Garrick Tremain cartoon - At the Vatican

 

Wellington watch - Tory Whanau

 Tory Whanau is not seeking re-election as Wellington’s Mayor. Her decision comes after the former (failed) Labour Party leader, Andrew Little, joined the mayoralty race. Whanau will instead run for the Greens in the city’s Māori ward.

When asked how she would rate her mayoralty on a scale of 1 to 10, Whanau rated herself a nine. Few would agree with her. We believe Whanau saw the writing on the wall (“humiliating defeat” in very large letters) so she, and the Greens, decided to bypass the general public and hope for a more sympathetic reception from those registered on the Māori
roll. 

Photo credit: Stuff

464 votes for $135,900 job

 

Tauranga City Council - A by-election in the Te Awanui Māori Ward has attracted attention for the wrong reasons.

Five candidates were in the running for the $135,900 councillor job. The winner received just 464 votes! Only 11.9% of voters on the Māori roll voted in the postal ballot.

In Whangarei, the turnout for the Māori ward in 2022 was just 23.8% (vs 43.3% in the general wards). Of the two candidates elected, Te Pati Māori candidate, Phoenix Ruka, polled the lowest with 889 votes. 

The turnout for the Northland Regional Council Te Raki Māori constituency was 28.6% vs 43.2% in the general constituencies.

The question must be asked: Why have Māori wards when so few Māori choose to vote?

Councils and unpaid rates

 Stuff reports: “Millions of dollars in unpaid council rates have been taken directly from property owners’ mortgages in the past year. A little-known clause of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002 [Section 62] gives councils the power to force people’s banks or finance companies to cover unpaid rates… If a rates defaulter owns a property outright, and thus has no mortgage, a council will use in-house rates chasers, or debt collectors to get payment. If that doesn’t work, councils have the power to go to the high court for an order to sell or lease a property to recover the rates.”

Council credit ratings

 Local councils are quick to crow about their AA credit ratings, as if it is an endorsement of their financial management. It isn’t. A credit rating measures the ability of a borrower to meet the financial obligations required of it under the terms of its loan agreements.  Typically, it is measured by an independent ratings company like Standard & Poor's, so lenders know their risk.

Local authorities are low-risk borrowers. Rarely do they default on their loan obligations because they have captive ratepayers to squeeze when things turn sour. Ratepayers must pay whatever is demanded of them - there is no right of objection. Their only recourse is to speak out against excessive rate increases and vote for candidates who commit to capping rate increases.

We believe the size of a council's rate increase is a better reflection of its money management skills. On that score, our local councils perform very poorly (Kaipara is the exception). 

Sign wars

 

Whangarei's longest-serving councillor and Deputy Mayor Phil Halse says the council needs to include advertising on its road signs to “reduce the [financial] burden on ratepayers”.

The comment was made during a debate about attracting more visitors to the council's loss-making Hundertwasser Art Centre. Cr Halse was not specific about the form the advertising would take. Perhaps he had in mind something like "Left turn for Town Basin and the Warehouse where everyone gets a bargain" or maybe something subtle like using the McDonalds “M” logo in the sign to Te Ka“M"o.

We are not sure if Cr Halse was being serious, but needless to say, he did not persuade the sign regulating authorities that it was a genius idea.

As it happens, not only was Cr Halse’s idea rejected, so too was the request for Hundertwasser-specific signage. The NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi and WDC staff opposed it because there were already too many signs on SH1 directing people to the Town Basin, and they pointed out, “road safety guidelines require signs to be brief, clear and readable at a glance." We wonder if that also applies to bilingual signs.

Readers write - Kianga Ora troubles

Kianga Ora troubles

“Since the opening of the Kianga Ora housing estate on Puriri Park Road, cars have been speeding down the road sometimes during the day, but always at night, usually at weekends after 11 pm. Also, burnouts are happening regularly as can be seen from the tyre marks down the street. Someone is going to be killed/maimed shortly as one of these adrenaline/drug-fuelled drivers loses control or runs down a senior citizen crossing from the rest home. I hear the cars accelerating down the street. I have contacted the council, the Mayor, and our local MP, but they are only interested in grandstanding. The cure is speed humps. We need them before a school child or senior citizen is killed.” – Name withheld.

Inside the NRC - continued

In the last issue, we quoted from a source within the NRC that revealed:

·     A DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) course is now mandatory for all new staff as part of their induction.

·  Use of pronouns (him/her/he/she/they/them, etc) is being encouraged “to respect each other’s identities” (presumably “they” can have more than one).

·      There is talk of a 'Māori Employment Strategy' to increase the number of 'Māori' staff to 25% of total staff numbers, and

·     Staff must attend a full-day course at a Marae to learn about Māori culture and the Treaty of Waitangi.

Our source tells all managers were required to attend a 2-day Wananga (Māori educational workshop) and an overnight stay at a Marae.

Q & A with Mayor Cocurullo

This is the latest in a series of interviews with candidates standing in the local body elections. Thank you to everyone who sent in questions for WDC Mayor Vince Cocurullo.

Q & A with Mayor Vince Cocurullo

Letterbox question (Q): What do you consider to be your greatest achievement in your three years as Mayor?

Mayor Cocurullo's answer (A): Bringing all of Northland’s councils together as a unified region. That has given us strength when lobbying central government on critical infrastructure. The fast-tracking of the four-lane highway to Auckland and the Whangarei hospital are good examples of the gains we have made.