Letters to the Editor

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Politicians beware
Apparently our recent governments regard the majority of New Zealanders as being of inferior mentality, unable to face the truth. Being in a situation where they can manipulate the media, those in power bombard us with messages that “all is well” when the underlying facts reveal a radically different story.

Recently we were told that NZ has a rock star economy – and that is in a nation with an insurmountable national debt (interest on that debt is around $100 million dollars each week, without repaying any of the capital) and the fact we owe more than $100 billion is swept under the carpet in the euphoria of announcing a budget surplus.

This is a debt that can never be repaid under our current monetary system and a terrible legacy for future generations betrayed by governments that place short-term political advantage ahead of our country’s welfare.

We are being progressively led into poverty by incompetent political leaders whose only solution to the nation’s financial problems is to invent another tax. The most insidious tax ever invented is GST. Here we see someone who is already taxed on any income received from providing a service being doubly taxed for performing that service. Governmental greed at its worst.

Another blatant lie is the benefit of unlimited free trade, but free trade agreements with slave labour countries are the root cause of unemployment and poverty in our own nation. Local manufacturers cannot compete with cheap products that are flooding our markets and are either forced to shut up shop or move overseas. This may be helping developing nations, but it is destroying our own.

Then there is our nation’s true history, with our real indigenous people concealed under a mountain of political correctness and guilt-ridden appeasement.

Now we also have race-based appointments being made under the guise of cultural sensitivity.

Politicians beware. Your people are beginning to awaken.

Mitch Morgan
Kaipara


Conflicts of interest
Following the candidates meetings I feel there are some areas where full information has not been forthcoming. Being only a part-time Mangawhai resident I am not overly familiar with any of the candidates so listening to their addresses and making my own judgment was important.

Two Mayoral candidates, Rogan and Simon, are members of the MRRA executive. I believe Council candidates Scothern and Sampson are also on the executive or acting in an advisory capacity on that body but all are nonetheless endorsed by the MRRA. How then, can they be standing as ‘Independent’? This is not full disclosure and is something of which the public should have been made aware from day one.

A question was disallowed at the Mangawhai meeting but concerned the property ownership of candidate Larsen who still refers to himself as a developer to some degree. As a councillor sitting on a board discussing the setting of rates, development and subdivision fees, would this not be a conflict of interests that should also have been revealed to the public prior to voting?

In their haste to become a part of the new Council I feel some people have withheld some important information in not observing ‘full disclosure’.

Don Barclay
Mangawhai/Auckland


Candidates not politicians
I would like to reply to comments made in the Mangawhai Focus Ed Said, September 19.

Some candidates are happy to admit they are 'not politicians' – simply by standing this is exactly the thing to which they aspire.

As an Otamatea Ward candidate, my aspirations are to have our communities work together towards growth – for Mangawhai being able to grow without losing the magic that we have created over the years, for Kaiwaka to be put on the map and made safe for pedestrians, also to meet the needs of all the other communities in this ward.

I will be fiscally responsible, and be part of governance that will plan issues such as the Long Term Plan and Annual Plan. I am willing and able to learn and as Finance Minister Bill English has said recently, he has the treasury department working for him to aid with financial decisions, the role of the CEO is management of administrative staff members and engage in the operations of these issues.

If politics is like a rugby game, pass the ball to the right candidates to be sure this will be a clean game and bring back grassroots democracy – our communities will be the winners, which I would think is the ultimate role of council.

Lynda Sampson
Mangawhai


Democracy a stitch-up
The commissioners are wasting no time in their last few months on Council in stitching things up in line with their purpose. It would be naïve to assume that democracy will come to the Kaipara after the Local Body Elections as the long

arm of government will remain firmly in place in this area in the form of The Crown Manager, just in case the suppressed ratepayers should rise again on some historic issue, and the Crown Observer to advise and presumably report back.

Then there was their rushing in to appoint the railway man as CEO instead of allowing the incoming Mayor to make the appointment as is customary. Jill MacPherson could have carried on as acting CEO for a couple more months – she is still around as we learned in John Robertson’s colomn in the last issue of the Focus.

And that brings me to the latest stitch up – the appointment of the Mangawhai Town Planning Panel. This indeed has been an interesting exercise. Instead of leaving it to the incoming Mayor, John Robertson called for persons interested in being on the panel to make submission to him and then made his selection.

Predictably he went for the old favourites. Several were members of his waste water panel and one is a distributor of the Endowment Fund money for Council. I know of several high quality candidates who applied to join the panel but can categorically state that no one from the already existing Mangawhai Community Planning Group and no one who belongs to the Mangawhai Ratepayers & Residents Association (MRRA) was chosen, even though one candidate in particular who belongs to both groups, stood out as a shining example of a person who would add immeasurably to the work being done by the panel.

