Ways to help your community this month

Welcome to The Call. The place where we come together to try to make things better. Here are some easy ways you can help your community this month - or find out more about issues impacting folks across the motu.

What is happening? For many years, politicians have upheld a criminal justice system that primarily focuses on imprisoning people, disproportionately affecting working-class, Māori, and ethnic minority communities.

It’s an election year so of course ACT is saying teenagers should be imprisoned and National will be back on their bootcamp bullshit in no time.

Turuki! Turuki! [pdf], the final report by Te Uepū Hāpai I te Ora - The Safe and Effective Justice Advisory Group, makes 12 recommendations to transform Aotearoa’s justice system. It envisions a community-led system that addresses the social causes of harm, helps to heal people who have been harmed, is grounded in principles of restorative and transformative justice, and honours Te Tiriti O Waitangi.

Where can I read more?

• The kids are shouting from the rooftops – it’s time for youth justice residences to go
• Violence simply breeds violence at youth justice facilities
• Ombudsman calls for fair treatment of prisoners, urgent changes at Corrections
• Many NZ Prisoners Likely To Have Experienced Solitary Confinement
• Watch the digital launch of Care Not Cages.
• Listen to the True Justice podcast.
• Bad News episode on New Zealand’s prisons.

What can I do to help?

Sign the petition to transform our justice system and implement the recommendations of Turuki! Turuki! Join Care not Cages. Follow Just Speak on Facebook and Instragram and People Not Prisons on Facebook and Instagram.

What is happening? KidsCan has just launched its winter campaign. We help feed and clothe children in 1100 schools and early childhood centres - but thousands of children in 54 schools and 97 ECE centres are waiting for help. As food prices soar, teachers fear a ‘cost of learning crisis’ - with many kids arriving in class too hungry to learn or not turning up at all.

Where can I read more?

• Principal on the importance of getting kids in need to dream big
• Every child from Masterton Primary School now has a warm, rainproof jacket in their wardrobe, thanks to a donation by KidsCan.
• Spiralling costs driving whānau to breaking point, KidsCan founder says

What can I do to help?

Those who can afford to can donate at www.kidscan.org.nz. If you’re not in a position to donate, just spreading the word of the appeal is helpful. You can also make donations of fresh produce, non-perishable food, clothing, footwear, books, toys and household goods, including furniture and whiteware to Kiwi Community Assistance - 100% of donations given to families in need.

What is happening? Flu, RSV and Covid 19 may collide this winter putting our most vulnerable communities at risk. These three illnesses pose a particular risk to children and immunocompromised adults - we will all know someone who has already been hospitalised for one of them this winter.

University of Otago research found that influenza killed about 500 of our people each year. A recent study found each subsequent COVID infection increases your risk of developing chronic health issues like diabetes, kidney disease, organ failure and even mental health problems.

“We found striking inequalities in influenza deaths, showing that it’s important to target flu vaccination and other interventions to the most vulnerable groups, particularly Māori and Pacific people, men aged 65-79, and those living in the most deprived areas,” Professor Michael Baker told Stuff.

Where can I read more?

• 'Tripledemic'? Flu, RSV and Covid may collide this winter, experts warn
• Covid-19 boosters, more people can get free flu jabs: what you need to know
• Getting a COVID-19 vaccine if you've had COVID-19
• Kids could be worst off in winter illness surge – Expert Q&A

What can I do to help?

Get vaccinated for Covid 19 and flu - Dr Nancy Crum is an infectious disease physician in Ohio she says the Covid 19 booster vaccination is obviously still crucial to minimising your risk. “If you're not vaccinated, you're more likely to get reinfected again and again because vaccine prevents some infections from occurring. One of the misperceptions is that vaccines will 100% prevent you from getting an infection ever in your life. This is not what the vaccines really were made for. Although they can protect against reinfection, the vaccines were really made to prevent severe disease,” she added. “Further, they were made for a specific strain, and as that strain changes, the vaccines have to be updated.”

“Every time someone gets infected and reinfected again, that gives the virus an opportunity to mutate,” Dr. Crum said. “In my clinic, I’ve seen lots of patients who have been infected with COVID three, four, five times. Almost all those patients are unvaccinated and who desire not to get vaccinated.” 

From a purely anecdotal perspective, our whole family gets the flu vaccination and has since the babies were wee. We had a friend stay over who was then hospitalised for flu - they’d not been vaccinated for flu yet. Eddie did not contract it from the friend despite sleeping in the same room with them two nights in a row. We put this down to having the vaccination. None of us have had flu since getting the flu vaccination annually.

