2 Jun 2020

Queenstown community hub opens Thursday

6:34 pm on 2 June 2020

The Kia Kaha Queenstown Lakes Community Hub will open its doors to the community on Thursday.

Colored crosswalk and people in street of city after dusk showing the character of famous tourist spot.

Photo: 123rf

The pop up hub will provide information and advice on immigration, repatriation, employment, finance, wellbeing and welfare.

Thousands of migrant workers and residents in the resort town have lost their jobs and are seeking welfare support.

The hub will be based out of the Queenstown Events Centre with representatives from Immigration New Zealand, lawyers, support services and advisors offering their support.

It is expected to complement existing services provided by Community Networks Wānaka from the Wānaka Community Hub.

Pre-registration will be available via an online booking system from 9am Wednesday on Eventbrite.

The next day, two workshops with up to 30 people per session will be run with up to three more workshops taking place on Friday.

Kia Kaha Queenstown Lakes Community Hub lead Marie Day said the seminars would be pre-filmed for release on Thursday so everyone could view them.

"Having this mix of agencies will provide great independent advice."

The team of Immigration NZ staff would be based in Queenstown for the next three weeks to support migrant workers and employers operating out of the hub, she said.

Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Jim Boult applauded central government for stepping up to the challenge.

"Additionally I think it will be critical that central government has some first-hand experience of the challenges we face," Boult said.

"It's great to be able to open a second one-stop shop in the district that provides support.

"Our community has really pulled together during this and I can see that both the Upper Clutha and the Wakatipu hubs providing a helping hand to a lot of people."