Passing Go Conference Speakers

The North Shore City Council is led by Mayor Andrew Williams. Mayor Williams has been involved in North Shore local government since 2001, serving as a City Councillor from 2001-2004 and Takapuna Community Board member (deputy chair) from 2004-2007. He is a member of the Auckland Mayoral Forum, a Trustee of the Takapuna Facilities Trust, and is on the board of the Waitemata Harbour Clean-Up Trust. Mayor Williams is patron of many North Shore charities, clubs and organisations.

Originally from Waipukurau in Central Hawke's Bay, Andrew Williams moved to the North Shore in 1976, finishing his education at Rangitoto College. He has lived in Campbells Bay for the past 23 years with his wife Jane and their three children.

As well as participating in his family’s varied activities, Mayor Williams’ interests include walking, swimming, golf, boating, gardening and watching sports. Having travelled extensively during his years in business, he enjoys diverse cultures, foods, music, sports and lifestyles.

Mayor Williams has an Advanced Marketing Management Diploma from the International Marketing Institute of New Zealand. He served nine years as the Trade Commissioner for Belgium and Luxembourg, and the Hon. Vice Consul of Belgium. He was the founding President of the NZ-Europe Business Council.

Hon Paula Bennett

MP for Waitakere, Minister for Social Development and Employment, Minister of Youth Affairs

Hon_Paula_Bennett

Paula lives in Waitakere, West Auckland, and grew up in Taupo, attending Taupö-nui-a-tia College. Paula raised her daughter and worked in hospitality, secretarial and retail roles. Realising her opportunities were limited without an education, Paula went to Massey University as an adult student. Although she originally studied social work, she ended up with a degree in social policy.

Paula has worked in human resources and recruitment with a variety of clients across various industries, from banking and finance to manufacturing. Her rapid promotion saw her managing an Auckland human resources company before resigning to pursue a career in politics.

Her mantra? "Self-belief, with a dose of hard work, can make anything possible."

Paula became a National Member of Parliament in September 2005. After three years in Opposition as a list MP, the public of Waitakere, her "Westies," chose her as their electorate MP and representative in Wellington.

Paula is passionate about ensuring a brighter future for all New Zealanders. As the Minister for Social Development, she believes she's been give a great opportunity to affect positive change in people's lives, the lives of their families and their communities.

Hon Rodney Hide

Act Party leade; MP for Epsom; Minister of Local Government; Minister for Regulatory Reform; Associate Minister of Commerce

Masters Degrees in Economics and Resource Management

Hon_Rodney_Hide

Rodney Hide went to university, graduated with a science degree majoring in botany and zoology and got a job working with a group doing research in the Forest Service.

Rodney then travelled to Britain and experienced working on a North Sea oil rig as well as travelling through Europe, the Middle East, India and Pakistan before returning to New Zealand.

He enrolled at Lincoln University for a course in Resource Management, which involved study in ecology, hydrology, law, engineering, economics, geography and population dynamics. At this time he began to question seriously the general acceptance of the role of government in controlling so many of the country's enterprises.

Rodney moved to a lectureship in economics at Lincoln and during a sabbatical leave at Montana State University he completed a Masters degree in Economics.

His next position was working for businessman Alan Gibbs. It was then that Hide met Roger Douglas and Richard Prebble, and became involved with the Act party.

He entered Parliament in 1996 as an ACT list MP and became the Leader of ACT in 2004. In 2005 he won the Electorate Seat of Epsom.

In the National-led Government, Mr Hide holds several ministerial posts outside Cabinet under a supply and confidence agreement.

Dr Asquith

PhD. Senior Lecturer, Department of Management and International Business, Massey University.

Andy Asquith studied for his first degree and doctorate in Birmingham, UK. His PhD examined the changing role of local authority chief executives in English local government. In 1994 he joined the University of Luton participating in a multi-national research project the UDiTE Leadership Study. The study examined the changing role of local authority chief executives in 15 countries, where he conducted the study in Ireland.

Andy has worked in local government and also served on a local council. He has worked on a number of major collaborative projects with eastern European universities and is a visiting professor at the Urals Academy of public administration in Ekaterinburg.

He joined Massey’s Department of Management and International Business in May 2005. His research interests are in the areas of city management; managerial leadership and change management in local government. He is particularly interested in the issues around Auckland's mismanagement and misgovernance, and has published widely in this area. He is currently supervising a number of masters and doctoral students.

