The Labour Party has reaffirmed its commitment to New Zealand’s rainbow community with its 2017 Rainbow policy, featuring the goal to end HIV in New Zealand by 2025.

Grant Robertson says Labour continues a long and proud tradition of advocating for rainbow issues.

 Farah Palmer’s appointment as the first woman on the board of New Zealand Rugby is a huge achievement for her, the game and women everywhere, says Labour Associate Spokesperson for Sport and Recreation Louisa Wall.

“I’m thrilled for Farah. She’s a rugby great, a respected academic and a role model for all of us.

 Labour’s Maori caucus have paid tribute to the two mana wahine Maori Members of Parliament, Hon Iriaka Ratana and Hon Whetu Tirikatene Sullivan OSM, who were recognised alongside the original male Native MPs in a special event at Parliament today.

 They were honoured after a request by Labour’s Manurewa MP Louisa Wall who says they deserved to be acknowledged alongside their male counterparts.

 “Today was about recognising that between them they served our people for 50 years and their legacy enabled people like me to aspire to be in Parliament.

Parliamentarians from the region have this week formed the Asia Pacific TB Caucus, at an historic meeting in Sydney, Australia, to drive progress against this intractable disease.

Some 60 percent of the world’s TB cases occur in the Asia Pacific region, where nearly five million people fall ill each year.  The continued development of drug-resistant TB is a threat to global health security.  

The depth and breadth of leadership of youth throughout Manurewa, which has been recognized at the Youth Week Award ceremony held at Parliament this week, should make the community extremely proud, Manurewa Labour MP Louisa Wall says.

“The 'Limitless Youth Leadership Group', which operates within the innovative Manurewa Marae-based programme Taiohi Whai Oranga and won Youth Group Award, are an incredible bunch of youth leaders who continue to break stereotypes, support youth in the community and be themselves. They are continuously developing new initiatives and events that they believe are beneficial for other youth in the community.

A team of Labour MPs took part in the 2015 World Vision 40 hour famine and we were told by World Vision and the young people, that it was the first time MPs had joined them and how appreciative they were of our support for something they are so passionate about, says Labour’s Youth Affairs spokesperson Louisa Wall. 

“The Labour team was Poto Williams, Meka Whaitiri, Nanaia Mahuta and myself  and we fasted from Tuesday to Thursday this week. 

It is disturbing that Relationships Aotearoa, a voluntary organisation set up in 1949 to help couples struggling with their relationships following the upheavals of World War II, may be forced to close, says Acting Spokesperson for the Voluntary and Community Sector Louisa Wall. 

It is estimated they serve over 7000 New Zealanders, of which over 1000 are Cantabrians receiving earthquake-recovery counselling, families requiring abuse and family violence counselling and vulnerable youth. My concern is for their health and wellbeing and this should be the government's priority too. 

It is unacceptable that the big corporate based charities claim  millions in annual income tax exemptions, while small community based and operated non-profit organisations  struggle to gain official charity status, Labour’s acting spokesperson for the Voluntary and Community Sector Louisa Wall says.

“The New Zealand Initiative's latest report, Giving Charities a Helping Hand, claims our laws favour the big players over the small organisations. This is proof that our current charity system in New Zealand has been corporatized.

New decile rankings have South Auckland schools at scores that show they are much more disadvantaged than the national average, says Labour’s Associate Auckland  Issues spokesperson Louisa Wall. 

“As a measurement of disadvantage it is alarming that the average score in South Auckland across the local board areas of Papakura, Manurewa, Mangere-Otahuhu, Otara-Papatoetoe and Maungakiekie-Tamaki was just over 400 compared to the Auckland region’s average score of 234.

It is hugely concerning that community and volunteer groups feel they are being gagged from speaking out against the Government, Labour’s Community and Voluntary Sector Spokesperson Louisa Wall says.

 A Victoria University survey of 93 sector groups has found 50 percent of respondents felt that voicing their concerns would jeopardise funding, compared with about half that in 2008