Candidates representing some of the major political parties presented their ideas on social issues this week to an audience of about 50 people working in the social and charities sector.

The meeting was organised by SociaLink and Volunteering Services which supports the Western Bay of Plenty social and community sector.

Jan Logie represented the Green party, Bay of Plenty candidate Pare Taikato represented Labour, Bay of Plenty candidate Christine Young represented ACT, along with Independent candidate Larry Baldock. Both National and NZ First didn’t attend. The candidates were posed three questions.

Discussing underfunding of social agencies, Jan Logie says iwi and voluntary agencies were at the heart of the community. Christine Young says ACT would not be cutting any funding to frontline services, and was proposing a mental health and addiction service partnering with local charities.

Pere Taikato says her background is in the social sector and she has been a volunteer with the Acorn Foundation, so is very aware of the lack of funding and reliance on private donors. Labour’s position was to make targeted investment into the workforce by providing pay parity.

Larry Baldock says the role of the social sector is not fully appreciated. He has spent half his life in voluntary roles, and the sector is not served well by the major parties. The city has been ignored for too long, he says.

On the growing divide between the haves and have-nots, Baldock says people are at the mercy of the inflation cycle, and he wants to restore longer mortgages and home ownership.

Taikato says Labour would continue to invest in housing, and solar power.

Young says the cost of living needs to be addressed, especially housing, along with education and the economy.

Logie says poverty is a creation of government policies which has cut people out. The answer was to tax the wealthy, and Inland Revenue had found that the wealthy were paying half the tax of the average New Zealander.

On honouring the Treaty, Taikato says Labour values its relationship with Māori, and what is good for Māori, is good for all.

Young says ACT doesn’t discriminate on race and supports claims through the Tribunal, but worries about ideology being included in the school curriculum.

Logie says the Greens acknowledge the Treaty as the country’s founding document, and it gives Pākehā a place to stand. It’s a model that worked for all.

Baldock says two cultures have to understand each other, and he thinks New Zealand is a lot further along than it believes in understanding.

The meeting was shown videos of candidates volunteering with local charities in Volunteering Services’ Dare to Volunteer event during August.