Who are we?

Re-Imagining Social Work (RSW) is a collective of social workers, social work academics, researchers and others who share a passion for, and a commitment to the development of modern, progressive, inclusive, democratic, and culturally responsive social work services in Aotearoa New Zealand.  Our work in the collective is voluntary and undertaken with no external support.  The opinions we express are our own and do not represent the views of our employers, or any association to which we belong.

As a collective we do not have a lead person, contact with us can be made through the website at http://www.reimaginingsocialwork.nz/contact/.

What is the purpose of this website?

The purpose of this website is to provide a platform to re-imagine social work services in Aotearoa New Zealand. We intend to use this site, and other social media, to raise awareness about the threats to humane social work services in New Zealand and to promote discussion, debate and deliberation about progressive alternatives.

What is the background to the RSW?

Our collective was formed in response to the New Zealand Government’s announcement, in April 2015, of plans to review and ‘modernise’ Child, Youth and Family (the government operated child protection agency).  The review is to be led by an ‘independent’ panel of ‘experts’.  Experts who do not include a single child protection practitioner, manager, academic or researcher. The CYF review is not about the development of creative and innovative plans to support and reform a struggling public service. It is about the continuing roll out of the National Government’s ‘investment approach’ to marketise and privatise health and social services.  The terms of reference of the review include no plans to consult the New Zealand public or any of the many agencies and individuals with a stake in effective child protection services.

What do we want to achieve?

We propose to resist the silencing of our voice by creating a space to discuss, debate and deliberate on the future of modern and progressive social work services in Aotearoa New Zealand. We believe that the CYF Review has implications for all social work services and welcome contributions (blog posts, comments, video interviews, photographs, cartoons, drawings and other media) from colleagues (social workers, social work managers, social work students, policy makers, trade unionists and others) who share our concerns.  Please use the contact form to contact the RSW Collective.

The name of our collective, Re-imagining Social Work, was inspired by the book Re-imagining Child Protection: Towards humane social work with families by Brid Featherstone,  Kate Morris, and Sue White.

NZEI Te Riu Roa members work in every community in New Zealand, leading and advocating for quality public education.

We are the 50,000 principals, teachers and support staff who work in primary, area and secondary schools as well as early childhood centres, special education and school advisory services. We come together as NZEI Te Riu Roa – New Zealand’s largest education union, a Treaty based organisation and a powerful advocate for quality public education.

Contact:

Rebecca Matthews-Heron

[email protected]

Health Care Aotearoa represents many community & iwi controlled primary health providers.

“Our primary health services every day see the results of low wages and the lack of sustainable incomes in the health problems that we deal with in our communities. This is not just a cost to the families living in these communities but also to the taxpayers who foot the bill for our public health services,” says Healthcare Aotearoa National Co-ordinator Muriel Tunoho.

Contact:
Muriel Tunoho | www.hca.org.nz

What we do to reduce inequality

Two in five children living in poverty comes from a household with at least one full time worker or self-employed person. The Living Wage Movement Aotearoa NZ is an alliance of faith-based religious groups, unions and community/secular groups committed to reducing poverty among working people in New Zealand. It is not aligned to any political party but seeks to influence those who have the power to change the lives of workers and their families through a Living Wage. In particular, the Movement focuses on where incomes are funded through public money, the large employers who can afford to pay a Living Wage, and those ethical employers who choose to pay.

The Living Wage is independently calculated by the Family Centre Social Policy Unit which in February each year releases the Living Wage rate for New Zealand. The current Living Wage is $19.25 per hour.

Dozens of employers have already signed a licence to become Living Wage Employers from a range of sectors including NGOs, manufacturing, and hospitality.

Helpful support

Sign in to our website for more information, join our Movement as a Member Group, be a volunteer and support our growing influence across civil society as we raise the standards for workers and their families and change the debate about wages in this country. www.livingwage.org.nz or our Facebook page: Living Wage Aotearoa New Zealand.

Contact: Annie Newman | www.livingwage.org.nz