Auckland has just adopted
the Auckland Plan 2050,
a high level vision of what people
living in New Zealand's largest city
want the region to look like by 2050.
But just who helped shape this plan?
Who gets a say in Auckland?
Auckland is ethnically diverse,
it's young and it's got huge income differences.
But out of 26,000 Aucklanders who gave their feedback
on the plan,
three-quarters were Pākehā, or European.
Two-thirds of them were from higher income areas,
seven out of 10 were 35 or older.
The Auckland that someone in Devonport wants
isn't necessarily the same as the Auckland
someone in St Heliers
or Avondale or Māngere envisages.
So we set out to ask Aucklanders
what matters to them
and whether they think anyone's listening.
First stop, Devonport, an upscale seaside suburb
on Auckland's North Shore.
Residents of Devonport-Takapuna
earn comfortably above average incomes,
are mostly Pākehā and had one of the highest rates
of submissions on the Auckland Plan.
The thing is,
you do have be educated and vocal
and probably have a reasonable amount of money
to have your voice heard.
I do personally know a community board member
and I know a couple of council members,
not that I've ever actually really complained to them
but I have had conversations with them
about various things.
And I think a lot of people don't have that.
The Ōrākei local ward area,
where St Heliers is located,
has the highest household incomes in the region
by a long way, is three-quarters Pākehā
and made an above average number of submissions.
There's lots of different areas in Auckland
that are not necessarily geographically
very far away from one another
but where people have quite different types of lives
and have quite different issues at the forefront
of their minds.
Certainly we do get ample opportunity to have a voice.
We're constantly getting things in the post
about local issues, you know,
we're changing the bus routes, what do you think?
We want to put high density housing
on an environmental area, what do you think?
In terms of how much that actually affects
the eventual outcome,
I can't really tell you.
We're heading to Avondale now,
in the Whau local board area.
It's about in the middle of the spectrum
when it comes to incomes
but it's a bit more diverse than Auckland as a whole.
More Pasifika people and people from Asian backgrounds,
and fewer Pākehā.
It made fewer than average submissions.
We have a great sense of community in Avondale.
It's also close to the city.
The biggest issue in Avondale would be youth
and youth mental illness.
There isn't a lot of work around
building our community for youth.
Is our voice being heard Auckland-wide?
I honestly don't know.
Our last stop is Favona
in Māngere-Ōtāhuhu.
People here earn some of the lowest incomes in Auckland
and more than half the population
identify as Pasifika.
Apart from the small island communities of Waiheke
and Great Barrier,
people here made the fewest submissions
on the Auckland Plan 2050.
There's a lot of families
that have to make a choice day by day.
Do they put petrol in their car
or do they provide food for their kids?
We have a lot of opportunities to raise our voices,
to have a say,
but most of our people do not know where to go.
It is also our culture
that we are not taught to raise our voice
or to bring up what matters.
And so we need to educate our people
and then I believe that the local board members,
they need to be reaching out to the community more,
coming out to the community
rather than the community going to them.
One of the 2050 Plan goals
is for every Aucklander to have a sense
of belonging and participation.
Some already do, but in other places, like Māngere,
they are still battling to find their voice.