Children and Youth, Work and Income, Housing, Crime and Punishment and Social Hazards.
These are the five categories that are the focus of the latest report published by the Salvation Army’s Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit titled: State of Pacific Peoples.
The report takes a deep dive into the wellbeing of Pacific Peoples over a ten year period and provides data showing both progress and the challenges faced by Pacific communities.
In 2013, the Salvation Army released the report More Than Churches, Rugby and Festivals, offering an in-depth analysis of the social progress of Pacific peoples in New Zealand.
This was followed in 2014 by the This is Home report, which highlighted various social issues facing Pacific communities while also showcasing community initiatives working to uplift Pacific people.
Author of the State of Pacific Peoples report and Social policy analyst Ana Ika says, it was an important report to write for the community.
“To be able to provide a report for my community was quite different. It made me sort of think about the plight of our parents and their generation,” she says.
“They all migrated to New Zealand with a dream and, you know, looking at some of these numbers, I sort of think, you know, this wasn’t the dream and these weren’t the opportunities that they had dreamed of.”
Ana says while the report has some grim data, she says it was also important to highlight areas where there has been an improvement.
“When you’re looking at our youth suicide rates in the past ten years, when you’re looking at employment levels, it has significantly increased.
“When you’re looking at recidivism levels, the number of people that aren’t going back to prison continues to go down for Pacific. And so those are wins that we need to acknowledge and to see opportunities in those spaces and how do we fine-tune some of those wins to continue,”
The impact of Covid -19 has further affected Pacific students’ education, impacting attendance and achievement levels.
In terms of employment, while it has nearly doubled over the past decade – the report shows 182,400 Pacific peoples were employed in 2023 – unemployment remains high at 6 percent with reliance on jobseeker support increased by 143 percent due to many who are underemployed.
And while annual earnings have risen by 54 percent, for Pacific people it still falls short compared to the general population.
Affordable housing continues to be a major issue for Pacific peoples. Homeownership among Pacific peoples has decreased with an estimated 35 percent owning homes in 2023, while 65 percent live in rental properties who have unaffordable rent increases.
The demand for social housing has surged by 516 percent over the past decade. 3888 Pacific peoples are now on the social housing register.
Ana says housing is the key issue that underpins a lot of challenges that Pacific people face.
“When we ask them why they need food, it’s often financial hardship… money going on or gone to rent, and they are left with something like $20 or so, they come in to ask for support.”
Salvation Army Research and Justice Stream lead and director Dr Bonnie Robinson says, while the report shows that Pacific peoples have fallen behind other ethnicities, it also shows there are improvements for Pacific.
“Pacific peoples have got the ability and the skill and the talent and the capacity to improve their situation,” she says.
Labour MP for Kelston and former Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni says while she is heartened by the progress outlined in the report, she says there is a lot of work to do.
“If we’re really going to shift the dial for Pacific communities and, unfortunately, it also says to me that, all too often, our Pacific people are disproportionately impacted by the challenges that face New Zealand as a whole,” Sepuloni says.
“But we’ve got to focus on incomes as well. That means significantly lifting the minimum wage each year, and that means also looking at benefits and what can be done to actually increase the income support people receive, as is pointed out in this actual report.”
Despite the data and challenges outlined in the report about Pacific people, Ana says there is hope.
“There’s always hope…some of these numbers we didn’t think would ever shift the tide of them, and we have…and if we just stay, work in where we are to the best of our abilities to improve those sectors, then yeah, we can move forward together as a Pacific community, stronger.”
