Salvation Army Auditorium
Wellington

Greetings to all distinguished guests – my parliamentary colleague Pansy Wong, Alec Shaw, Wellington City Council, Ann Dysart from the Ministry of Social Development, Mervyn Singh, Office of Ethnic Affairs, Joris de Bres, Human Rights Commissioner, Pohswan Narayanan, New Zealand Federation of Ethnic Councils.

Thank you for asking me to help launch this report on the Wellington Region Refugee and Migrant Women’s forums. I was disappointed not to be able to attend the Federation of Ethnic Council’s Annual Conference in June, so this is a welcome opportunity to renew friendships and to acknowledge both the work of the Federation and the wonderful and generous contribution of the women who took part in the forums.

When I read some of the experiences that those women have shared with us I am reminded of how difficult it can be to be a migrant and how universal the stories are of people coming to a new land. The report is about the experiences of women struggling to adapt to life in a new country in the early 21st century, but I suspect the challenges and achievements are a little different from those faced by the forebears of other New Zealanders.

As I have often said, New Zealand is a migrant nation, and there is not one New Zealander who does not have a migrant story in their past.

Each of us, or one of our forebears, made a journey to make Aotearoa / New Zealand home – by waka, by ship or by plane – the journey is our common heritage and one of the foundation stones of our nation.

If we start from that point, then our meeting today is an opportunity to share the experiences of those journeys and to celebrate our common bond. We become a community by newcomers actively working to belong, and by receiving communities being open and willing to engage with newcomers.

Being part of a community means more than living in a house in a particular neighbourhood. It means engagement with neighbours, local businesses and the wider community. The essence of community lies in shared values, mutual respect for rights and obligations and an understanding and appreciation of diversity of views, experience and beliefs. When we are born into that community, we often take all of these things for granted. When we move into a community, it takes time to build the relationships upon which communities are founded. This can be a difficult period for any newcomer to an area, and is particularly difficult if you arrive as a migrant or refugee with few resources and limited or no English language skills.

This is why when we first became the government in 1999 we began the process of developing a settlement policy which in 2004 was developed into a settlement strategy. The Office of Ethnic Affairs went from a ½ full time equivalent in the Department of Internal Affairs to a fully-fledged office with staff in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch.

Projects such as the women’s forums can help us understand the problems faced by women in particular and help other New Zealanders to be more understanding and supportive.

While many of the women who shared their experiences highlighted the freedom they enjoy in their new lives in New Zealand, they also face many challenges.

These include:

• access to employment and to services such as health, housing, childcare and justice
• loneliness and isolation
• racism and discrimination
• communication and language difficulties
• and the impact of migration on relationships between partners, and between parents and children.

The findings reflect the particular challenges women migrants often face as individuals, partners and parents. Because of the range of responsibilities women bear, they frequently face the biggest challenges with moving to a new country and culture.

This report on the forums will help provide a way forward by encouraging women’s voices to be heard and through development of broad and inclusive principles that can be adopted by individual ethnic communities. The solutions put forward are practical and include improved orientation for new arrivals, promotion of diversity, education for migrants and host communities and opportunities for ethnic women to discuss issues and share experiences. This is vital. The forums also discussed the possibility of a stronger role for women within the Federation and I warmly congratulate the Federation for accepting this challenge and moving quickly towards establishing a national women’s council and for encouraging women’s participation in other ways.

A large number of organisations and individuals worked together to make this project a reality, and I would like to acknowledge that effort and the spirit of openness and co-operation that made it possible.

I’d like to thank the Federation of Ethnic Councils for its major contribution throughout the project, and acknowledge the project steering committee comprising women from the Federation, local Ethnic Councils, Wellington City Council, the Office of Ethnic Affairs, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the Settlement Support Coordinators for Hutt Valley and Porirua. The Ministry of Social Development also needs to be congratulated for funding the project.

Also deserving of special mention are the women who led this project: Pohswan Narayanan, Anita Mansell and Lonie Martin, from Upper Hutt, the Hutt and Wellington Ethnic councils. These women gave freely of their time, conducting the forums and bringing together the results.

As the patrons and supporters of the respective Ethnic Councils, I’d also like to thank the mayors of those cities involved in the project, the Federation’s national president Panacha Narayanan and Wellington Ethnic Council president
Prem Singh for their vision and support.

Lastly, and most importantly, I would like to thank the 145 women from a wide range of ages, cultures and ethnicities who participated in the project. Without your willingness to share your experiences we would not have the valuable insights contained in this report. Your courage and contribution will help make the transition to making New Zealand home a little easier for those who follow.

You have also provided a model for co-operation that I hope will continue. The project brought together diverse ethnic communities, community organisations, local authorities and central government agencies, and demonstrated that they can work effectively together to improve outcomes for refugee and migrant women. That is the kind of co-operation that will build strong communities and will help us move forward as a nation.

So thank you again for granting me the privilege of officially launching this report. I hope it will be widely read and used, not just in Wellington, but in communities around New Zealand that face the same issues.

And thank you again to the women who have shared their stories and reminded us of our common bonds as migrants, or the descendents of migrants, all continuing to explore what it means to be a New Zealander in 2006.