By Laura Kvigstad, Auckland Council reporter funded by New Zealand on Air
A bleak report on youth well-being in Auckland prompted the mayor and councillors to question defunding Auckland Council’s strategy intended to help.
At the Planning Environment and Parks Committee on October 5, councillors voted in favour of a change of tack for the youth wellbeing strategy, I Am Auckland, by incorporating it into council’s Thriving Communities Strategy.
The recommendation came after a review of the strategy which involved speaking with 400 children and young people in Auckland. The review details children’s concerns around the cost of living, climate change, worsening mental health and how Auckland does not always feel safe, to name a few.
Senior policy advisor Hannah Anderson said the strategy was not fit for the future and the accountability mechanisms were not working. The report recommending consolidating the strategies had no details on the financial implications attached which Mayor Wayne Brown took issue with.
“The report says ‘can be delivered in the existing budget’. You didn’t say whether other options were cheaper – Nothing in this council is living within its budget,” Brown said.
“From now on I want to see financial implications treated with respect. We have a climate crisis, we have a financial crisis.”
Brown said the issue was not specifically with this strategy but was an issue across council’s reporting. Later in the day, he also questioned the Age Friendly Auckland strategy and said if there were 300 strategies at council the cost would be staggering.
Several councillors expressed similar concerns around the strategy’s finances.
Cr Maurice Williamson said just because the report said the strategy was already budgeted did not mean it was not wasteful. “We are in a dreadful financial position. We are going to have to make really, really, really big decisions about trade-offs, about what we keep doing and what we don’t,” Williamson said.
He said council was not able to do everything and pointed to Government, the Mental Health Foundation. “There are Ministries coming out of our ears in this country. Should they not be doing a whole lot of this stuff and we be sticking more to our core role and functions?”
After several calls for how much the strategy cost, Independent Māori Statutory Board member Tau Henare insisted on an answer with staff eventually estimating around $150,000. Cr Andy Baker said the decision in front of the committee had nothing to do with the budget but he agreed with Williamson and the mayor.
“We are simply deciding today on what strategy we will take forward and then when it comes to the [Long-Term Plan] discussions we will then have the discussion as to whether we fund this strategy,” Baker said.
Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson said it was important for council to have its own strategy and information. “We often say we do not like the direction that Wellington gives us as far as what they want to do to us,” Simpson said.
“We need to decide, as the governors for this region, what we believe is right for our children and young people.” Cr John Watson said he felt like he was “in a parallel universe” with the concerns around budget.
“We have a crisis – it was bad back in 2021, it is worse now. That is pretty much the conclusion. It is a lot worse for young people. The mental health outcomes are really disturbing,” Watson said.
The review included self-reported suicide attempts which were as high as one in four young people and Watson said that was the most distressing thing.
“The council is limited and strategies, by themselves, don’t address any of this. It is actually actions.” He said young people were asking for simple things from council; to keep facilities open, hold on to green spaces and make places safe.
“I would hope that out of this comes some very pragmatic responses that go to maintaining what we have got, enhancing it where we can.”
Cr Maurice Williamson and Cr Sharon Stewart were the only councillors to vote against consolidating the strategy.
