Politicians put through their paces by "NZ's most opinionated man"

“Politics in a Lunch Box” is a panel discussion at the NZ Community Economic Development Conference. The Master of Ceremonies is Bomber Bradbury, described by the Listener as “ NZ’s most opinionated man”.

Pita Sharples- Maori Party; Metiria Turia - Green Party; David Parker - Labour Party and Tau Henare from the National Party will respond to key questions from Bomber about their party policies that enable community economic development.

The panel discussion is scheduled for 12.30pm to 1.30pm on Wednesday 20 April at Waitakere’s Trusts Stadium.

The context is that in many developed countries, government policy is well established that enables the development of social enterprise, social finance and community owned assets. Bomber will ask our politicians how does your party policy enable community economic development? Specifically...

1. Enterprise and innovation are at the heart of resilient communities. How does your party build capacity to enable social enterprise and innovation.

2. In the UK, there are many resources available that support the development of social enterprises - from seed funding to significant capital investment and social loans. For example, the UK government has set aside money from unused bank accounts to fund social enterprise development through the Big Society Bank. What plans does your party have to enable investment in social enterprise development.

3. There is a growing view that community assets held in collective ownership deliver both effectiveness and efficiency. That is, mutualisation rather than privatisation. What is your party’s view on mutualisation and community owned assets?

4. Environmental sustainability has become increasingly important to ensure that our children have a future on this planet. What links does your party see between environmental sustainability and community economic development e.g community recycling initiatives.

5. Social enterprises that deliver government contracts provide significant added value. Does your party have plans to support contracting policy that acknowledges the social, environmental as well as economic benefits that social enterprises deliver.

6. Under traditional economics, economies boom and bust – and unemployment of marginalised people appears to be intractable. Social firms are social enterprises that are established to enable the employment of marginalised people. What is your party doing in this area?

...Followed by questions from the floor

Further information re CEDNZ Conference is here

Editors notes
What is Community Economic Development?

• Community economic development: (CED) enables the growth of resilient, entrepreneurial sustainable communities through:
• Social enterprise: businesses that have social and environmental aims with profits being retained for community benefit. The social and environmental aims are balanced alongside the profit motive. “Not for private profit”
• Social finance: Financial investment for social/environmental purposes to support social enterprise development - from start up to scale up. Includes seed funding through to start up capital and investment to scale up.
• Community owned assets
• Collective ownership of land/buildings by community organizations. Ownership of physical assets contributes to financial sustainability as assets can be leveraged for accessing finance for community enterprise development.

Outcomes of CED
§ Increasing numbers of social enterprises delivering socially beneficial products and services

§ New or expanded services e.g. social housing, child care, health care, social/environmental services etc

§ Job creation - in particular employment of marginalised people, mental health consumers, disabled people, youth at risk, ethnic minorities etc..

§ Fewer people on benefits and entrepreneurship flourishing in low-income communities

§ Stronger community organisations with enhanced business skills, stability and potential to acquire assets & build net worth

§ Local economies strengthened and stabilised

§ Empowerment for community sector, independence, dignity – a hand up not a hand out