Welcoming Communities New Zealand video transcript

Ask any visitor to New Zealand what they like about the place and the first things they will tell you about are the beautiful scenery and the friendly locals. 

These are the qualities we’re building on in a new two-year pilot programme called Welcoming Communities –Te waharoa ki ngā hapori.

There are five regions piloting this programme. They are putting out the welcome mat to newcomers: migrants, former refugees and international students.

This is happening in:

• Tauranga/Western Bay of Plenty
• Whanganui
• Palmerston North
• Ashburton/Selwyn, and
• Southland
  
  

Mayor Grant Smith, Palmerston North: “Palmerston North is a very diverse city anyway. 120 different languages are spoken here – big Asian population… Indian – it just made sense”.

Ahmed Hassan, Newcomer (Egypt): “Everyone says hi and waves to you: how are you today? There is a very nice attitude in Palmerston North”.

Mayor Hamish McDouall, Whanganui: “Whanganui is famous for its Maanakitanga and we really want a diverse community here, it really adds to the flavour and also we’ve got capacity: we have great schools which need pupils, we’ve got relatively cheap housing all over the place”.

Welcoming Communities is an Immigration New Zealand initiative, in partnership with the pilot councils, the Department of Internal Affairs, the Office of Ethnic Communities and the New Zealand Human Rights Commission.

It is owned by the communities themselves. They know that newcomers who feel welcome will contribute to better social outcomes, greater social cohesion and stronger economic growth.

Mayor Hamish McDouall, Whanganui: “One key thing is the status of iwi here. We will have a powhiri for new migrants at a local Marae to have Tangata Whenua acknowledge the new people to town”.

The programme is about building strong connections between existing community members and newcomers.

International evidence tells us that regions working together to welcome newcomers builds a place where everyone feels like they belong. This in turn means newcomers will choose to stay and settle long term in the regions, which helps build shared prosperity and growth for everyone.

Ping Peng, Newcomer (China): “Since I started being involved in community work, we established a Chinese community trust, so we feel like we can provide a lot of things to new immigrants”.

Ahmed Hessan, Newcomer (Egypt): “When I came here the first place was the Community Centre – they supported us with many things about Palmerston North that you can’t read in books or find in brochures - like the ‘daily life’ stuff”.

A network will be created among the communities. They will share what works best for them. Others can learn from the approach, and adopt welcoming practices in their own regions.

Peter Grey, Palmerston North Library: “It helps us grow our understanding of the global community that we all belong to, but it also brings a diversity of thought and creativity, which is important for any community”.

Mayor Grant Smith, Palmerston North: “I think it’s great that it helps the cities, who are already doing a lot, to just give us that little extra bit more to make these people welcome”.

Welcoming Communities brings together local government and community leaders to make the places we love more welcoming for everyone.

What is Welcoming Communities?