fuimaono Karl Pulotu-Endemann. The programme included an update by Dr Monique Faleafa on work completed or underway with a focus on outcomes achieved. Papali’i Johnny Siaosi was also on hand to promote the upcoming National Pacific Consumer and Families Recovery Conference on 7 and 8 May in Auckland.

Simi Tuiavi’i, Service Manager from Maninoa Community Care Trust, delivered a presentation on the services the Trust provides. This was followed by a presentation by Taima Fagaloa from Capital and Coast DHB. Taima talked about some of the challenges for the sector in the Central region, uncovering some of the “elephants in the room”. Issues such as the relevance of “for Pacific by Pacific” services in the current environment and given the current Pacific demographics. Taima’s engaging and challenging presentation was a nice lead-up to the feature presentation in the afternoon by Suzanne Snively.

Suzanne outlined, in an engaging and accessible way, some of the key factors involved in the current world economic recession. She explained how these factors may impact on Government priorities and also impact on society as a whole. She predicted with more families under pressure financially, and in distress, there will likely be an increase in demand for mental health and addiction services. Suzanne also said that this was the best opportunity for a major restructuring and reprioritising in terms of placing wealth where it should be and the current situation may force people to think and re-evaluate what is most important in life. These were a few of the many gems in her presentation that really resonated well with the fono attendees.

Another special guest at the fono was Dr Apisalome Talemaitoga, the Chief Advisor Pacific Health at the Ministry of Health. Dr Talemaitoga joined Suzanne Snively, Vito Nonumalo and Dr Monique Faleafa on a panel and open forum discussion. The floor was then opened for questions relating to Suzanne’s presentation and how the sector might respond to improve services and the workforce in the region. A full report of the key themes discussed and other findings from this fono will be compiled and released on our website.

A copy of Suzanne Snively’s presentation notes is available on request by contacting Manase Lua.

Page last updated: 29 April 2009