Government committed to strong sector
NZ Government, National
8 April 2005.
Community and Voluntary Sector Minister, Rick Barker has reiterated the government's commitment to building good strong relationships with the Community and Voluntary Sector.
A Community Sector Taskforce has been looking to establish a national mandate to progress work on national and regional sector capacity building projects and act as a focal point for the community and voluntary sector.
Rick Barker says Cabinet isn't convinced that the building of a new structure, creating an additional layer of bureaucracy, would particularly enhance the relationship between government and the sector.
"Also, Cabinet was yet to be convinced that a single entity would be able to represent the very diverse nature of the sector such as social services, environment, arts, culture and heritage, sport, disability, health, aged care and so on.
"Cabinet has asked me to explore a range of options for building good direct communications to facilitate the engagement of the diverse community and voluntary sector with the Government and to report back as quickly as possible. Funding and resources remain available for this and I look forward to a good outcome".
Hon Rick Barker
Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment
Minister for Community and Voluntary Sector
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