18 November 2024
P Robins
[FYI request #28755 email]
Dear P Robins
Thank you for your Official Information Act request, received on 15 October 2024. You
requested:
I request any communications you have sent or received since 15 April 2024 with
any of the fol owing:
- Tim Brown
- Diane Calvert
- Ray Chung
- Tony Randle
- Nicola Young
Information being released
Please find enclosed the fol owing documents:
Item Date
Document Description
Decision
1.
23 June 2024
Email: FW: We can't afford cancer drugs, but
Release in ful
can afford THIS?! ?????
2.
24 July 2024
Email: RE: Casino for Wellington
Release in part
3.
19 September
Email: Wellington City Insurance Fund
Release in ful
2024
I have decided to release the documents listed above, subject to information being
withheld under the fol owing section of the Official Information Act, as applicable:
section 9(2)(a) – to protect the privacy of natural persons, including that of deceased
natural persons.
In making my decision, I have considered the public interest considerations in section
9(1) of the Official Information Act.
This reply addresses the information you requested. You have the right to ask the
Ombudsman to investigate and review my decision.
Yours sincerely
Hon Nicola Wil is
Minister of Finance
Table of Contents
1.
Email: FW: We can't afford cancer drugs, but can afford THIS?! ?????
1
2.
Email: RE: Casino for Wel ington
10
3.
Email: Wel ington City Insurance Fund
12
Hapai te hauora: Breathing your ancestors into life
"H pai te hauora as breathing your ancestors into life, captures the breadth &
connections of a generation rangatahi M oria generation moving forward
together. This proposal builds on an HRC funded project (18/651) exploring the
ways rangatahi M ori make sense of & live h pai te hauora through navigating
journeys of hauora & wellbeing."
Approved funding: $649,992
Timely access to rongoa M ori in cancer care services for M ori
"Prior to Europeans arriving in Aotearoa, traditional M ori way of healing was
the only hauora practice M ori knew. Today, traditonal M ori healing is known as
Rongo M ori. Rongo M ori is diverse and can include karakia [prayer], wai
[water], waiata [music], himene [hymns], access to the ngahere [forest] and
whenua [land].
For M ori health consumers, patients and wh nau accessing cancer care service;
seldom they are made aware of or referred early to rongo M ori practitioners at
the beginning of their cancer care journey.
Using tikanga M ori methodology and codesign with M ori health and iwi
providers, our method will include interviews, and hui with rongo M ori
practitioners, M ori and Iwi providers, M ori health consumers, patients, their
wh nau, and health professionals in primary and secondary care in the
MidCentral region to explore ways for timely access to rongo M ori in cancer
care services for M ori."
Approved funding: $398,771
He Whiringa M ramatanga: Kaupapa M ori Music and healing
"He Whiringa M ramatanga examines Kaupapa M ori music theories and
practices as a pathway to accelerating M ori well-being. Music theory is primarily
located within Western music notation, harmony, and tonality. However, M ori
Music, particularly through oral forms such as waiata, karakia, ruruku, haka,
p r kau and whakapapa, illustrate that M ori have unique key elements of
musical theories to create oral legacies and that traditional Western definitions of
music may be confining for true M ori creative expression."
Approved funding: $377,550
Health Promotion Interventions for Pacific men in a Barbershop
"A rapid review and qualitative interviews with Pacific men, Pacific heath
promoters and Pacific barbers will inform the development of a Pacific health
promoting behaviour change framework and intervention programme in a
barbershop setting owned by a Pacific health provider. This first of its kind
research in New Zealand brings together an underserved population, a non-
traditional setting for health promotion and culturally unique health promotion
interventions delivered by an unconventional health and wellbeing workforce
(barbers)."
Approved funding: $150,000
understand
Building room for equity: Culture centred design of hospital waiting
rooms
"Hospitals in Aotearoa New Zealand have a legacy founded in colonialism and are
designed to Eurocentric principles of health and well-being as such they are
inequitable by design and represent culturally unsafe spaces for many people who
need to access them. Hospital waiting rooms represent one such space. Our project
is premised on understanding how physical spaces in hospitals shape peoples
experiences of care."
Approved funding: $150,000
Guided by Hine te Iwaiwa: Exploring Maramataka [traditional M ori
lunar calendar] influence on pregnancy Outcomes
"This research aims to explore the effects of incorporating the maramataka, a
traditional M ori lunar calendar system guided by the goddess Hine te Iwaiwa,
into the context of pregnancy care for w hine M ori and Maori Midwives."
Approved funding: $400,000
front-line services
upport high-quality, high-impact research"...
"The research seeks to develop a Fijian Health Model to address Fijian peoples
health in Aotearoa New Zealand."
