Letters to the Editor

 

An open letter: Fire brigade bullying
Firstly, I want to make it clear that I am not involved with the local fire brigade or the NZ Fire Service in any way.

So, what should the community of Mangawhai do when a long-term bully is publicly exposed in their town, and it’s somebody in a leadership position, working in a role that we all trust, look up to, and expect will always be there for us if and when there’s an accident, fire, or serious trauma in our lives?

Sincerely, I don’t personally have anything to gain nor any pleasure in writing to the Mangawhai Focus newspaper as a means of exposing the fact that an outright bully is operating in a key service role within our community.

However, the current situation is now dire, and it has in fact sadly gone on for several years now, and so I feel strongly that it really needs to come to a head and the local community to know about it and understand that all is not well within the Mangawhai Volunteer Fire Brigade, contrary to what the locals believe or what they otherwise may have been told.

Over the past three or four years a lone predator ‘wolf’ has been operating within the Mangawhai fire brigade, staging his own personal crusade by selectively and surely getting rid of most of their experienced senior volunteers by initiating ongoing bullying and intimidation tactics.

In turn he alone has now ‘successfully’ caused the departure of at least nine of these senior volunteers who have now completely left the Mangawhai brigade with others having been driven by him to take extended leave in the past year alone.

A number of those bullied and intimidated volunteers have confidentially expressed their legitimate and justified concerns by requesting intervention from appropriate senior members of the NZ Fire Service, but to date all to no avail, and the bullying has simply continued.

Separately, as a concerned member of the Mangawhai community, I myself personally chose to write to the NZ Fire Service powers-that-be to back up the local firefighters’ allegations back in early December 2014 – but all to no avail either.

It appears, upon further investigation, that bullying of volunteers is fairly rife within the NZ Fire Service and is primarily between those that are paid brigade members and those that are not paid – being the volunteers – which is 85 percent of the firefighters in NZ. The lone wolf of Mangawhai Volunteer Fire Brigade is in fact paid by the NZ Fire Service.

For those interested, please refer to Cameron Slater’s Wale Oil Blog “Bullying in the Fire Service” to obtain a glimpse of what has, and what continues, to go on within the fire service in this regard.

So, what can we do about it all now as a community? Do we stand idly by, turn a blind eye, or pretend we don’t know, and allow the Mangawhai Volunteer Fire Brigade to completely run out of volunteers?

Also, the community needs to understand that at any given fire brigade call-out the number of experienced volunteers available can be few, especially during the working week, so it’s only a matter of time before a serious incident occurs. The present group of new recruits may not have either the experience or expertise needed to handle the given situation.

I think we should take the matter directly in hand and act right now and with some clout as a whole and caring community by going to the NZ Fire Service and demand that this person is immediately and totally relieved of their duties and physical presence at the Mangawhai Fire Brigade once and for all.

After all, he won’t be cast totally out of the fire service ranks. He’ll still be able to retain his paid day job within the NZ Fire Service in Auckland because historically that appears to be the way the service works in situations like this – they tend to always look after what they consider their ‘own’.

Once this thorn has been removed from the scene we would then try to encourage some of those bullied and disenchanted experienced local volunteers who have left the Mangawhai brigade to re-join, which I’m sure a good portion would do, and all with our full support for what is both a vital and definitely very necessary community service.

Bullying of any kind is not acceptable, and there’s no excuse for something for which there is no excuse.

Name & address supplied
Mangawhai Volunteer Fire Brigade supporter


Save our estuary
Dear Mangawhai Community Waste Water Advisory Panel:

The aim of the wastewater treatment system always claimed to be protecting water quality in the harbour and groundwater. Has this changed now? Nevertheless, it is correct that processing of wastewater on land that is near the marine environment needs careful attention.

You say you are not aware of any on-site system that achieves a nutrient level of 10mg/l of nitrogen. You have only to look at the documents we handed over and you will see that several Water NZ-verified on-site systems achieve an A rating nitrogen level. Some were under and some a bit over 10mg/l but all of them are capable of upgrading to levels of residual nitrogen far below 10mg/l.

For the Mangawhai Waste Water Scheme you have set a nitrogen standard below 30 mg/l and the three monthly check shows an average of 16.7 mg/l. We asked what level of nutrient reduction is possible by upgrading the current plant and how much would it cost to reach that level. Without that information nobody can make an informed decision.

In your feedback form you ask for other disposal options to replace the Browns Rd option. You ask for feedback on ocean outfall and outfall to estuary on outgoing tide. Sixty years ago Auckland finally accepted the environmental and ecological insanity of dumping effluent discharge into the sea near Browns Island. Yet here we are in 2015 seriously considering discharge to the sea as an option?

