Snippets from the campaign trail

Cr Gavin Benney has announced he will not be seeking re-election in October. 

Cr Benney is one of two councillors who represent the Hikurangi-Coastal ward. 

The other is Cr McKenzie, who has confirmed he will be standing for a second term.

Cr Gavin Benney - Voting record

HOW THEY VOTED

Cr Gavin Benney (Hikurangi-Coastal Ward)

Election 2023 - Labour crushed

Labour is taking time out to reflect on a crushing defeat that saw them lose almost half of their MPs. What is remarkable that they even need to ask the question. Are they so blind that they did not see the electorate was angry, and are they so deaf to criticism that they can’t understand why? 

The 2020 Labour Government must rate as New Zealand’s worst-ever government, not only for its litany of failures but for its arrogance and disrespect towards democracy. Fortunately, democracy prevailed and has yet again sent a message that power is in the hands of the electors not the elected.

It was Chris Hipkins who fronted with an emotional declaration of defeat, but the defeat falls on the lap of Jacinda Ardern. In the end ordinary everyday Kiwis saw through the façade of compassion and empathy and saw or felt the destructive effects of her extreme and divisive form of socialist “kindness”

Your letters - Winnie the Kid

 

I have noticed a clip in TV with Winston Peters sitting on a horse dressed in what looks like oil-skin riding gear. First off, I thought he was trying to imitate “Billy the Kid” a well-known mischief-maker from the “Wild West” days. Then I suspected this was pretty apt as Billy lives on as a folk story from days gone by.

 While I am also unsure of the future status of our own “Winny the Kid” I am sure that some of his current statements do not ring true.

An open letter to Gavin Benney - NZ First candidate (Whangarei)

 

Dear Gavin

Congratulations on your selection as the candidate for NZ First. I am wiring to you on behalf of Democracy Northland in your capacity as the NZ First candidate.

NZ First has confirmed to me via email that it would reinstate sections 19ZA to 19ZG of the Local Electoral Act 2001. As you are aware, those sections were repealed by section 7 of the Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Act 2021 which was introduced by Nania Mahuta in her then capacity as Minister of Local Government. The effect was to remove the right of electors to demand a binding poll on the creation of Maori wards, and place the onus on local councils to respond to the demands of electors.

Cr Gavin Benney to stand for NZ First

Whangarei District Councillor, Gavin Benney, is to stand for NZ First in Whangarei. 

Making the announcement, Winston Peters said Benney is “an experienced city councillor and with many years of experience as a local police officer, with an admirable record of community service in Whangarei and Northland”.

However, his voting record on the council has been less than admirable.