Selected recent publications:

(2008) ‘Managing Middle Earth: The evolving role of local authority chief executive officers in Auckland, New Zealand’, Local Government Studies, 34, 5, 625-640.
(2008) ‘Auckland at the crossroads: Finding a balance between regional strategic governance and localism’. Report commissioned by the Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern).

Dr Christine Cheyne

PhD. Associate Professor, Resource & Environmental Planning Programme School of People, Environment and Planning, Massey University.

Christine is an Associate Professor in the Resource & Environmental Planning at Massey University (Palmerston North). She has studied and written on local government in New Zealand, having previously worked in local government in planning and research. She was a member of the Local Government Rates Inquiry (2007) which carried out an independent investigation of local government funding.

Currently, Dr Cheyne is an environmental sustainability representative on the Horizons Regional Council Regional Land Transport Committee, and is a member of the Taranaki/Whanganui Conservation Board.

Christine has specialist knowledge of the community welfare aspect of local government, including community planning, representation, participation and well-being which has been the focus of her research and work. In addition she has contributed to publications on local government leadership, decision-making and governance.

Current and recent research includes:

Research on attitudes and behaviour in relation to public transport in non-metropolitan New Zealand (for NZ Transport Agency)
Research on the impacts of rapid property price changes on small coastal settlements
Research on the implications of the Treaty of Waitangi for local government
Involvement in a University of Auckland led team that is a partner in the Reconstructing Democracy in Europe project.

Selected recent publications:

Cheyne, C., and Muhammad, I., (2009) Attitudes and behavior in relation to public transport in non-metropolitan cities of New Zealand, Planning Quarterly 173 (June): 14-16.
Michalsky, A. and Cheyne, C., (2008) European Union and New Zealand: Converging approaches to the Knowledge-based Economy? Journal of European Public Policy 15 (7): 1087-1106.

Megan Courtney

Megan Courtney has spent most of her working life with Waitakere City Council. She was an early adopter of interagency working and has been at the forefront of local government-led wellbeing collaboration in New Zealand. Her role at the council from the mid 1990s was to facilitate and broker sector based partnerships and also broader citywide processes for central government, local government and community sector "joining up".

Megan was the co-leader of the Waitakere arm of the "Strengthening Communities through Local Partnerships" Research Project from 2002- 5 This research focused on the development of social sector partnerships in Waitakere and changes required to make 'partnering' more sustainable, both in Waitakere and throughout New Zealand as a whole.

Megan has also worked with the Department of Internal Affairs to produce practical partnering tools and resources for those working at the collaboration coalface.

Moving from citywide to suburban collaboration, Megan was the initial project leader for "Massey Matters" - a ten year community building project focused on improving quality of life in Waitakere's largest suburb. Although initiated by Waitakere City Council, Massey Matters is now viewed as an innovative example of ‘community-led development’.

In March 2009, Megan began a new part time role with Inspiring Communities (www.inspiringcommunities.org.nz), which is about catalysing, connect and promoting community-led ways of thinking and working across Aotearoa, NZ. A strong believer in the power of communities and places and the need to do thing differently, Megan is now brokering a new regional community-led development network within Tamaki Makaurau. She says, “There are already lots of great things happening in local places – our communities will be so much stronger if we proactively learn, share and build on the magic that’s here”.

Dr. Love M. Chile

PhD. Associate Professor. Academic Director Centre for Community Investment and Development and Coordinator Post Graduate Studies Institute of Public Policy, AUT.

Love Chile has a Masters degree in Urban and Regional Planning and a PhD in Public Policy. His current professional activities include membership of the Editorial Advisory Boards of the Community Development Journal [CDJ] published by Oxford University; Middle Belt Perspectives published by University of Oklahoma; and New Community Quarterly Hawthorn Victoria Australia. He is also on the Board of the International Association for Community Development and Community Development Society [USA].

Love has worked on many projects for a number of community-based organisations and NGOs, government departments and the private sector. He is considered a leading educator and consultant in community development in New Zealand and internationally, and has published extensively in the areas of community development, refugee and migrant resettlement, including two text books published in 2009 and 2007.