In the intervening 60 years huge progress has been made in this area, and the last 15 years in particular have seen major advances in effluent treatment technology. For example, the independent assessor Water NZ has shown that the space for irrigation required by a household on-site plant using secondary treatment can be reduced to 300sqm. And the innovations have just started. It is not wise to invest more money in a system that was already out-moded at the time it was installed in 2009 when so many better options already exist.

We have to look at wastewater in a different way. Grey water (from showers and sinks and baths and washing machines etc) is the largest amount by volume but it carries a relatively small load of nutrients. It can be re-used in safe and simple ways after appropriate treatment. This can be done inexpensively as long as the grey water is not mixed with faecal matter. The inter-mixing of faeces with the bulk of the wastewater is what causes all the problems.

We need to rethink how we manage our wastewater. In fact we have to go back to the wisdom of our tangata whenua who knew, as have many societies throughout history, that faecal matter has got nothing to do with the water loop. It belongs to the nutrient loop. The volumes of faecal matter are very small, especially if the amount of flushing water is kept to a minimum. Treated in the right way, this “black” water can restore soil fertility and provide significant ecological and economic benefits. We must stop carting it to Whangarei and dumping it in the landfill as we do today.

Modern sustainable cost-effective solutions are the basis for finding the right mix of systems to deal with our wastewater, and the regulations of the District have to be adapted to recognised technological progress.

We would like to form a waste water discussion group that meets regularly but informally at Harvest Blue Cafe at 10.30am on Sunday mornings for an hour or so to exchange information about how communities everywhere are sustainably dealing with waste water.

We will invite experts and manufacturers of systems to come and speak to the group so that we can all learn some real facts about this important issue. The KDC Waste Water Advisory Panel members would always be welcome to attend.

Everyone is very welcome to join in.

Christian Simon
Mangawhai


Speeding priorities
Along with my cousin, numerous friends and undoubtedly hundreds of Mangawhai residents and visitors, I received a speeding ticket from our vigilant and trustworthy police this past summer.

Apparently my cousin, friends and I are not the only people in New Zealand who were outraged by the severity of the fine in relation to the tiny kilometres-per-hour we were booked for. I can accept that there needs to be a cut-off point and if 50 is the limit and there is a 4 kph tolerance, so be it. It certainly made me more aware of my speed around Mangawhai, and that can only be a good thing.

What galls me is the fact that some months ago I wrote to (Mangawhai) Senior Constable Gough expressing my concern at the number of people who, passing my place on Tara Rd, see the downward dip and the following rise as a perfect excuse to floor the accelerator and roar past at what must be considerably in excess of the 100 kph speed limit.

I pointed out that there are a number of properties in this part of Tara Rd now, children walk along it, people ride horses and bikes, people jog and walk, and drivers back out of driveways. At the speeds some drivers attain, it would be impossible to stop to avoid one of these other road users.

There have been many instances of animals being killed on this stretch of the road – I have lost two cats, my neighbour has had a hen run over, and recently three ducks were slaughtered outside my place. Will it be a child next?

Our friendly policeman said that he would look into it and see if a radar could be put up here. Nothing has eventuated, and instead, precious human and technological resources were employed to catch generally law abiding citizens, while those who blatantly flout the speed limit in a very dangerous way, go unchecked.

Maybe the police/NZTA could use some of the millions they made over the summer period to do something about this potentially lethal situation. With the continued development of Mangawhai, and the number of new residents all along Tara Rd, maybe it is time to look at the 100 kph speed limit along the whole road, and adjust it to better reflect the growing numbers who are living here.

Heather Levack
Mangawhai


In response to your comments about the speed in Tara road, I can confirm that I did as I promised and that was raise the issues with my supervisor. I also spoke directly with the speed camera operators’ supervisor about your concerns and that of others around this community. I apologise for not getting back to you over this issue but rest assured I did not take your concerns lightly and have done as you asked.

You will be pleased to know that additional speed camera sites have recently been authorized, including Tara Rd. I spoke with the speed camera operator here over Anzac weekend and he assured me at that time that speed camera enforcement will be an ongoing programme in Mangawhai, including Tara Rd, over the coming weeks and months. In addition you may have noticed an increased presence by police in Mangawhai helping to enforce traffic concerns.

Senior Constable Graham Gough
Mangawhai


Fairy tern not dumb
Brian Styles, in his letter about NZ fairy terns (Letters to the editor, April 27) makes many valid and accurate points about the perilous lifestyle of this very rare shore bird, but before labeling the NZ fairy tern a dumb animal with few survival instincts he should take a look at the bigger picture.

