Auckland Justice and Peace Commission – NZ Catholic Newspaper

Akld commission calls for decent society with participation

NZ Catholic Staff — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 22:20:00 +0000

Auckland diocese’s Justice and Peace Commission has called on the Government to accepts its responsibility to focus on building a decent society where everyone has enough to participate fully, not just “building a more productive and competitive economy” to the possible detriment of the wider community. The commission made this call in a submission to Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Select Committee, in response to the Government’s

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Living wage parish blitz

Michael Otto — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 03:18:15 +0000

Auckland diocese is sending out 11,000 pamphlets which set out Catholic arguments for having a Living Wage in New Zealand. The pamphlets are published by the Social Welfare and Anti-Poverty Committee of the Auckland Catholic Justice and Peace Commission. NZ Catholic understands that 1000 of the pamphlets were given to participants at the World Youth Day Experience in Auckland on July 30-31. The other 10,000

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Bishop joins trade protest

NZ Catholic Staff — Sun, 22 Mar 2015 20:00:08 +0000

by NZ CATHOLIC staff Palmerston North Bishop Charles Drennan denounced the secret negotiations of the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement as he marched with hundreds of protesters on March 7. The partnership (TPPA) is a proposed regional free trade deal between 12 countries in the Asia-Pacific region: New Zealand, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore,

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Voters asked to make child poverty key issue

Rowena Orejana — Tue, 12 Aug 2014 21:30:24 +0000

by ROWENA OREJANA AUCKLAND — Children’s Commissioner Dr Russell Wills has called on voters to make child poverty top of mind when pollsters ask them what they are concerned about the most. Speaking before the Economic Inequality: Effects on Children and Families Forum held by the Auckland Justice and Peace Commission on July 15 in

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‘God’s Earth’ under the spotlight

Rowena Orejana — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 21:20:20 +0000

by ROWENA OREJANA
AUCKLAND — The Environment and Sustainability Committee of the Auckland Justice and Peace
Commission is calling on parishes to run a programme about Catholic social teaching on care for the environment, called “God’s Earth”.
Committee chairperson Mary Betz said Catholics are not used to thinking about the way our faith should influence our lifestyle. Dr Betz has studied ecology and has
a PhD in theology.
Dr Betz said Catholic teaching on the environment is relatively recent and was brought to the
forefront by Pope John Paul II. “We have heard about labour, poverty and other social justice issues. It is only in the last several decade that we began to hear about the environment,” she said.
“The last three popes — John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis — have devoted significant words for the care of the the environment. Our own bishops have put out their
own statement on the issue.”
The programme has four sessions. Each session includes prayer, Catholic teaching and quotes about the environment, video clips, Powerpoint presentations, activities, reflections and ideas for actions.
“The idea was to give people a beginning understanding of environmental issues, particularly
climate change and its environmental and social implications,” said Dr Betz.
In one quote, Pope Benedict XVI points out, “Our present crises — be they economic, food-related, environmental or social — are ultimately moral crises, and all of them are interrelated. They require us to rethink the path which we are travelling together.”
Dr Betz said that although New Zealand is a small player when it comes to carbon emissions, “It doesn’t excuse us. We still have one of the highest emissions per capita.” Carbon emissions are largely blamed for climate change that has caused environmental harm through rising sea levels and increased storm intensity, she said.
“Our Catholic social teachings call on us to take responsibility and not to put others, especially those who are poor, in danger of rising sea levels as a result of climate
change,” she said, noting there is an increasing number of climate refugees, people who have lost the land they live on to the sea.
Dr Betz said people in First World countries live “as if there are four Earths. It’s not as if we have more Earths future generations can use.
“We hope that after the sessions, there will be a change in lifestyles so that we don’t consume more than our share of resources and that we don’t contribute more carbon pollution than our Earth can absorb safely,” she said.

