South Auckland’s poor turnout for the 2018 Aotearoa New Zealand national census could have cost the region $130 million in health funding.

And, according to an expert, that cash could have helped tackle the area’s battles with diabetes and obesity.

Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand said the defunct Counties Manukau District Health Board lost $130m in health funding in its last four years due to the low turnout in the area during the 2018 census.

Information from the five-yearly stocktake helps determine how billions of dollars in government spending is allocated across health, education, transport, infrastructure and other services.

Counties Manukau has more people with diabetes than any other health region in the country.

Te Whatu Ora (Counties Manukau) Director of Population Health Gary Jackson said additional money would help fund programmes to battle two issues affecting many people in the region.

He said there were 52,000 diabetics in Counties Manukau and that figure was growing by 2000 people a year. It is also home to 19 percent of all New Zealanders in the most extreme BMI group.

Only 71 percent response
Figures released by Stats NZ this week show only 71 percent of people in South Auckland have so far completed the census in 2023, compared to 83 percent nationwide.

Te Whatu Ora Chief Financial Officer Rosalie Percival said getting people to provide their details was vital to ensure areas like Counties Manukau got the healthcare services they needed.

“Health providers know about the people who turn up at their door needing care — but they have no other way of knowing about the presence of people who haven’t recently needed to use the health system,” she said.

“The data gained from the census helps to inform important decisions about planning for the needs of local areas and subsequently healthcare spending.”

However, Buttabean Motivation (BBM) founder Dave Letele said getting people to complete the census was not easy.

Letele, who is potentially standing for Te Pāti Māori this year, was an ambassador for Census 2023 and was involved in a social media campaign which kicked off late last year to get more people to take part.

“There’s a massive distrust between our people and the government and that’s what we need to overcome,” Letele said.

Wary about personal information
He said as a result a lot of people were wary about sharing their personal information with authorities.

“But it’s not just something you can throw money at to fix it.”

Deputy Government Statistician and deputy chief executive for census and collection operations Simon Mason confirmed the turnout at the last census in 2018 was poor in Counties Manukau.

“That is why it is critically important that people complete the census — so their communities are counted . . .”

Mason said the 2023 event was designed to address barriers to participation, including having more collectors and alternate formats for people to complete it and support a wider range of people.

A spokesperson for Stats NZ said it would still have field teams collecting people’s responses until May 3 and will be running census support events until June 4.

Pacific Media Watch reports that the Counties Manukau health population is ethnically diverse with the largest Pacific population and second largest Māori popukation of any New Zealand health board.

In the 2018 census, 16 percent of the population served by CM Health identified as Māori, 22 percent as Pacific, 28 percent as Asian and 34 percent as NZ European/other groups.

Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air. It is published by Asia Pacific Report in collaboration.

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A new $100 million apartment complex is coming to Manukau — Auckland’s heart of Pacific communities.

But you’ll have to be aged at least 55 to get in.

Kāinga Ora is expected to start construction of the 123 apartments in Osterley Way in March. The 16-storey tower will include 94 one-bedroom and 29 two-bedroom apartments.

The government said it was necessary to target targeting specific age groups to match an increasing demand from “older customers”.

“Kāinga Ora recognises our older customers have specific housing needs, which we are addressing through senior housing developments such as the proposed project in Manukau,” regional director for Counties Manukau Angela Pearce said.

Pearce said one in five of the agency’s homes in Counties-Manukau had someone over 65 living in it, while 670 of its homes in the area were occupied by sole tenants in the same age group.

“With an aging population, Kāinga Ora recognises the importance of dedicated senior housing where our older tenants can live well, feel safe and secure, both in their homes and the community.”

Two years on state house list
Maureen O’Meara, 75, spent two years on the state house waiting list and was renting a two-bedroom unit in Pakuranga for $420 a week until earlier this year.

“I had $17 left a week after paying the rent,” O’Meara said. “Being on a pension and paying market rent meant I didn’t have a lot of money left to live on.”