Selected recent publications:

(2009) Culturally Competent Practice: A Training Manual for Professionals working with Refugees, Migrants and People from Diverse Backgrounds IPP-AUT Auckland ISBN 978-0-473-14913-0
(2008) New Migrants and Refugee Settlement Chapter 12 In N. Lunt, M O’Brien and R Stephens [Eds] New Zealand New Welfare CENGAGE Learning Australia Melbourne pp111-122 ISBN 978-0-17-013578-8
[Ed.] (2007) Community Development Practice in New Zealand Exploring Good Practice IPP-AUT Auckland ISBN 978-0-473-12573-8
(2006) The historical context of community development in Aotearoa New Zealand Community Development Journal 41(4) 407-425
Chile, LM; Munford, R and Shannon, P (2006) Community Development in Bicultural Contexts: Aotearoa New Zealand Community Development Journal 41(4) 400-406
(2004), Good Practice in Community Development Work: Towards community well-being Social Work Review Volume XVI Number 3 pp26-31 ISBN 0113-7662
Chile, LM and G. Simpson (2004) Spirituality and Community Development: Exploring the link between the Individual and the Collective Community Development Journal Volume 39 Number 4 pp318-331 ISSN 0010-3802
Chile, L., Dunstan, S., & Dibley, R. (2003) Refugee voices: The challenge of researching vulnerable populations New Zealand Population Review 29 (1), pp57-69 ISSN 0111-199X

Dr David Craig

PhD. Senior Lecturer / Postgraduate General Advisor, Auckland University

David Craig is interested in relations between development modalities and local outcomes, be they in governance, poverty, or human/ environmental security and conflict. He has a strong interest in political economy, in particular neoliberalism: the ways it becomes institutionalized, and its effects on a range of social, political economic and environmental outcomes.

David is currently researching how ‘new institutional’ decentralised governance reforms in Cambodia interact with that country's neopatrimonial governance regimen, to produce effects which are good for marginal people and wider political economy/ human security.

Selected recent publications:

Craig, D. and D Porter (2006) Development beyond neo-liberalism: governance, poverty reduction and political economy. London: Routledge.
Carter I, D Craig and S Matthewman (Eds) (2004) Almighty Auckland? Edited collection. Palmerston North: Dunmore Press, NZ.
Craig D and M Courntey (2004) The Potential of Partnerships: Key Learnings and Ways forward based on Waitakere city experiences. Auckland: Local Partnerships and Governance Research Project. ISBN 0-476-01238-4
St John, S and Craig, D (2004) Cut Price Kids: Does the 2004 ‘Working for Families Budget Work for Children? Auckland: Child Poverty Action Group Inc. ISBN 0-9582263-3-4

Two books are currently underway:

Decentralisation, governance and poverty reduction in Cambodia (co-written with Doug Porter, ADB)
Taranaki Gothic: New Zealand’s shaky political and cultural economy

Dr Emma Davies

PhD. Programme Director - Social Development, Institute of Public Policy, AUT.

Emma Davies has worked for 20 years in the interface between research, practice and policy in government and non-government sectors. She has conducted research on postnatal depression, developing pre-school children’s communication skills, empowering children with disabilities, children in the criminal courts and preventing violence toward children.

Emma led the research that underpinned the development of Te Puawaitahi (Auckland multi-agency child abuse assessment centre) and Education for Court for child complainants in the criminal justice system. Emma was a founding member of Every Child Counts – a national child advocacy coalition. She led a team analysing and giving advice on a broad range of social and economic issues that affect children’s lives.

For many years she was Programme Leader: Children and Families at the Institute of Public Policy, AUT. In 2005, Emma was seconded to the Ministry of Social Development to work as a Principal Analyst to the Taskforce for Action on Violence within Families. She then worked at the Auckland Office of the Children’s Commissioner as Principal Advisor. She worked with councils on social development initiatives including child-impact reporting, child prostitution and family violence.

Emma is currently ADHB’s representative on the Advisory Group for the evaluation of the Tamaki Transformation Programme. Emma returned to AUT in 2009.

Dr Grant Duncan

PhD. Senior Lecturer, Social and Public Policy Programme, Massey Universtiy.

Dr_Grant_Duncan

Grant Duncan is a senior lecturer in public policy at the school of social and cultural studies at Massey University, Albany Campus. He completed a PhD on health belief systems and doctor-patient communication at Auckland University. He has been with Massey University since 1993. His teaching focuses on applied political theory, political economy and the development of social policy in New Zealand.

Grant’s research and publications have covered general changes in social policy and public management in New Zealand, specialising in accident compensation legislation and policy. He has analysed the means by which policy institutions construct and administer populations, with a focus on work-capacity and chronic-pain disability. He also has a special interest in the political uses of happiness.

