Transcript of the Manukau – keeping Auckland beautiful video

Back to community safety and support.

[video: Upbeat pop guitar music starts. A large group of volunteers all wearing yellow or orange high visibility vests are standing outside a football grandstand on the green grass, there are paint rollers, bushes and buckets on the ground amongst them. Two men greet one another with a quick hug. Two women standing beside one another laugh. Teen volunteers are painting the exterior doors and vents of the grandstand blue using paint rollers. Four girls in high visibility vests show their hands covered in blue paint.]

Duncan McLaggan: Beautification is a key factor in wellbeing so if we’re making spaces, beautiful places to live the city’s going to be a much happier place for it.

[video: Text “Manukau, Keeping Auckland beautiful” fades over trees and grass, the grandstand is far in the distance.]

[video: A graffitied tyre and a glass bottle on the tar sealed ground of the football clubs parking lot. A green corrugated iron fence covered with graffitied text. A green wooden fence with covered with yellow graffitied text. The roof of the grandstand, graffitied with red text.]

Duncan: I think there was a recognition that it wasn’t enough to just go out and remove graffiti across the city we actually had to have some way of preventing it happening in the first place.

[video: Duncan standing on the football field in front of a blue topped marquee with volunteers underneath it. Text “Duncan McLaggan, Service Integration Manager, Community Empowerment Unit”. Duncan standing with community members at club, talking and nodding. A man and woman talking about and pointing at several printed photographs of graffiti. Duncan talking to a male volunteer.]

Duncan: So, this is a great example of where we’ve been able to harness working with private sector organisations, to ensure that they’re providing social value in what they do but also working with non-profit organisations to prove that they can enhance the role of social enterprise in everything that the council does.

[video: Barbara Carney inside her car driving past Jellicoe Park, towards War Memorial Park and the football club. The War Memorial Park sign. Barbara, wearing a high visibility vest, opening her car boot to reveal containers of yellow high visibility vests. Barbara standing outside her car. Text “Barbara Carney, Community Manager, Manukau Beautification Charitable Trust”. Manukau Beautiful flag with the grandstand behind it. Barbara pointing and giving instruction to volunteers. Volunteers talking and greeting one another. A volunteer giving instructions to the group, making a big gesture with her hands.]

Barbara: The Manukau Beautician Trusts mission is to be working with communities. We often facilitate the project for them in the first place. They will find the volunteers, organise it, find their own team leaders and they get the project done, and that’s real empowerment.

[video: A man pouring paint from a large white paint bucket into a black roller tray. Blue paint being poured from a large bucket into smaller containers. Volunteers standing around holding paint supplies. Scott Henderson standing in front of a group of volunteers sitting on the grandstand. Text “Scott Henderson, Operations Manager, Manukau Beautification Charitable Trust”. Volunteers laying down light purple masking tape on the white grandstands steps. Volunteers painting the walls of the grandstand white using rollers and bushes.]

Scott: We’ve collaborated with the Rising Foundation and Aspire2, which teaches kids painting trades, and also the high school, where we get the community involved. The long-term outcome is great, there’s a lot more respect and I’m really pleased to be part of that.

[video: Kieran Nevey standing on the grass in front of the grandstand while volunteers are busy behind him painting. Text “Kieran Nevey, Club Manager, Manurewa AFC”. Kieran holding an orange referee whistle. Kieran and other volunteers playing a small friendly game of football.]

Kieran: So, it’s really cool to be here, and see quite a vibrant group really lifting the spirit of the community. For us it is a place that we would like to see as a bit of a hub, for the local youth.

[video: Ola Toelupe standing in front of the grandstand with while volunteers work behind her. Text “Ola Toelupe, Resident”. Volunteers painting the grandstand with blue paint. Nese Godinet standing in front of the grandstand while volunteers work behind him. Text “Nese Godinet, Resident”.]

Ola: It feels good having a group of schools come together to give back to the community. If people see that it’s nice and clean, they wouldn’t want to tag all over it.

Nese: I feel like these small steps will contribute to a bigger picture of what our community will be like in the future.

[video: All the volunteers standing in front of the grandstand about to have a group photo taken. The grandstand behind them is now mostly painted blue and white. They all cheer audibly.]

[video: Volunteers snacking on apples and bananas. Duncan McLaggan standing in front of the grandstand. A volunteer under the blue marquee cooking chicken patties on a barbeque. Other volunteers laughing as they make and eat burgers.]

Duncan McLaggan: We want to work with people to identify those things that help to make Auckland a great place to live, work, and play. And we can support communities to ensure that their ideas are really inspiring and can really create change in our city.

[video: Text: “Brought to you by The Community Empowerment Unit at”, Auckland Council logo (Auckland Council text next to a pōhutukawa flower over water) “aucklandcouncil.govt.nz” “Search: community empowerment” fade in over a white background. Music fades out.]

Running time: 2 minutes