Christian Simon, a trained architect but with a profound knowledge of engineering and a passion for cycleways and walkways and an extensive view of European villages, townships and cities as well as the local environment was not included. Why I wonder? Was it his links with the MRRA?

How far is this rift, fabricated and endorsed by the commissioners, going to continue? The ratepayers association, as with all ratepayers associations, exists to represent the interest of ratepayers and residents. The fact, in the case of Kaipara, that this entailed going to court doesn’t make us criminals. It just means we were intent on seeking fairness for our members.

Surely the commissioners can see people as individuals and assess their worth without branding them all according to their membership of an association. That would mean cutting out some 1000 persons from any given panel or office by dint of their association with MRRA. And who is to say that the ones who are left are the most honest, most reliable, most intelligent, most forward thinking, most community orientated individuals of them all?

Barbara Pengelly
Secretary MRRA & Mangawhai Community Planning Group


Election from ludicrous to serious
For me it is ludicrous to demand replacement of worn out infrastructure without first identifying what needs to be done and how to do it.

For example, traffic. To transport goods we need to look at an integrated combination. Heavy truck road traffic needs to be reduced as far as possible. Rail transport needs to be seen in combination with shipping and road. For years, the potential for that has been ignored. In future Marsden Point will be the only

harbour in New Zealand suitable for the container vessels that we know are coming.

Public transport in rural areas, which often does not even exist today, needs an “on call” system with modern internet-based booking.

The change from fossil fuel to electric cars needs other infrastructure changes, private solar power and Northpower charging stations at car parks, service stations and other convenient locations.

All of our towns need a 5 kph design. This is a widely used international town planning tool where the priority is to look at traffic through the eyes of a child, or pedestrian or cyclist, to make walking and cycling both safe and enjoyable, and to make car traffic compatible with other users of the traffic lanes.

We need to look at waste water in a totally different way. The current systems are very expensive to build and run because we pour everything down the one drain. Grey-water is 70 percent of what is discharged but it has low nutrients and can be treated easily, either on-site or in little potentially very beautiful wetland areas.

Urine, perhaps surprisingly, is neither unhygienic nor problematic. It is not waste. It is actually valuable, and many other countries have recognised this fact. It can be used as fertilizer or for chemical and even pharmaceutical manufacturing purposes. Urine separation toilets are already well proven in many countries

Feaces are only 1 part per 1000, only 50 litres per capita per year. Treating it should not cost the world.

Sewage treatment should not be done by councils (if you need proof, look at EcoCare). Councils should set standards of purification, communities should be free to find the best and least expansive ways to meet them. Currently all operating expenses for all sewage plants in the district are collected in one pot and then divided by all users district wide. This destroys the motivation to find better solutions for each community.

Money collected under one heading is used for other purposes and it simply disappears into Council’s big pot. When it is needed for the original purpose it is long gone. We need it back under local control.

How can those changes be realised? Council cannot and should not try to do it themselves. The job of a Council is to set up a framework to empower the community to find in a competitive way to get the best solutions.

Those who want to run cargo vessels need to be supported and not burdened by bureaucracy.

Connection to waste water schemes should not be mandatory. Freedom to choose encourages innovation.

Community assets are better managed in community hands.

Town planning needs the richness of all ideas, especially at the beginning of a planning process. Council’s current system to select appointed people to a so called Communal Advisory Panels limits the input and divides the community.

Think seriously about what our district needs, and what you can do yourself and for yourself, and then vote for your next Council.

You have until Wednesday. Please act.

Christian Simon
Mangawhai


Growth challenges for Mangawhai
For the Mangawhai Town Plan (MTP) project to be successful there needs to be community buy-in. To achieve that there needs to be community involvement. The Community Advisory Panel (CAP) has been set up to help that happen. As Chair, it’s my job to make it happen.

Mangawhai is facing growth challenges and the framework put in place for the future must not kill the values and features that mean so much to us.

Everyone has a view on how Mangawhai should develop. I want the CAP to be a way to move casual conversations from around the barbeque to ones that can influence and guide Council policy.

The ‘community’ is made up of different views and opinions. When we submit our report I want the community to believe the process has been open and transparent and that our recommendations have taken into account community views and are in the best interests of the community.

There will be open days where we will share issues and options and seek input. We will invite submissions and hold one-on-one meetings with interested parties.

I acknowledge the work done by the Mangawhai Community Planning Group and look forward to their contribution to the development of the Panel’s considerations.

Transparency is essential. Perceived conflicts of interest will be disclosed and managed.

There will be criticism of the Panel’s appointment on the eve of the Council elections. Appointment now means we can kick-start community involvement including over the summer period as the new Council gets its feet under the table. The growth clock in Mangawhai has been ticking for some time – we need to get on with the job.

As Chair, I give you my commitment that the community will have its say.

Belinda Vernon
Chair, CAP, Mangawhai Town Plan Project