E nga iwi, e nga hapu o Te Arawa waka, tenei nga mihi nunui ki a koutou.  Rau rangatira e huihui mai nei, tena koutou katoa.

Tangihia ra ratou, nga aitua o nga marae maha huri noa te motu. Haere, haere, koutou.   Tatou, nga kanohi ora, Tena tatou katoa.

The last time I was here in Rotorua was to bid farewell to a local hero from Ohinemutu; a national icon; and to an international celebrity - Sir Howard Morrison.

And so my thoughts are drawn to him, as we gather today to launch the Regional Plan and to officially open this new Community Link Centre.

Hinga atu he tete kura, ara mai he tete kura.

The Ministry of Social Development's Plan for the Bay of Plenty, in many ways, builds on the legacy left by Sir Howard.  Amongst his many achievements, Sir Howard was a long-standing supporter of initiatives to help young people thrive.

He established the Sir Howard Morrison Education Foundation for Te Arawa rangatahi entering university, he was a trustee for Books in Homes; and his influence will be enduring in the success of the PTE Manaakitanga Aotearoa Trust based here in Rotorua, and the Tu Tangata business studies programme.

I am sure he would have been proud of the Bay of Plenty Regional Plan that we are launching today - in fact he would probably have taken up the first opportunity to put the plan in action.

The Regional Plan gives priority to four key areas for the year ahead:

• keeping our children safe;
  
• nurturing and promoting our young people;
  
• employment -  and the all time Wellington favourite -
  
• value for money.

I want to thank the Regional Commissioner for the Bay of Plenty, Mike Bryant, for organising this wonderful event and for allowing me to be part of it.

The emphasis in the Regional Plan, and the focus of this new Community Link Office, has been designed with one aim in mind - to grow the people.  It is a goal that I fully support and a goal that I am proud to put my name to.

Keeping Kids Safe

The concept of growth is never more relevant than in considering our tamariki.

I want to commend the Ministry of Social Development for their simple statement of faith in our families. 

The regional plan puts it upfront "all families want to do their best by raising their children in a healthy, safe and nurturing environment". 

We must commit those words to memory- we must believe that all families do indeed want to do their best by their babies, and we must act on that belief by showing our whanau that we trust them.

The goal to keep children safe recognises that some families are more vulnerable and need additional support.   This is not a fault or a failing of families - it is our strength that we can recognise it. 

It is our collective capacity to care for one another - our commitment to supporting our neighbours and our families - that ultimately creates strong communities.

I believe that families are the best people to determine the solutions they need for themselves - and that government services must do what they can to support families by connecting them into vital networks.

It is this type of thinking that I am encouraging us to think about, in the context of whanau ora.

All families have the capacity to achieve absolute wellness, to ensure the potential of their members is harnessed, focused and revitalised.

As servants of the public, Government - including the Ministry of Social Development - must be prepared to walk alongside our families as they do their best for their children.

And so this year's plan provides some goals to work to - to encourage violence free family relationships, to support the care of children, and particularly to cherish our children under two.

Young People

 

Another focus of the plan is to assist young people to get on the right path in order to reach their potential.

We all know that with fewer jobs on offer, and the number of people out of work and looking for employment increasing - it's most likely our young people who will miss out first. 

They'll be applying for the same jobs as people with current employment skills and an established work history.  These young people need help to get them into the employment arena.  That's what the Youth Opportunities package is about.

 

As Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, I'm heartened to see that this package includes work with community groups as a recognised option for our rangatahi. 

The benefits of this type of activity are so much more than just doing some worthwhile work for your community. 

These young people will learn about their identity, where they come from, and where they live.  These are priceless opportunities for learning that go well beyond providing just a work experience.

As part of the pathway to potential, the Ministry has teamed up with Te Waiariki Purea Trust. They'll be supporting the growth of our young people through cultural journeys, and holiday programmes with whanau to bring them together as a unit.

Another way we'll be helping our young people get work is by focusing on their vocational aspirations, and finding work experience for them before they start employment.

We're going to run Youth Work Ethic programmes in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, Greerton and Tauranga.

We'll also run a Work Ethic Residential Training programme in Taupo, providing intensive job search skill training to young people who would benefit from getting away from their current living situation.

In Rotorua, we're launching a pilot programme for youth experiencing mental illness. This programme has two aims - to help these youth into jobs, and then, more importantly, to support them once they're in the workplace.

And of course the programme I'm most excited about - Community Max - is a wonderful model to connect our young people to the exciting things happening in our communities, while at the same time paying a minimum wage and supporting them with further training support.

Employment

A third priority in the regional plan is our absolute commitment to see as many people as possible in employment.

In the Bay of Plenty region, one quarter of the people are of Maori whakapapa.   This is also a region, of course, in which we have a number of remote, rural communities that were already suffering economically before the country as a whole started feeling the effects of the recession.

The Ministry has noted that these are key areas of opportunity in this regional plan and has committed to working with social and iwi organisations in our smaller communities to get people working.

I'm really pleased that they have put the work in to developing a relationship with Ngati Awa in the Whakatane area to support our rangatahi in their own personal development, as well as hopefully gaining work.  This is a great example of how government and iwi can work together to make sure that our young people are offered as many opportunities as possible to find employment.

We must do everything that we can to help people who have been made redundant get back into the workforce; and to ensure first time jobseekers can take that first vital step upwards onto the employment ladder.

We have over four thousand people receiving the unemployment benefit in the Bay of Plenty - these people must continue to motivate us all to create jobs and to encourage our job seekers to embrace every new opportunity for employment.

Value for Money

 

The fourth priority the Ministry has for Bay of Plenty is value for money.

Value for money is about putting the people of our community at the centre of decisions made.  It's about making sure that direct services are delivered to those who most need them. And it's about working out how to make sure that Ministry resources are re-directed to the frontline wherever possible.

Value for money is also about making sure that frontline staff have the support and resources they need to do their job well.

This Community Link is a great example of value for money - it brings together many services and people together under one roof, which improves your ability to help the people who walk through these doors.

It's a one-stop shop which focuses on the family; it pairs up clients with case managers who can best meet their needs, and it makes a priority of investing in full and correct entitlement to ensure the people who come to this Link Centre, really do get what they need.

But there's another special feature of the Link Centres which I want to promote and that's the special partnerships formed with groups such as Literacy Rotorua; Maatua Whangai, the Budget Advisory Service, Ngati Whakaue Education Taumata, just to name a few.

These links that stretch right across the community are an essential part of the big plan to bring the people together.

Finally, I know many of the Ministry's staff have been facing increasing workloads, and I thank you for all the hard work you've been doing to help keep New Zealanders employed.

It's been a challenging year right across Aotearoa.

But by focusing on addressing these four priorities of keeping our tamariki safe, helping young people thrive, employment and value for money, we can make this coming year one to feel proud of - a year where we help each other overcome challenges and reach our potential.

A year where we can get ourselves into the best possible position so when the up-turn comes - and it's coming - we're ready to take advantage of it.

It is in this light, that I am delighted to open this new Rotorua Community Link Centre and to wish the Bay of Plenty Region the very best for the years ahead.