" If there is one issue which crosses over all others in our society it is that of the right to employment. I consider it to be THE social justice issue of our time. All the work is not done and we must find new methods to find people meaningful occupations. We will have to redefine the meaning of work. It will be different from what we have known in the past. That is our challenge. If we shift our employment figures we move a lot of other negative statistics in our society.
" I have become involved in the Mayors for Jobs because the time has passed for us to sit on our hands at Local Government and wait for Central Government to come up with all the new ideas on employment initiatives. We live with those who wander our streets searching for their opportunity to experience the dignity of work. Can we sit by any longer?"
— Garry Moore, Mayor of Christchurch

" Those in the positions of influence and power have the moral duty to put all their energies together to look for solutions to this pressing need in our society. The Mayors Taskforce for Jobs is such an initiative. We will need to work purposefully and collectively to change the environment of hopelessness and the acceptability of perpetual unemployment in our society.
" Our work as Mayors puts us in an extraordinarily privileged position in our communities. A position that gives us intimate knowledge of our own back yard. We need to garner this information to bring about opportunities to find constructive partnerships and synergies with various citizens and organisations to address the very important issue of unemployment ..."
— Sukhi Turner, Mayor of Dunedin

" I do not want to see unemployment at any level as a permanent feature of NZ society as we enter the 21st century. It devalues the worth of people. I look forward to sharing information with other Mayors on what works and what doesn't and doing some lateral thinking on this issue. We are in unique situations as Mayors in knowing the make-up our cities and districts - the needs, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities etc. - in ways that few others do.
" Work will still continue here in Porirua City and the region regarding business investment, employment creation, improving economic growth etc. However I look forward to explore the big picture and longer term issues - where are we heading in ensuring employment opportunities for our young people and the whole area of the interrelationships between income generation, the value of employment to the individual and society and the changing nature of work in the 21st century. It is a very much a local and national leadership issue. "
— Jenny Brash, Mayor of Porirua

" Ironically Invercargill has the lowest unemployment rate in New Zealand It is ironic because we are also the fastest declining city in Australia or New Zealand. People are leaving the city because there are no jobs. Although there is growth in the four main cities (and Queenstown) most of provincial New Zealand is in decline. Having been a Mayor in West Auckland for six years I know the millions of dollars that Auckland required to develop its infrastructure, yet here in Invercargill we have a brilliant infrastructure that is totally under-utilised. It just seems such a waste.
" I am delighted to be part of the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs so that we can find out how other cities are tackling this problem, and also develop strategies for national campaigns that will initiate more work for all New Zealanders..."
— Tim Shadbolt, Mayor of Invercargill

" Our councils have been pre-occupied in recent years with fighting electricity and roading reforms and potential reforms to water and sewerage services. We took our eye off the ball of jobs, when we should not have had to..."
— Russ Rimmington, Mayor of Hamilton

" Many Mayors have told central government that provincial areas are struggling, and more councils are having to be enterprising in employment and tourism in an effort to turn things around. But we've been doing it on our own, with no help from successive governments.
" Our New Plymouth District surveys show that our local issues are actually Central Government issues. Transport, employment, health, education, and safe communities are all concerns for our residents across our rural and urban areas.
"I believe Local Government is one of the most dynamic dimensions in the quality of life for New Zealanders today ...The Mayor's role as advocate, facilitator and co-ordinator plays a vital part in the social cohesion of our communities."
— Claire Stewart, Mayor of New Plymouth

" We are slowly learning how environmentally damaging waste is, and are exploring how to change our view of what we currently call waste, into a perception of a resource to be used. Similarly, I do not believe that we can afford to waste the potential of one single member of our cities or districts.
" We need to use our imagination and creativity to find new employment areas which deserve to be valued and paid accordingly. Environmental protection, community development and the performing arts are possibly areas where we could start looking..."
— Jill White, Mayor of Palmerston North

" I am absolutely committed to the development of an effective partnership between central and local government to address unemployment. The government can do so much in getting the macro and micro level policy environment right. But in the final analysis an effective strategy must involve a partnership between us, and in my opinion it will require us to reexamine the traditional roles of central and local government as we develop that partnership ..."
— Steve Maharey, Minister of Social Services and Employment, in a letter to the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs

" When I am asked, will New Zealand solve unemployment?... I like to turn the question around, and ask, has New Zealand in the last century ever solved unemployment? The answer to this second question is: yes. We've done it before, and we are certainly capable of doing it again..."
— Jim Anderton, Minister of Economic Development, speaking at the Press Conference after the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs

" Of course there are going to be many new business opportunities, and hopefully these will also be in the regions. But new business opportunities will not be the only drivers of future employment.
" The jobs of the future will also come from us valuing different things. They will come from the acts of community and cultural leadership that have the capacity to make choices for a common good. These jobs will not come from acts of economics or business development as we traditionally know it ... these jobs will come from acts of governance.
" This is why I see Mayors and local authorities being in the front-line of our future employment strategies - because you are the people with the "commission" to express this different sense of what we value.
" The job-rich areas of the future will emerge in two main sectors: The first sector contains the jobs that come from choosing to look after one another better. The second sector contains those jobs that come from choosing to look after the earth better. Both these sectors are very rich in terms of job potential. These sectors are not driven simplistically by market desire. They are driven by the governance choices that communities make through their leaders ... choices that inevitably find their way to your tables as Mayors..."
— Vivian Hutchinson, from his keynote speech to the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs