Councillor Tania Tapsell’s (Rotorua District Council) presentation from the TacklingPovertyNZ workshop is now available on the McGuinness Institute YouTube channel. You can also watch the video below.

As one of the youngest local government councillors in New Zealand, Tania Tapsell offered an interesting perspective from within local government. Although poverty can be intergeneration because of education, housing and health, Tania suggested education and housing can in many cases actually be a solution to poverty. Tania shared how local government can help, for example by subsidising insulation of homes. When looking for a solution to tackling poverty, Tania encouraged participants to look for big picture solutions – ‘having that vision is very important’ while also having short-term goals.

About TackingPovertyNZ
The TacklingPovertyNZ workshop brought together 36 young New Zealanders between the ages 18 and 25 to prepare a youth perspective on the issue of poverty in New Zealand and how we might, as a country, go about tackling it. Participants spent most of their 72 hours in Wellington working hard at Treasury, in order to present their findings to MPs and other guests at the finale at Parliament on Wednesday, 9 December 2020. Every year, the McGuinness Institute has worked in collaboration with the New Zealand Treasury to create a place for young New Zealanders to explore complex public policy issues together. The workshops have always proved exciting, enjoyable and insightful. The McGuinness Institute would particularly like to thank the staff at the New Zealand Treasury for their continued support and encouragement. Learn more about TacklingPovertyNZ on the website.