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MINISTER’S DIRECTIVE TO COUNCILS ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE

 In the last issue of LETTERBOX, we raised the possibility that councils may face legal challenges if they continue to use RCP8.5 to justify their planning rules. This follows the United Nations committee responsible for the emissions pathways used in climate modelling rejecting RCP8.5 as "implausible".

Now, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts has written to local councils raising concerns about the continued use of RCP8.5. He said, "...the Government does not consider it appropriate for worst-case assumptions to become the default basis for investment decisions that impose significant costs on current and future ratepayers."

CARBON COSTS - $60M BAILOUT

 

The Government has handed Fletcher Building a $60 million grant to keep New Zealand's only cement manufacturing plant operating after the company warned that rising carbon credit costs under the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) would otherwise force its closure.

Golden Bay Cement, which operates the Portland plant near Whangārei, said the rising cost of carbon credits had put it at a major disadvantage compared with imported cement, which is not subject to the same carbon costs.

Fletcher said an independent assessment found the plant would likely close by 2030 without Government support, leaving New Zealand reliant on imported cement.

F ** * OFF

"F*** off. Kind regards, Mayor Moko."

That was the response from Far North District Council Mayor Moko Tepania to an invitation from Duncan Garner to appear on his Editor-in-Chief podcast.

The foul-mouthed mayor later apologised for what he described as a "lapse in judgement" and said he "took full responsibility for it. I did not meet the standard expected of me."

MANA WHAKAHONO AGREEMENTS: GONE OR RENAMED?

 The Government has confirmed that existing Mana Whakahono ā Rohe* agreements between councils and local iwi will be scrapped as part of its sweeping resource management reforms. But is their replacement any better?

Although the Government had originally intended to carry these agreements into the new planning system, it reversed course after a rapid surge in new agreements and sustained opposition from critics.

HUNDERTWASSER WOES WORSEN

 

The latest half-year report to 31 December 2025 paints a grim picture of the Hundertwasser Art Centre, which has acknowledged that it cannot survive without ongoing public funding.

Paid admissions during the six-month period fell 3% compared with the previous year, to 12,779. These sobering figures are a reminder of just how far reality has diverged from the promises made when the project was first proposed. The original feasibility studies projected 200,000 visitors a year and $26 million in annual net economic benefit—figures repeated by then Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern when she announced a $10 million Provincial Growth Fund grant in June 2018.

DoC ADMITS FAILURES

 The Department of Conservation (DoC) has admitted it failed to properly oversee the management of three DoC-owned campgrounds in the Far North.

Since 2018, the Ngāti Kuri Trust Board has retained revenue from the Spirits Bay and Tapotupotu campgrounds, with Rarawa added in 2021. DoC now estimates it is owed $1.8 million in campground revenue. Ngāti Kuri disputes that any debt exists, apparently taking the view that it was entitled to the revenue.

ELECTION 2026 CANDIDATE PROFILE - LLOYD BUDD, NATIONAL

National’s Whangarei candidate, Lloyd Budd, is the hot favourite to take the seat being vacated by Shane Reti. He is inheriting a seat with an 11,434 majority, and is already well underway in a busy and high-profile campaign.

In this, the second of our Meet the Candidates interviews, we caught up with Lloyd Budd and put to him a number of questions. Here is the full list of questions and responses.

What motivated you to seek selection as National's candidate for Whangārei?

GUEST OPINION - Cr Craig Jepson

Northland Doesn’t Need a Super‑Council — It Needs Local Democracy That Works

By Craig Jepson - Kaipara District councillor and former mayor.

For all the noise about “simplifying” local government in Northland, one question remains unanswered: where has bigger ever proven better? No one can point to a single example in New Zealand where amalgamation has delivered lower costs, better services, or stronger communities. What we can point to are the failures — and Northland is being pushed down the same path.

The proposal to amalgamate Whangarei District Council (WDC), Far North District Council (FNDC), and Kaipara District Council (KDC) into a single super‑authority is being sold as efficiency. In reality, it risks creating a distant, debt‑laden bureaucracy that weakens rural communities, strips local voice, and repeats Auckland’s mistakes on a smaller scale.

A TERRIBLE IDEA

The Whangārei District Council (WDC) has been forced into an embarrassing rethink of its $29 million Waterfront to City project after business owners overwhelmingly rejected plans that would remove dozens of car parks from the city centre.

The proposal, championed as a vision to transform John Street into a one-way "destination street", was unanimously rejected at a meeting of local business owners. They described it as a "terrible idea", disconnected from the realities facing a struggling city centre.