Fancy working fewer hours without a reduction in pay? Then the Northland Regional Council may be for you.
In a
split 5–4 vote, councillors decided to make permanent a trial that saw most
full-time NRC employees move to a 72-hour fortnight, down from 75 hours,
without any reduction in pay. The hours of part-time employees were reduced
proportionately.
The estimated value of the reduction in staff time is $2.88 million a year—equivalent to around a 5% rates increase.
This is a significant turnaround from the double-digit rate increases in recent years, which have produced annual cash operating surpluses in recent years of between $7 million and $8 million
Under the plan, all 11 regional councils across New Zealand
would be abolished, with their responsibilities handed to new Combined
Territories Boards (CTBs) made up of city and district mayors, and
commissioners appointed by central government.
The CTBs will have two years to come up with a “regional
reorganisation plan”. Local Government Minister, Simon Watts, said that the plan
could include “shared services, council-owned companies, reallocating functions
or merging territorial authorities to form new unitary councils”.
The reorganisation plans are subject to the approval of the Minister of Local Government.
Whangarei has a new mayor and six
new faces around the council table. In a close race for the mayoralty, two-term
councillor Ken Couper beat the incumbent Vince Cocurullo by 435 votes.
In the Urban Ward, Marie Olsen topped the voting and is joined by newcomer Brad Flower, re-elected councillors Nic Connop and Paul Yovich, and Crichton Christie, who is returning as a councillor after a six-year absence. Carol Peters lost her seat, as did Jayne Golightly.
The CEO says the council is “investing [in] what matters
most, our people and local systems.”
Really? The feedback LETTERBOX has received is that what matters most to ratepayers is putting an end to the exorbitant rate increases! The NRC’s 33% rate increase in the last three years is among the highest in the country. Much of the increase has been spent on increasing staff numbers and funding resilience projects.
Yet again, facts contradict the election rhetoric.
Here are the NRC's annual rate increases in each of the last four years:
These figures are taken from NRC press releases (see links below).
Here's the council's full response (dated 10 July 2025):
The contestants in the Whangarei Central Constituency couldn’t be more different. Veteran greenie Jack Craw is being challenged by the fresh-faced and energetic Caroline Davis who is an ambulance paramedic and currently chairs the Whangarei Area Committee of St John.
Rick Stolwerk is being challenged by John Hunt who has a high profile in community sports and held senior leadership roles, and Greg Chalmers is presenting himself as the common sense alternative to sitting councillor and former DoC worker, Amy McDonald.
The Craw, Stolwerk, McDonald trio are seen as instrumental in supporting NRC’s 36.2% rate increase in the last three years which has been used to fund community resilience projects for Maori and increase staff numbers which have risen 54% in the last five years.
In the Whangarei Central constituency, veteran greenie Jack Craw is being challenged by Caroline Davis who is bringing fresh ideas and energy to the council. Caroline has served as an ambulance Paramedic and currently chairs the Whangarei Area Committee of St John's. She is an active member of the Ocean Beach Surf Life Saving Club.
It seems ratepayers have had enough and are demanding the council
prioritise essential services over niceties.
Here are some finance facts.
Over the last three years, a typical house in urban Whangarei
has had a total rate increase of 27%. This includes a 25% increase by the Whangarei
District Council (WDC) and a whopping 36.2% by the Northland Regional Council (NRC).
These increases are more than 2 and 3 times the rate of inflation,
respectively.
The WDC will increase rates by another 9.8% this year, and the NRC by 3.6%.
The purpose of the 8-page memo is to provide additional
information about a $200,000 funding request from Te Uri o Hau.
Te Uri-o-Hau is a sub-iwi of Ngāti Whātua, based around the Kaipara Harbour. According to the 2018 New Zealand census, approximately 1,314 people affiliate with Te Uri-o-Hau. They received a Treaty of Waitangi settlement in 2002, formalised through the Te Uri o Hau Claims Settlement Act 2002, which included $15.6 million in land and cash, a 50-year Right of First Refusal for surplus Crown properties, and cultural redress like advisory roles in fisheries management. The trust also acts as an "iwi authority" under the Resource Management Act 1991 and supports community initiatives, such as the 2023 Census partnership with Stats NZ.
The proposal being considered by the NRC is as follows:
Over the
next 10 years the Northland Regional Council will “invest” $9.2 million of your
money to build community capacity and drive transformational change. They say:
“Building
resilient communities is a priority for Northland Regional Council. It is
central to Nga Taumata o te Moana, our strategy for tackling climate change,
which aims to make Te Taitokerau more resilient and help our region transition
proactively and equitably to a thriving net-zero emissions society before
2050.”
The first tranche of that funding has been awarded to 22 groups, totalling $600,000. Examples of successful projects include:
The NRC told LETTERBOX the “managers’ wananga” was held at the Ngāiotonga Marae in Rawhiti, on the 5th and 6th of May. They say,
“The total cost was $49,434. The breakdown is $450 venue hire, $733.49 catering costs, $46,120.60 staff salaries/allowances, and $2,109.95 travel/mileage.”
Photo credit: Maori Maps
· 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.
A source has revealed the following (in italics):
“1. DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) is well underway. A
DEI course is now mandatory for all new staff as part of their induction. Use
of pronouns is being encouraged, though not mandatory. There is talk of a
'Maori Employment Strategy' to increase the number of 'Maori' staff to 25% of
total staff numbers to reflect the percentage of the Maori population in
Northland, though this has not been officially announced yet. This has created
division and exclusion at NRC, the complete opposite of the 'supposed'
intention of DEI. Up until recently, the culture at NRC was a great place to
work, but that's all changing, and not for the better.
An internal memo written by a senior staff member says:
Should the offer go ahead, MMH
will be delisted from the stock exchange. The Port of Tauranga would own 50%,
NRC 43%, and Ngāpuhi 7%.
Currently, the NRC owns a 53.6%
controlling stake in MMH. The proposal would see it sell down its holding to 43%,
and it has stated that it may make a further 7% available to other Maori groups
which would reduce its holding to 36%. LETTERBOX has asked the NRC to clarify
whether it will be consulting with the public on the sell-down. We will publish
their reply in the next issue.
The deal effectively gives the Port of Tauranga control of the port and the substantial land holdings owned by MMH.
From Tui Shortland (Maori ward
councillor and Deputy Chair), 25 January 2025:
"My apologies for the
meeting. I am currently at the International Indigenous Women’s Symposium on
Environmental Violence in Guatemala. Noho ora mai, Tui Shortland.”
From Peter-Lucas Jones (Maori ward councillor), 26 January 2025:
They NRC says:
“The Bill would severely limit the CMT regime…as a result of the amended tests for exclusive use and occupation and the definition of substantial interruption – these in combination set an unfeasible bar for most applications to succeed.”
Transport Minister Simeon Brown said the improvements will be a game-changer
for Northland. He’s right. For far too long Northland has had too little
attention to its roading infrastructure.
He said,
"For
too long, the lack of resilient transport connections between Northland and the
rest of the country has been a handbrake on the region’s economic development.”
“The last
Government’s decision to stop planning for a replacement to the Brynderwyns has
left Northland more vulnerable and requires a significant amount of work to get
this project back on track.”
He’s right about that too. This is in stark contrast to the Labour government that shelved the roading projects.