Pasifika community keen to participate

PASIFIKA people can contribute to the community and are ‘‘not just here to dance on the stage’’ in the Waitaki district, a community leader says.

Oamaru Pacific Island Community Group president Hana Halalele said the Pasifika community was ‘‘seeking fellowship, and collaboration’’ with the Waitaki District Council.

‘‘Our community is growing rapidly,’’ Mrs Halalele said.

‘‘We’re not just here to dance on the stage.’’

Mrs Halalele, who represented the Oamaru Pacific Island Community Group and the Oamaru Pacific Island Network, where she acts as secretary, at the council’s 201828 longterm plan public hearings this week, urged it to use the Oamaru Pacific Island Network as a ‘‘thinktank’’ and to ‘‘to form a partnership’’ with the district’s growing Pasifika population.

While the council estimates put the district’s population growth rate as low, ‘‘from our perspective it’s growing very rapidly’’.

The median age of the rest of New Zealand was 42 years old, but in Pasifika communities it was 23 years old.

She asked for an investment in facilities ‘‘for our young ones’’.

And she said more work was required to break down barriers for Pasifika people, including ‘‘cultural misunderstandings’’.

The Oamaru Library was wellused by Pasifika people and a recognition of Pacific Island culture inside would be appreciated.

She said the Forrester Gallery could consider an exhibition of Pacific Island art.

When visitors arrived in Oamaru ‘‘is the presence of a multicultural community visible?’’ she asked.

The 2013 census found 471 people, of 20,826 in the district, identified themselves as Pasifika, but many in the community have said that number was ‘‘incredibly low’’.

Mrs Halalele was among those who worked to ensure greater Pasifika participation in the past census.

At the hearings, Cr Craig Dawson urged Pasifika people to stand for election to the council.

‘‘Not that we can’t do more, but that would be a really good start,’’ he said.