Claire Hague: Celebrating diversity in Napier

Napier city councillor Claire Hague ONZM. Photo / File

One of the highlights of my role as a city councillor, and I'm sure I speak for our whole team in this, is the ceremonies that we host every two or three months to formally award New Zealand citizenship to members of our Napier community.

The May citizenship ceremony saw 53 people from 20 countries become New Zealand citizens. Some had lived and worked here for years, while others were new arrivals.

People ranging from children through to senior citizens swore an oath and crossed the stage to receive a kowhai tree and a book about New Zealand to mark the occasion.

They came from a range of cultures, traditions and beliefs.

This ceremony, and all the others I have had the privilege of attending brought home to me how lucky we are in Napier to have such a wonderfully diverse range of people choosing to work, play and raise their families in our city. All of them are making a significant contribution to our community, and we are richer for their presence.

At the end of the citizenship ceremony, the mayor notes that as a council we exist to serve our people.

One of the challenges of being a councillor is being able to serve the whole community, not just parts of it. At the moment we are consulting on our plan for the next 10 years, and it's really important that we hear from as many people as possible about how you see Napier in the future. In the end we are elected to make good decisions.

We need to hear the full spectrum of views, and to gather as much information as possible to ensure our final decisions are sound. Diversity of opinion, and testing of our ideas are a key part of this process.

Diversity was also a theme of a recent meeting with the Youth Council, another group making a great contribution to our council, and to Napier.

These young people are students from a range of secondary schools, all giving their time to help make Napier a better place for all, and for youth in particular.

As I listened to their views on some of our proposed plans for the future, I was struck by the fact that although they had different opinions about some things, they were able to listen attentively to each other, learn from others, and appreciate different perspectives.

They enjoyed a good debate, without personalising it.

As a former school principal, I was reminded again of how much we as adults in our city can learn from our children and young people.

They play the ball, rather than the person.

They are supportive and tolerant of one another, even though they may differ in background and perspective.

Most of all, as potential future leaders they have a vision for the future, and a concern and empathy for others.

This is truly heartening to see. For those of us in that 50-plus age group who are beginning to experience the grumpiness or resistance to change that seems to strike at some stage, I would highly recommend a dose of teenage company for its health benefits.

The Napier I knew as a young person is different from Napier today. More young people are choosing to stay here to undertake tertiary study at our own EIT.

More and more families are moving here or returning here from the bigger cities, seeking our quality of life. And as we have seen, many people attaining New Zealand citizenship have chosen to make Napier their home.

In my view, this diversity of people brings huge opportunities for us as a city to ensure that our planning for the future includes the voices and the needs of all of our people, not just some of them.

In the words of our citizenship ceremony "let us work together to realise a shared vision of a just and open society where all the citizens of Napier may flourish." It's an exciting time for us all.

Note: Consultation on Napier City Council's Long Term Plan closes on May 14. Use the submission form in the booklet, or go online to www.sayitnapier.nz

• Claire Hague ONZM is a Napier city councillor.