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Budget fails the poorest say Catholic agencies

NZ Catholic Staff — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 21:30:30 +0000

by NZ CATHOLIC Staff
WELLINGTON — Catholic organisations have criticised the government’s
2014 budget as failing to provide for “the poorest in the communities” and recognising economic inequalities in New Zealand.
Although they welcome the budget’s $500 million package of support for families as a first step towards recognising the needs of vulnerable members of the community, they said the government
missed the mark when it comes to issues such as affordability of food, power and accommodation, including the provision of safe, warm and healthy homes.
Wellington Justice, Peace and Development chairperson Shane Olsen said the concern is that the budget focused more strongly on middle income earners, when the children living in poverty are children of low income earners.
Caritas director Julianne Hickey said the Catholic agency was looking for formal recognition by the Government of the need to address inequality and poverty.
“We are disappointed in comments by senior ministers in Parliament’s question time … and the Parliamentary Budget debate that the Government rejects the view that inequality is widening in
New Zealand,” she said.
The Auckland Justice and Peace Commission noted that although some
attempt had been made to help in the care of children, the Budget does not creatively engage the community to raise the standards of the poorest New Zealanders.
Chairperson Shane Coleman said an extra $20 million to combat New
Zealand’s high rate of rheumatic fever, a disease associated with poverty, was welcome. “That sort of measure, and other programmes such as the increased funding for community budgeting services, are to be applauded and are definitely a step in the right direction.”
But, he said, Catholic agencies such as the Society of St Vincent de Paul, and low decile Catholic schools, see the effects of poverty daily and report unprecedented demand for social services.
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Affordable housing urged

Rowena Orejana — Tue, 20 May 2014 22:02:44 +0000

by ROWENA OREJANA
AUCKLAND — Auckland diocese’s Justice and Peace Commission is asking the Auckland Council to double its provision for affordable housing in its new unitary plan.

Norman Elliot

The commission wants the planned affordable housing allocation
to be 20 per cent, not the current 10 per cent.
While there have been some developments towards easing housing supply in Auckland, the issue of affordability has not been
addressed and this a concern for the commission, spokesman Norman
Elliot said.
Mr Elliot chairs the commission’s Affordable Housing Committee.
“There might be more houses being built, more housing sites
made available, but the majority of them are still beyond the reach
of people with modest income,” Mr Elliot said.
“They can’t afford to buy their own home. And so at least if the
council makes it a requirement to include some affordable housing, it would be one more step to ease the problem initially,” he said.
Under the unitary plan, when a new development contains more
than 15 dwellings, at least 10 per cent must be affordable housing.
However, the unitary plan also said the fraction will be disregarded.
“That means out of the 15, only one would be an affordable house,” Mr Elliot said.
The average house price in Auckland is between $700,000 to
$750,000.
“This is way beyond the means of many families. The proportion of families able to own their own house is decreasing,” Mr Elliot said.
The committee also pointed out that the Auckland Council’s proposed requirement that those applying to buy into affordable housing must have one member of the household employed on at least a part-time basis is discriminatory.
In its submission, the committee said “many people working 20
hours a week on minimum wage have the same net income coming into their household as those on a benefit. It may be thought that
beneficiaries have better access to state rental housing than those
with an income from working. In the experience of the members
of the committee, that is not the case.”
Mr Elliot pointed out that affordable housing is enshrined in Catholic social teachings and in the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
The committee raised the same concerns about affordable housing with
Minister of Housing Nick Smith in a letter in December last year.
However, Mr Smith has yet to reply.
The minister’s private secretary, Amy Moorhead, the minister
is “extremely busy”.
“As I am sure you can appreciate, the Minister receives a great
deal of correspondence in his roles as Minister of Conservation,
Minister of Housing and as the MP for Nelson.
“The Minister prefers to respond to correspondence personally but,
due to his extremely busy schedule and ministerial responsibilities, it is not always possible to respond as quickly as may be anticipated,” she said.
“I can assure you that your correspondence has been placed before the Minister for his consideration and you may expect a reply in due course. I have marked Mr Elliot’s correspondence for his
urgent attention.”

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