A petition with 20,000 signatures was handed to Auckland Council by CAB general manager Kate Anderson. Photo: RNZ/ Felix Walton
A petition with 20,000 signatures was handed to Auckland Council today in a last-ditch effort to halt budget cuts to the Citizens Advice Bureau.
Dozens of employees, volunteers and clients from Auckland's Citizens Advice Bureaus gathered outside the council building to deliver their petition.
Stacks of paper, containing a list of the 20,000 signatories, were sealed inside a wooden heart to be accepted by Mayor Wayne Brown.
But before he did, the mayor shared his plan to cut funding, and have the government pay the difference.
"We are proposing to cut $2 million worth of grants to CAB, but we're still supporting them with around $650,000 in rental subsidies," he said.
"I will be asking for the government's assistance to fill the funding gap."
Brown said the work done by CABs, which included tenancy, employment, and legal issues, was outside the scope of local government.
"Only 2 percent of what you do is directly pure local government," he said to workers and union members.
"Perhaps you should be protesting outside the Minister of Social Development's office, or the Minister of Justice's office."
Left to Right: Eirian, Wayne Brown and Kate Anderson Photo: RNZ/ Felix Walton
But CAB Auckland City general manager Kate Anderson disputed that figure.
"I was part of the team when that 2 percent figure was presented, it's disputed by Citizens Advice Bureau," she said.
"I think we need to have a longer conversation about that, rather than using that figure."
"I only know what I know," Brown responded.
If Brown proceeded with his plan to cut $2m in funding, Anderson said Auckland's CABs would not survive, Anderson said.
"If the funding's gone, we'll be gone by Christmas.
"Mayor Brown may say this is the central government's responsibility, but the fact is if Auckland Council cuts our funding Citizen's Advice Bureau in Auckland will finish, we'll be gone.
"The 163,000 people we helped last year won't have anywhere else to go."
Even if Brown was not convinced, Anderson hoped other councillors would be.
"His position is clear, we've already understood that, but he's just one person around that table of councillors," she said.
"So we're really hoping that some of the other councillors will really understand that Auckland Council has a responsibility for community wellbeing."
The crowd gathered outside the Auckland council building. Photo: RNZ/ Felix Walton
Eirian was a client at the Browns Bay Citizens Advice Bureau. She suffered a serious shoulder injury in 2021, which ACC refused to cover.
Without the CAB's help, Eirian said she would likely never have worked again.
"I walked into the Citizen's Advice Bureau and they took me through the ACC review process, which was ultimately successful," she said.
"With ACC's assistance I got so much better, two years of rehabilitation. I'm a gainfully employed ratepayer because of the advice I received from CAB."
Rose said legal advice from her local CAB saved her from $3000 of debt.
"I had nowhere else to turn to, obviously I couldn't afford proper legal advice," she said.
"If it weren't for the CAB, I don't know what would be happening to me. I'd be in debt or something."
Rose said Brown did not understand the value Citizen's Advice Bureau brought to the community.
"Wayne Brown, I don't know him personally, but he seems like a rich white guy who's never had financial problems," she said.
"It feels out of touch that he'd come out and say something like that."
Brown will have a formal meeting with CAB leaders to discuss their submission tomorrow.
Dozens of employees and volunteers gathered outside the council building. Photo: RNZ/ Felix Walton