WELLINGTON CITY COUNCIL TO CLOSE CAB'S BY DECEMBER

Neville from Hataitai

It was with incredulity and mounting anger that I read the DomPost article (1st June) about the pending closure of CAB's in the Wellington area.

Well done Brian Davis, Jill Day and the unidentified Council Staffer who are "absolutely confident" that they have made the right decision. Absolute spurious drivel to defend "cost cutting" and closure of an organisation that has provided thousands of Wellingtonians with professional advise/guidance, advocacy and support in dealing with many toxic and bureaucratic organisations such as Work and Income, ACC, Housing NZ and the Council. Fortuitously, well trained volunteers also provide invaluable assistance for a diverse range of issues in more positive circumstances. Priceless volunteers and staff have been kicked in the guts.



Readers may wish to go online to www.cab.org.nz... and read the CABNZ submission on Local Government (Community Wellbeing Amendment Bill 2018 (May 2018). This is just one of many submissions that the CAB make on behalf of those who are less fortunate requiring professional advocacy.



The Council spend more than $250,000 annually on staff "perks", travel etc, but cannot sustain this amount to continue the operation of five Wellington branches of the CAB beyond December 2018. It is obvious that vulnerable people in our community are considered inconsequential