Grant is a correspondent of the Max Planck Institute for International Social Law, Munich, for which he writes an annual report on changes in social security laws in New Zealand.

Selected recent publications:

(2009). Should happiness-maximization be the goal of government? Journal of Happiness Studies.
Duncan, G. and Browning, J. (2009). Adult Attachment in Children Raised by Parents with Schizophrenia. Journal of Adult Development 16(2): 76–86.
(2008). Counting the currency of knowledge: New Zealand’s Performance-Based Research Fund. In I. Morley and M. Crouch (eds) Knowledge as value: Illumination through critical prisms. Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi (pp. 23–42).
(2007). Society and Politics: New Zealand Social Policy. 2nd. edition. Auckland: Pearson Education-SprintPrint Prentice Hall.

Grant suggests, “This hip hop video can show us something about the real life of the city that tends to be lacking from statistics” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yooqIsQnjME&feature=fvsr

Dr Grant Hewison

PhD. Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand.

Senior Associate, Auckland, Kensington Swan.

Grant Hewison is a local government public law specialist with Kensington Swan. Grant has most recently advised local authority and private clients on:

The public law and commercial implications of the Local Government (Tamaki Makaurau Reorganisation) Act 2009
Drafting and presenting submissions on the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill 2009
The implications of the Local Government (Auckland Council) Act 2009 and the Minister of Local Government’s Transparency, Accountability and Fiscal Management reform proposed for the local government sector

Prior to joining Kensington Swan, Grant worked as a Senior Manager in strategic, economic development and environmental roles at both Auckland and Manukau City Councils, giving him an understanding of the local government environment. While in those roles he:

Advised the Auckland Region Mayoral Forum on Auckland Governance and played an advocacy role on the reform of Local Government law on behalf of the Auckland region local authorities
Managed the Auckland CEO Forum project on shared services, which won the 2001 New Zealand Post Local Government Management Excellence Award

Grant did his doctorate on “The Local Government Act 2002: Rationalisation or Reform?” He found that the Act only partially reflected a coherent overall strategy on local government, but the enactment of a broad empowering legislative framework had brought true reform.

Grant further concluded that the 2002 Act did not advance a partnership relationship between central and local government but created better collaboration. Lastly, he concluded that the Act had reformed the local government relationship with the Treaty of Waitangi although the low level of Maori involvement in local government required further thought.

Wade Jackson

Your MC

Wade Jackson is regarded as a leader in the development of human potential. He is the author and co-creator of the critically acclaimed JOLT Challenge: the Self Intelligence experience. He has been involved in the performing, healing and martial arts for over the last 15 years.

Clients who have engaged his services include Air New Zealand, American Express, AMP, Bank of New Zealand, Deloitte, Estee Lauder, Singapore Armed Forces, Vodafone and Westpac to name a few. He is also an honorary lecturer in Organisational Behaviour at the AUT University, Faculty of Business and Law.

Wade is a double world improvisation champion and founding member of The Improv Bandits, a world renowned improvised comedy act. Fluent in Japanese, Wade has three internationally recognised black belts in martial arts and has studied Zen Shiatsu, Japanese acupressure massage based on Traditional Chinese Medicine. With a post-graduate Diploma in Drama and Diploma in Advanced Clinical Hypnotherapy, Wade is a certified Neuro Linguistic Programming practitioner who has also studied Parts Therapy and Emotional Freedom Technique.

Wade Jackson’s presentations are interactive, insightful and a lot of fun. His dynamic style combined with his passion for giving people simple and effective tools to create positive change makes him a highly appreciated and sought after speaker and consultant.

Justine Munro

Justine Munro is the CEO of the New Zealand Centre for Social Innovation. This an independent organisation which brings together public, private and community partners to create new solutions to New Zealand’s most pressing social needs (http://www.nzcsi.org/). Justine is a New Zealand Rhodes Scholar and holds an M. Litt. in Law from Oxford University.

Justine is a strategic thinker and communicator who is able to deliver on-the-ground results. She is dynamic and committed, and draws upon strong cross-sectoral relationships to develop and drive projects which make a difference.

Justine is one of New Zealand’s leading thinkers in the rapidly growing field of social innovation. She has strong links internationally including with the global Social Innovation eXchange, the Young Foundation, and the Australian Social Innovation Exchange.