Approved funding: $649,561
He Kaakaakura Whakamaatau [Translation: An Experimental Green]
"This programme of senior leadership research and training for Dr Belinda Borell
will build on her expertise in kaupapa M ori research and enable her to pursue a
development and capacity building plan to grow both her expertise and that of
emerging researchers. Focusing on historical trauma, mixed methods will explore
poverty and abuse in care."
Approved funding: $649,997
Belinda (Ngati Ranginui, Ngai Te Rangi, Whakat hea) has recently completed her
PhD, The Nature of the Gaze: a conceptual discussion of societal privilege
from an indigenous perspective. The thesis explores how Kaupapa M ori
paradigms can make important contributions to research topics that may not be of
direct or immediate relevance to M ori communities. Insights gained from a Kaupapa
M ori investigation of white privilege in Aotearoa New Zealand are discussed. The
thesis argues that cultural hegemony is maintained through structured forgetting,
silence, and suppression of dissent which has dire consequences for dominant
cultural groups as wel as marginal. Structural racism and privilege are amenable to
analyses utilising similar frameworks albeit from opposite sides that can provide
valuable insights to understanding inequity more broadly. I also examine ways in
which Kaupapa M ori analyses of white privilege can il uminate pathways of redress
that wil benefit al New Zealanders and provide more embracing perspectives of
nationhood.
Dr Borel was also recently awarded the Hohua Tutengaehe Postdoctoral Fellowship
from the Health Research Council of New Zealand to further her research into
societal privilege.
actual
actual
ps. The Taxpayers' Union can only hold the Government's feet to the fire with
support from people like you. Make a secure and confidential donation here so we
can force the Government to take on the "academic establishment" running these
rorts.
Good afternoon Council or Ray Chung,
On behalf of the Hon Nicola Wil is, Minister of Finance, Minister for the Public Service, Minister for Social
Investment and Associate Minister of Climate Change, thank you for your recent email. Please be assured
your comments have been noted.
As the issues you raise fal within the portfolio responsibilities of Hon Brooke van Velden, Minister for Internal
A airs, I have referred your email to her o ice for their information.
Kind regards, thank you for your patience.
Roving Private Secretary (Executive Support) | O ice of Hon Nicola Willis
Email:
Website: www.Beehive.govt.nz
Private Bag 18041, Parliament Buildings, Wellington 6160, New Zealand
Nicola
Outstanding performance last night. I bet no one disputed the key message about the need for step-
change.
That certainly extends to Wel ington. Amongst other things Council faces crucial decisions about
housing and water.
We simply must find ways to improve the availability of affordable and social housing.
It's critical that we make wise decisions with our water infrastructure and operations to minimise the
cost to Wel ingtonians.
But, before they become centre stage, Council's finances!
With a particular focus on the establishment of an Insurance Fund capitalised with the sale of
Wel ington based assets (land and airport company shares).
It would be incredibly helpful if you were wil ing to announce the fol owing in your capacity as a
Wel ingtonian and MoF.
Wel ington ratepayers need Council to make prudent sensible financial decisions. This isnt
just about wasteful spending, it extends to good management of Council's assets.
For Wel ington, the choice between owning land and airport shares or a professional y
managed diversified investment fund should be obvious. The latter wil involve far less risk and
almost certainly higher returns.
Treasury has estimated that the cost to the Christchurch Council of rebuilding after the 2011
earthquakes is in the vicinity of $14 bil ion (in 2024 dol ars) While Wel ington City Council is
investing in earthquake strengthening its properties, it needs to also prepare for rebuilding.
Council's finances are stretched and crucial y it only has about $800 mil ion of insurance
cover. Its ability to fund reconstruction is severely inadequate. Central Government would of
course play a part in rebuilding the Capital after a natural disaster, but much of the cost wil be
borne by Council and the people of Wel ington. Wel ington City Council has an unarguable
need to establish an insurance fund. It real y has no alternative if it is to have any chance of
restoring the City after a natural disaster and giving private investors confidence to also invest.
Recognising the concerns of Wel ingtonians that the money put aside in an insurance funds
could be either invested poorly or spent on vanity projects Government wil help by:
o
Assisting with locking the fund up so that the principal can only be used for disaster
recovery. This includes passing legislation if that is desirable to provide certainty.
o
Requesting that the NZ Superannuation Fund investigate undertaking the management
of council investment funds (not just for Wel ington). So that residents can have
confidence that their capital is being managed by a world class fund manager.
o
Requesting that Treasury undertake further work on a framework to help councils
better understand their disaster risks and who would have to pay for restoration.
A statement from you with some or al of the above points would be very helpful. To support and
encourage council ors to make sensible decisions, and to remind the public of what is in their best
interest.
I'm available to sit down with your officials to explain the details of what is now planned.
Council ors are to redebate and vote on this matter on 10th October and it would be very desirable for
your position to be made public before then.
Thanks
Tim
