Housing, poverty and employment are issues that matter to South Aucklanders this election - survey

October 14, 2020

Sandra Kailahi of The Cause Collective talks about issue facing South Auckland just days out from the election.

Housing, poverty and employment are the main issues people in South Auckland are focused on this election, now just three days away.

Pacific social change agency the Cause Collective has surveyed 406 South Auckland voters, majority being Pasifika and Māori, to understand their influences and preferences in the election and referendums.

Chief storyteller at the organisation Sandra Kailahi told TVNZ1's Breakfast this morning that the survey, called My Truth Movement, was "an opportunity to amplify the voices of South Auckland through real time data".

The election was the second survey of its kind, the first being on Covid-19.

"This one we just wanted to get a sense to tell politicians what the South Auckland voice is and what people are thinking," Kailahi said.

The survey, conducted between October 1 and 8, was both face-to-face and online to get a range of views from the community. 

"The main issues that came through are housing, poverty and employment. Now, to be honest they're not new, they've been around for a long time but now we've got a benchmark on that," Kailahi said.

"I think in South Auckland we have a lot of vulnerable communities.

"Adequate housing is so important, poverty - when we've got the wage subsidy that's ended now, coming into Christmas we know it's going to get a lot worse.

"But if we get South Auckland right in the rebuild around this it's going to be better for the country, you know, we're the gateway to the world, we're the largest airport, we have all of the major industries there so we know that this is a really vital part of New Zealand."

When asked about the referendums, for the Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill - 74 per cent of people said that they realised the impact would be great on the community.

"When you ask the young people, most of them were kind of maybe half and half, maybe sitting on the fence around that, but then when we asked them about the impact on child and youth wellbeing they agreed that there would be a heavy impact," Kailahi said.

The community's conservative side showed when participants were asked about the End of Life Choice Bill.

"Not a surprise, 74 per cent of the voters oppose the act. We're a conservative community, predominantly Pasifika."

Of those no voters, 48 per cent the decision was mainly around humanity issues and about 44 per cent said it was religion or faith based.

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