Justine has worked as a consultant with McKinsey & Company, a leading international strategic management consultancy, and as a lawyer specialising in indigenous, environmental and public law issues and in providing governance and management advice to indigenous clients.

She has been Project Manager of the Social Investors, NZ (formerly Social Venture Accelerator), an initiative of the Knowledge Wave Trust, which provides high-potential non-profit organisations in the youth and education sectors with funding and capability-building assistance.

Recent career highlights

Working with the New Zealand Institute to look at the challenges to social innovation in New Zealand.
Project managing the Starpath Project at the University of Auckland to improve educational outcomes for students under-represented in higher education.
Established a Partnership for Excellence with Government
Setting up the Springboard Trust to support high-potential non-profit organisations.
Establishing Global Women, an organisation assisting New Zealand women achieve their leadership potential.

Alfred Ngaro

Alfred Ngaro is a New Zealander of Cook Island descent. After qualifying as an electrician and running his own business for 5 years, he went on to fulfil his grandmother's wishes to become a minister. He studied for a Bachelor of Ministries and then served as a pastor with the Tamaki Community Church for six years. He pioneered the Tamaki Community Development Trust with his wife Mokauina. They delivered social services within Tamaki for over 15 years, using a strengths-based indigenous approach.

After attending a Tamarack conference in Canada looking at leading edge community development, Alfred became part of a team helping to set up the Inspiring Communities Exchange. “I'm really interested in innovative approaches to Community-Led Development that are indigenous to New Zealand while learning from a global community of approaches and developments.”

Alfred is on a number of national advisory committees for the Ministry of Social Development, including the National Taskforce for Family Violence. He chairs the Pacific Committee of the Auckland District Health Board. Alfred was recently the recipient of a Sir Peter Blake Leadership Award.

Alfred has been a leading contributor to a community-focused approach for Tamaki’s regeneration. This is an urban renewal project which was launched in May 2009. The vision of the Tamaki Transformation Project is, “Tamaki, where people thrive and prosper for generations, a place with a strong and vibrant community spirit, valued for its natural beauty and history.”

Dr John Raeburn, QSO

PhD. Adjunct Professor, AUT.

Dr_John_Raeburn

John Raeburn has a PhD in Psychology and recently retired from the School of Population Health, University of Auckland, New Zealand. He was Head of the Behavioural Science programme at the University of Auckland for many years. He has taught medical students and postgraduate students in health science and public health, including originating the Mental Health Development programme. His areas of interest include health promotion, community development, mental health promotion, and spirituality.

John is an internationally recognised mental health promoter and community development practitioner. John became a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for Community Service in the New Years Honours for 2006.

John's passion has always been primarily with the grassroots of community empowerment and its relationship to health and wellbeing. He has been involved in many innovations in these areas over the years, and has published widely in the local and international literature, including authorship of the book People-Centred Health Promotion (with Canadian Irving Rootman). He has worked with WHO and was closely involved with both the Ottawa and Bangkok Charters for Health Promotion. He has been Chair of the Mental Health Foundation. John was until recently Director of Public Health for the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand.

John is currently on the Board of the new mental health NGO Affinity. “As a board we firmly believe that having solid mental health is crucial to be able to thrive in this world. Any one of us can experience poor mental health at times, and everyone can strengthen their existing mental health; we are all human beings in this life together”.

David Wilson

Masters in Public Policy. Director of the Institute of Public Policy and Programme Leader for Economic Development.

David_Wilson

David Wilson is the Director of the Institute of Public Policy at AUT, and Director of IPP’s Economic Development Centre. He is the programme leader for the Graduate Diploma in Economic Development, New Zealand’s only qualification that focuses solely on the theory and practice of economic development. The Diploma has international recognition through an accreditation process held in partnership with the Economic Development Association of New Zealand.

David has a degree in Psychology and Social Policy and a Masters in Public Policy where his research centred on regional economic development. He is currently a PhD candidate working on an international comparative study of city-regions and economic development.

He was instrumental in promoting the Metro Auckland Project through his roles as a member of the governance group and a member of the International review team that produced the ‘Metro report’ for the Metro Project team in Auckland.

He has an extensive business background that he brings to academia, research and development work from sales and marketing, product management, strategic business unit management to owning and operating his own successful retail business for 17 years.

David is currently an alternate member of the Auckland Regional Economic Development Forum, a board member for Towns and Cities NZ, a fellow of the Economic Development Association of New Zealand and a strategic partner to the Auckland Regional Economic Development Association.