Tala Cleverly

Mana (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 8, 13 October 1977, Page 6

Tala Cleverly

by

Lyndon Keene

Polynesians living in New Zealand need to become more involved in the running of the public services, says Mrs Tala Cleverly, a Labour candidate in the recent Wellington council elections.

Her prime reason for entering the elections, she says, was for the chance to represent the Polynesian point of view on the council. She hopes to set a trend towards greater participation, by Polynesians, in the affairs of local authorities. She says there should be more on the staffs of hospitals, government departments, schools and libraries. “When Polynesians have to visit the hospital or some government department, they would feel more confident and at ease if they saw a sympathetic face on the other side of the desk.

“And Polynesians on library staffs would provide the incentive for others to use the library facilities.” “We’re not all bus drivers and factory labourers,” she says. “We’re capable of doing much better things in this country if we are given the opportunity.” Mrs Cleverly was a stenographer for a lawyer when she came to Wellington from Western Samoa in 1954. She now runs a small retailing business in Wellington. She lives in Mount Victoria and is married to a pakeha, Dr Barry Cleverly, who is a scientist with the DSIR.

Over the years, she has been involved in church and multi-racial organisations. She is now the present of the Wellington central branch of Pacifica, an all-women organisation established two years ago which provides a social service for Polynesi m women throughout Nev< Zealand.

She says, through her experience in community work, she is well qualified to know the needs of all kinds of people in the city. Housing is one of her main concerns. “We must see that, in upgrading the inner-

city areas to improve housing, and in developing a greater population density, we do not displace the people already living there.” This could happen, she says, if new developments in the area result in an increase in rents and property values. “It would be so easy to send these people off to places like Porirua and replace them with richer people who can afford to live there.”

She says the needs of the people should be given priority in council policies. “Commercial interests should serve the people and we need to balance downtown developments with the needs of inner-city and suburban dwellers.” There should be better designed houses to meet the requirements of all kinds of people, she says. She is interested, for instance, in seeing dwellings designed and built specifically for extended family groups. “Most houses are built for the nuclear family but it is not necessarily everyones ideal way of living.”

“Blocks of flats should contain these different types of dwellings, so that nuclear families, old people, single people and extended family groups could all live in the same building. These buildings should also contain childrens play areas and places where people can socialize.” Wellington is a good city, she says, but there is still a lot that can be done to improve it.

“Old folk need smooth pavements to walk on; families are concerned about the need for pre-school and child care centres; families with teenagers are asking for youth centres and, of course, everyone is anxious about increasing rates and the cost of living. * * * (Lyndon Keene is a journalism student at the Wellington Polytechnic).