The Green Party supports a strong, independent Tangata Whenua, Community & Voluntary sector contributing to enhance Aotearoa New Zealand’s social, environmental, cultural, physical, spiritual, and economic wellbeing.
Funding for the community and voluntary sector should allow it to thrive
- Funding should be increased with multi-year funding for ongoing programmes.
- Accountability is important. Reporting and evaluation requirements should be realistic, flexible, and proportionate to the amount of funding.
- The tax regime and compliance costs should assist the sector to thrive and innovate.
Communities should not have to rely on gambling revenue
- Communities and local councils should have the ability to phase out all pub pokies in their neighbourhoods and grants should be established to replace their revenue.
- Casinos and gambling premises should be required to distribute a fair proportion of their revenue to community groups, in a transparent and accountable way.
Government should not infringe on the sector’s independence
- Government should facilitate and fund a sector-led review, which leads to the development of a Code of Practice.
- Charities and the sector should be able to advocate for causes, without threats to their funding or charitable status.
- Public funding should not be tied to political motives or reporting practices that raise privacy or human rights concerns.
“Volunteering” deserves better recognition and respect
- Government policy structures should recognise that volunteering means different things to different people, and there is are different cultural contexts to volunteering.
- Tangata whenua, iwi, and hapū have a right to define what “community & voluntary sector” means to them.
- Volunteer work should not be used to replace paid work.
Government should actively support community economic development
- Government should be supportive of community economic development initiatives like time banking, community banking and credit unions, local currencies, and transition towns.
- The regulatory environment should support the maintenance and development of local markets including crafts and farmers' markets.