O’Meara managed to find somewhere more affordable in May after she was put in touch with Haumaru Housing, a joint venture between Auckland Council and the Selwyn Foundation.

But O’Meara said the Manukau development reflects an increasing number of people reaching retirement without a home.

“And I think there’s going to be a need for more places like it,” she said.

Age Concern Auckland chief executive Kevin Lamb said it’s important the development was close to public transport and community facilities.

“We think it’s high time older people had accommodation that is new and more appropriate for their needs.”

Big part of pension on housing
Recently-released research by Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission showed superannuitants still paying rent were more likely to be spending 40 percent or more of their pension on housing.

While long-term trends suggest more older New Zealanders are likely to still be renting in their retirement.

Te Ara Ahunga Ora director of policy Dr Suzy Morrissey said with declining home ownership rates there was a growing need for public housing and accommodation for those aged 55 and over.

“When NZ Super was introduced, it was with the underlying assumption that those accessing it would be mortgage-free homeowners,” she said.

“Today, the reality is very different. There are declining home ownership rates, more people needing to continue working longer because they still have mortgages to pay, are paying rent, or haven’t been able to save enough to retire.”

• Auckland is currently in the middle of the local body elections with a Pacific candidate, Fa’anānā Efeso Collins, one of the two top contenders for mayor of the super city.

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Manukau Urban Māori Authority (MUMA) is welcoming the government’s health reforms as an important first step to improving Māori and Pasifika health in south Auckland.

But some in the health sector say the jury is still out on what will be achieved in Counties Manukau.

Under the reforms, the country’s 20 district health boards have now been replaced by Te Whatu Ora (Health New Zealand).

The new Crown entity will be responsible for running hospitals, primary and community health services.

The government says it will allow for more consistent delivery of health services nationwide and help stop the postcode lottery people face accessing healthcare based on where they live.

The reforms also include the establishment of Te Aka Whai Ora (the Māori Health Authority) to improve indigenous health which will work in partnership with Health NZ.

Muma chairman Bernie O’Donnell has seen the country’s district health boards work first-hand, as a member of the now-defunct Auckland DHB.

Greater responsibility for Māori
He said establishing a Māori Health Authority would give Māori greater responsibility for the delivery of their own health services.

“For too long the health system hasn’t addressed the wellbeing of Māori, or those at the bottom of the cliff,” O’Donnell said. “The reality is we couldn’t continue with what we had. Something had to be done and this is it.”

He said critics of the health reforms are defending a system which had to be replaced.

“The old way the DHBs were run didn’t work for our people. For too long it’s been non-Māori telling us what’s best for us.”

He said ongoing issues left by the Counties Manukau DHB, such as Middlemore Hospital’s under-pressure emergency department and its workforce shortages would all have to be addressed under the changes.

“But what we’re expecting is that Māori and Pasifika health in south Auckland will get better under the reforms,” O’Donnell said.

However, he admitted there’s a lot at stake.

‘Time will tell’
“If that doesn’t happen we won’t have achieved anything of significance,” he said. “But only time will tell.”

Yet not everyone is as certain as O’Donnell on what impact the changes will have.

Turuki Healthcare chief executive Te Puea Winiata said there were still a lot of unanswered questions about the reforms.

Winiata said the creation of the new authority dedicated to indigenous health is an important first step.

But she said it was vital that the new entity had the ability to make its own decisions and help support Māori self-determination.

“The resourcing of the Māori Health Authority is going to be critical to its success,” she said.

Many reform attempts
Winiata said she had worked in the health sector for the past 30 years and in that time had seen a number of attempts by the government of the day to restructure the health system.

She said it was hard to predict what impact the health reforms would have in south Auckland.

“But I think in 12 months’ time we will be able to look at what changes have been made and see what’s been achieved.”

Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ on Air. Asia Pacific Report is an LDR partner.

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