Wellington mayor, Justin Lester, will join Community Sector minister, Poto Williams, at a Salvation Army social justice conference on 1 to 2 October.

Just Action 2019 will host opinion-formers from across the academic, NGO and religious spectrum to survey issues of human welfare at the two-day gathering.

Billed as an event “to keep the thought space fertile”, the conference, hosted biennially by the church’s Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit, hopes to add substantially to the government’s wellbeing approach by examining issues of wellbeing, citizenship and social action.

‘The unit has been in existence for 15 years,’ noted director, Lt-Colonel Ian Hutson. ‘We have consistently advocated an evidence-led and value-based framing of public welfare. Just Action will promote a similar approach.’

Among this year’s innovations is a panel of religious leaders including Sir David Moxon, former Anglican Archbishop of New Zealand, who will explore values in the public space.

‘We have planned a wide-ranging programme where guests will hear from a variety of thought-leaders working in the public policy space; we want to expand the possibilities of insight and action,” conference organiser, Dr Vincent Wijeysingha said.

‘We’re fortunate to have Chris Marshall among the speakers,’ Dr Wijeysingha added. ‘Prof Marshall is probably New Zealand’s leading thinker on restorative justice, a highly pertinent issue as the government considers the yet to be released second report of the Safe and Effective Justice Advisory Group.’

Other speakers include Prof Ngaire Kerse, the inaugural Joyce Cook Professor of Ageing and Dr Simon Chapple of Victoria University’s Institute for Governance and Policy Studies.

Tickets for the conference are available at https://www.salvationarmy.org.nz/just-action-2019.

Issued on the authority of Commissioner Andy Westrupp

Territorial Commander, The Salvation Army - Te Ope Whakaora New Zealand Fiji, Tonga & Samoa Territory

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