KEY POINTS:
I have to admit to a feeling of incredulity at reading some of the things that have been written about my organisation, Mission Australia, in the New Zealand media over the past few months.
For the past two years I thought I'd been the chief executive of one of Australia's largest community service organisations.
I thought I'd headed a team of people whose main objective was transforming the lives of homeless people, getting kids off drugs, mending broken families and finding work for the long-term unemployed.
Turns out, if you believe some commentators and politicians, I'm actually the head of an organisation hell-bent on nothing less than the destruction of New Zealand's community voluntary sector.
If you believe the lunatic fringe, Mission Australia is in secret cahoots with John Key and National to become a "super contractor" of community and employment services in New Zealand - wiping out all small community and tangata whenua-based welfare groups before us - should they become the Government this year.
I wish someone had told me sooner.
The accusations thrown at Mission Australia have been nothing short of risible - and would be undeserving of a response if, through their repetition and publication, they weren't taking on the status of fact.
When similar baseless claims were made in a recent New Zealand Council of Social Services newsletter, its chief executive, Ros Rice, circulated to all its members an open letter of apology to Mission Australia.
Let me set the record straight. Mission Australia has not had any consultations - private or otherwise - with National about becoming a "super contractor", rolling out "work for the dole" type programmes, or anything else for that matter.
Last year, it accepted an invitation by National to send a representative to New Zealand to give several well-publicised presentations to community representatives, politicians - from a range of parties - and media about our experience delivering Australian Government job programmes.
Three presentations were given - one in Auckland, two in Wellington. The Mission Australia staff arrived on the evening of July 30 and were on a plane home by August 1. No backroom meetings. No secret handshakes.
Mission Australia is a charity with a history of close to 150 years of transforming the lives of individuals and families in need.
We work in hundreds of communities around Australia - metropolitan, rural and remote. We employ local people to manage services that meet local needs.
We're a diverse group - more than 30 per cent of our staff are from non-English-speaking backgrounds, and 3 per cent are indigenous (indigenous Australians make up 2.5 per cent of the country's total population) and more than 5 per cent of our employees have a disability.
And a number, like me, are Kiwis. We have no ambitions other than to eliminate disadvantage and create a fairer society.
One of the accusations made against us is that as a large charity we operate at the expense of smaller groups. I would love our critics to point out just one instance where this has occurred on my watch.
On the contrary, I can point to several hundred millions of dollars that have gone to small grassroots organisations because of our advocacy. Mission Australia partners many smaller community groups to deliver services around the country.
We use our experience and resources at the strategic level, our partners then roll out programmes using their local knowledge.
We also use our "backroom" expertise in research and social policy, IT, finance and human resources to lift a range of burdens from our partners, freeing them up to do what they're best at - helping people in need.
Another criticism is that by partnering governments or corporates, Mission Australia compromises its independence. Whenever we enter into a partnership we do so as an equal and in the knowledge it will help transform people's lives.
Far from blunting our advocacy, we believe our partnerships enable us to put our case more successfully. In fact, we believe we are one of the strongest advocacy groups in Australia - not necessarily in the media, but around the table, where it counts.
I said in an interview with the New Zealand Herald recently that Mission Australia, given the right opportunity, would jump at the chance to work in New Zealand. Why? We believe we can do a better job of helping disadvantaged New Zealanders.
If we do come to New Zealand it will be in partnership with local community groups - including tangata whenua.
As a New Zealander, I don't share the arrogance of some my countrymen in the social sector who think we can't learn from the experience of community service organisations from abroad. Or that needy New Zealanders can't benefit from small tangata whenua community groups partnering larger agencies - even those from Australia.
By all means, let us debate the future of New Zealand's community voluntary sector - under a National or Labour government - and how best we can help people in need.
But let's base those talks on fact and not unfounded scaremongering and outright lies.