Regarding self-destruction of nature, animals cannot beat human beings for the greatest lack of survival instincts when it comes to trying to save the world. We, the supposedly most intelligent of animals, have destroyed millions of our own kind through war, pollution of land, sea and sky in one form or another.

It’s amazing so many animal species have managed to hang on after our relentless attacks against ourselves, animals and nature. Who destroys most of the worlds rainforests, depletes major fishing grounds through over-fishing and now has brought about climate change?

I am no great fan of mangroves but I believe there is a place for them and management is the key. The pungent smell from recently cut mangrove patches comes from the death and decay of thousands of mud crabs, oysters and other crustaceans, and marine vegetation, which are food for fish and various avian species.

Of course saving the NZ fairy tern is not going to save the world, neither is saving Asian tigers or white rhinos, but the loss of every new species is evidence of the further degradation of our environment. That is the point!

Don't tell me that NZ fairy terns have no survival instincts when human beings are still hell bent on interracial and religious genocide and ripping the guts out of the world to maintain crazy economic philosophies that rely on unsustainable growth dependent on finite non-renewable energy and mineral resources.

Extinction is forever.

Roy Vaughan
Mangawhai


More than just a bird
I was appalled to read Brian Styles’ letter in your paper (Letters to the editor April 27). What a selfish attitude to take when so many people are doing so much for them day in and day out.

I don't live in Mangawhai but I try and get up at least once a week in the hope that I might just see a fairy tern, and it just fills my heart with joy to see one of these little fellas. In summer break, we come up to the camping site for just that very reason.

When you lose the fairy tern you are going to lose a whole lot more than just a bird. You are going to lose what Mangawhai is becoming increasingly well-known for as one of the only places that fairy terns breed.

You should be very proud of the fact that fairy terns chose your area to live in and that people come from all over New Zealand to see them spending their well-earned cash in your town. I applaud all those that help your little tern.

Fairy terns have every chance of survival.

Veronica Westly
Auckland
 

Fairy tern worth saving The New Zealand Fairy Tern Charitable Trust (NZFTCT) writes in response to Brian Styles’ letter (Letters to the editor, April 27). Yes, money has been spent on trying to save the NZ fairy tern from extinction, but surely we have a responsibility to help when our actions are what have caused the bird to be at risk. The biggest threat to this little bird is mankind. For hundreds of years man has invaded this birds habitat bringing introduced predators such as rats, stoats, weasels, ferrets, cats and dogs. Now, houses and roads cover the landscapes and coastlines. Man has polluted water sources that provide the birds food and turned isolated estuaries into recreational highways. All this adds up to disturbance on a grand scale. Far from being "...hell bent on its own destruction" this feisty little bird is doing its best. NZ fairy terns are devoted parents: vigorously defending their nests against all intruders; foraging endlessly in all conditions for small fish for their chicks to eat and, once the chicks can fly, patiently teaching them how to forage for themselves, a process which takes three to four months. If their eggs are lost, they will lay again up to three times in a season; they tolerate relocating their eggs and they will foster eggs from other pairs. When bad weather threatens, eggs are taken to the zoo, dummy eggs put in their place, then returned later. These behaviours do not support Brian Styles’ comment "these birds have no survival instincts whatsoever." In their fight for survival, NZ fairy terns have been helped by the Department of Conservation’ s (DOC)recovery programme which has been going since the 1980s when the NZ fairy tern teetered on the brink of extinction. In 1984 the population plummeted to three pairs. Slowly DOC’s recovery strategies are increasing the NZ Fairy Tern population. In the 2013/14 season 12 chicks fledged, the most successful season since the programme began. The 2014/15 season again saw 12 fertile eggs laid but dreadful storms destroyed some eggs and chicks so only six chicks fledged. Weather is the only variable that we have no control over. DOC has been assisted in its recovery programme by many volunteers over the years and in 2008 these community volunteers set up the NZ Fairy Tern Charitable Trust (NZFTCT, not to be confused with the Shorebird Trust recently established by the golf course at Te Arai). Working with DOC and supported by many organisations, businesses and individuals, the NZFTCT has organised predator control, has purchased a boat and telescopes for bird monitoring and has developed publicity and education material. The NZFTCT has members not just in our local area, but from all over New Zealand – as far south as Christchurch – and indeed from all over the world. We here in Mangawhai are so fortunate to have these beautiful birds breeding here, and to be able to observe them foraging in the harbour. (In front of the pub is a good spot to see them.) Others who don’t have that opportunity still support our efforts to save them. These efforts also protect other birds living in the same habitat as NZ fairy tern. Fortunately with such a lot of help, and understanding from our community, NZ fairy terns have a good chance of surviving. After all they are part of the magic of Mangawhai. Christine Silvester and Heather Rogan New Zealand Fairy Tern Charitable Trust