Launch of the Albany Settling in Report

E nga mana, e nga reo, tena koutou, tena koutou. 

E nga iwi e huihui nei ki te whakanui i te kaupapa o te ra, tena koutou katoa.

His Worship the Mayor, Andrew Williams; Vice Chancellor - Hon Steve Maharey; distinguished guests.

It is my great pleasure to be able to join with you in celebrating the launch of the Settling In report for Albany.

Albany is the perfect place to be launching this report.  

They tell me that there are one thousand people migrating here, each year; with overseas born residents making up almost half of the total population.

The Asian population within Albany has experienced particular growth, shooting up from just three percent of the population in 1991, to 24% in 2006.

Albany then, as one of the fastest growing and diverse parts of our nation, is a great location for the Settling In approach to apply.

It is often said that the limits of my language, are the limits of my world - and so I want to share some of the meanings behind the concept of ‘Settling in' that a new settler might hear.

When our baby sleeps right through the night and wakes happy and content, we might say "she had a settled night".

And when our energetic teenage boys are having a wrestling match with each other, we might say, "Settle down" to try to create a sense of calm and order.

When we go to the shop to ‘settle' our accounts, we are taking responsibility for paying our bills and getting the books in order.

When a friend comes to us with troubles, we might put our arms around them, ask them to share their worries, in order to settle their mind and put themselves at ease.

These are just a few of many interpretations one might have for settling in - and to my mind they seem to relate pretty well to the range of social needs that new migrants might face in their journey to adapt to life in New Zealand.

This launching tonight is an opportunity for us to all share a common meaning within the incredible diversity of languages and cultures present.

Settling in is your story - it is the solution that you have found works best in meeting your needs.  

And in the words of one of the focus group participants:

"Communication is more than ability to speak the language.   Need confidence to express feelings and needs".

Of course it is not just one story we are celebrating tonight.

What you have done here in Albany is like constructing a wonderful korowai - a cloak made of the finest feathers, and woven together by many hands, each playing a special role in bringing the cloak together.

The cloak you have woven has been created by more than one hundred people from 23 ethnicities, ranging in age from 20 years to 83.

The feathers that give the korowai its distinctive beauty are each unique.  We may see the influence of China, Germany, Hungary, Australia, Malaysia, America, South Africa, India, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Ghana, Philippines, Iraq, Iran, Czech Republic, Thailand, Bulgaria, Russia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Indonesia.

Helping to stitch the strands together has been a range of individuals, government agencies, community groups, and migrant communities.

Just like the varied meanings of ‘Settling In', each of these communities will have different issues in the settlement process.

There will be different needs - needs for information; for social connections; for resources; for opportunities to participate in the wider community.

In the settlement process, it will have become obvious too, that there were gaps in services which might become a basis for action.

The thing that is of most value, I believe, in the Settling in Report is that we hear your voice - we learn about the insights of newcomers to New Zealand as you have gone about your days living and working in Albany.

One of the comments that really affected me, was the reflection of life shared by one participant, that it was, and I quote,

"Harder to find friends, even in the Korean community.  Hard to find people with the same values and lifestyle.  Miss contact with extended family".

I thought this comment was really profound.   I have always believed, personally, that if we are to invite people into our home, we should extend the generosity of spirit that in Maori, we express as "manaakitanga".

Manaakitanga is about acknowledging the mana of others - respecting the essence of who you are.  In practicing manaakitanga, we would express hospitality, generosity and mutual respect.    

And so in reading over this report, I wondered if we are doing enough in our communities, to reach out to each other, to provide support when there are people who are lonely or alone.

One of the priorities that have been identified in the report is to establish a Newcomers Network to help make those important social connections.

There is another recommendation which is to develop a strategy to link Albany migrants more effectively into the community - including through opportunities to connect with their neighbours in activities such as volunteering.

The key to successful settlement will be in both connecting communities up, as well as respecting the right of all our migrant communities, to protect and preserve the essence of who they are.

Finding a home, a job, schools for your children are all small but vital steps in the settlement process. 

But the much greater challenge will be in being able to make new friends while still maintaining and enjoying your own cultural strengths and community events.

To be successfully settled, requires all of us to have the generosity of spirit to respect different values, distinctive lifestyles and to embrace the differences that we each bring to our relationship.

Some of these differences will be obvious - the music we listen to; the food we share; the clothes we wear.   But there are other much deeper values that motivate us - the Gods we believe in; the values we place around our family; the philosophies we uphold about our relationship to the natural world around us.

My greatest hope is that this launch signals a starting point, for a much richer conversation to occur across all our communities.

I am proud to launch this report and I wish you all well in forging a new future together.