The flu vaccine was now free for children aged 6 months to 12 years. You can book your flu vaccine and covid 19 booster at the same time at Book My Vaccine.

What is happening?

Chris Hipkins has made the cowardly move of ruling out a wealth and capital gains before or after the election. He even stalled progress on tax reform ahead of the budget. The rebrand of Labour to National-lite continues…

You will have probably all already heard this, but the median effective tax rate of the wealthiest families in New Zealand was 9.4% compared to 20.2% for a middle wealth New Zealander.  Our tax system asks too much from the least well-off and not enough of the wealthy. We have to have funds to address poverty and inequality, climate change, overstretched public services (particularly in health and housing) and our infrastructure deficit. We need to address our janky as tax system.

Who doesn’t support a Wealth Tax, Capital Gains Tax, Tax-free band for the lowest income earners etc? National, Act and rich libertarians. Who does? Amnesty International, Wellbeing Economy Alliance, ActionStation, Anglican Advocacy, Climate Club, Oxfam, The Public Service Association, The Salvation Army, Tax Justice, Renters United, Closing The Gap - The Income Equality Project, Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), The NZ Council of Trade Unions, New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services, FIRST Union, Ecu-Action Canterbury, New Zealand Nurses Organisation, the PPTA Te Wehengarua - New Zealand Post Primary Teachers' Association, Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand and Te Pāti Māori. They’ve all come together to form a coalition to support a better tax initiative called: Better Taxes for a Better Future.

Where can I read more?

• New Zealand's millionaires pay lower tax rates than cashiers
• 90 wealthy Kiwis sign open letter asking to pay more tax
• Tax ideas that could make a difference.
• Greens promise wealth tax as research reveals rich stash $470b in trusts

What can I do to help?

The Better Tax for a Better Future Coalition has written to all our MPs asking them to commit to a tax system that: 

• Is fully transparent. For example, by requiring the disclosure of information on ownership and beneficiaries of entities such as trusts.
• Ensures people who have more to contribute make that contribution: that we gather more revenue from wealth, gains from wealth, all forms of income, and corporates.
• Makes greater use of fair taxes to promote good health and environmental health.
• Addresses the tax impact on the least well-off in our society. For example, by introducing a tax-free band at the bottom of our income tax scales or looking again at the design of GST.
• Raise more revenue to enable us address the social, economic and environmental challenges we face

If you agree with that - you can join them here and also like their Facebook page here. You can also try the Green Party tax calculator here.

What is happening?

The Nga Hau Māngere Birthing Centre urgently needs funding so it can remain open. Where a gap once existed, this state of the art centre has served many whānau, aiga & families. Over 860 babies have been born there. Thousands of women have experienced vital support via labour cares, antenatal clinics, lactation consultant appointments, contraception and birth education/hapū wānanga.

75% of women birthing at Nga Hau Māngere identify as Māori and/or Pasifika. Pregnant Māori and/or Pasifika have the highest death rates in birth and are less likely to receive specialist care.

It’s complex because it was set up by millionaires The Wright Family and they’re choosing not to continue to fund the centre so they can get government money to do so, and they do this with almost every birth centre they set up…They set up birth centres without first making sure they have support from the Government to do so. But birthing centres are needed in every region.

Where can I read more?

• Despite community need, Māngere’s ‘absolutely wonderful’ birthing unit remains half-full.
• Recovering whakapapa: How tikanga aids Māori mothers in a western system
• Māori mothers to benefit from new South Auckland 'safe haven'

What can I do to help?

You can sign the Action Station petition asking the Government to ensure that the centre receives funding so it can remain open and continue to serve the local community, especially Māori and Pasifika whānau.

Other cool things…

Across Aotearoa in schools it was Schools’ Pride Week last month. Thanks to OutLine and Rainbow Youth, teachers, parents and kids could do activities together focused on rainbow inclusion at school.

I really loved these suggested responses to gender-based questions or put-downs. And Breaking the Norms a wonderful inclusive colouring book that explores historical moments, figures and the flags of the rainbow community. There’s also a great game Common Ground, which explores all the things we have in common, rather than focusing on our differences. You can play it with your kids.

Thinking about getting a pet? Please rescue one! The SPCA has adoption fees in half as centres overflow with animals. In the last six months, almost 11,000 kittens came into care. And with adoptions slowing down, SPCA is offering to cut fees by 50 percent to get as many animals as possible a permanent home.

When you rescue a cat you save a cat. Please adopt don’t buy.

Please let me know by comment if you have any community organisations or causes you’d like this lovely subscriber community to know about!

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