Policy Watch – Whanau Ora Special Edition 7 May 2010

Whānau Ora on the road

Community groups working with families will have a chance to ask questions about the planning underway for Whānau Ora at a series of hui being held around the country between 10- 31 May 2010.
Whānau Ora takes a whole-of- family approach that aims to reconnect and strengthen people and their whanau so they, themselves, can find real life solutions to improving their health and well-being.
The Honorable Tariana Turia, Minister responsible for Whānau Ora, will be presenting an update at 12 regional hui around New Zealand as per the schedule below. Her presentation will be followed by a joint one from the three Government agencies involved in the first stage of its implementation: Te Puni Kōkiri, Ministry of Social Development and the Ministry of Health.

Each information hui will last for two hours with presentations followed by an open discussion.
Community groups and people interested in finding out more about Whānau Ora are invited to attend.
Full details of dates, times and venues are listed below.

Monday
10 May 10.30am-12.30pm Kingsgate Hotel Hamilton
100 Garnett Ave
Forest Lake
Hamilton

Monday
10 May 2.30pm-4.30pm Rydges Hotel,
Fenton Street
Rotorua

Tuesday
11 May 9.45am-11.45am The Spire Pavilion
Cobham Oval
Okara Drive
Whangarei

Tuesday
11 May 2.30pm-4.30pm Manurewa Marae
81 Finlayson Avenue, Manurewa
South Auckland

Wednesday
12 May 9am-11am Tahuna Function Centre, 70 Beach Road, Tahunanui
Nelson

Wednesday
12 May 2pm-4pm Nga Hau e Wha National Marae,
250 Pages Road,
Aranui
Christchurch

Thursday
13 May
9am-11am Ascot Park Hotel
Cnr Tay Street and Racecourse Rd
Invercargill

Friday
14 May 10am-12pm Grand Central Hotel
42 Powderham Street
New Plymouth

Monday
17 May 8.30am-10.30am Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, Todd Park,
3 Heriot Drive
Porirua City

Monday
17 May 2pm-4pm Gisborne Hotel
Cnr Tyndall and Huxley Roads
Gisborne

Thursday
27 May 9.45am-1145am Shakespeare Room
HB Opera House
101 Hastings Street South Hastings

Monday
31 May 10.30am-12.30pm Function Centre, Whanganui Racecourse, Purnell St
Whanganui

Background Information

On 6 May the government announced “that Whānau Ora will receive $134.3 million in funding over the next four years” in Budget 2010. The first wave of 20 Whānau Ora providers will be selected through an Expressions of Interest process beginning next month. The Minister for Whānau Ora Tariana Turia also gave a speech. “We seek to minimise fragmentation, to reduce compliance and transactional costs, to encourage provider collaboration, to establish coherent and integrated services and to be motivated by the goal of positive whānau development.”

In a press release from Minister Bennett we learnt that $120 million previously ring fenced as part of the Pathway to Partnership fund will be made available to social sector providers through Whānau Ora. Shortly after the government announcement we expressed our support for kaupapa Māori provision of social services in an NZCCSS press release. “The Māori Party and their National Government partners are to be congratulated in developing a more holistic approach to supporting whānau. We hope that this approach is applied across the wider social services sector”. Read more…

The government is aware that there is a high level of interest in Whānau Ora and how it will work in practice. It recently released a questions and answer document to try to address some of the most common queries.

The recent announced on Whānau Ora are the government’s response to the recommendations in the Whānau Ora: Report of the Taskforce on Whanau Based Initiatives released in April 2010. More information on the Taskforce is available on the MSD website.