Local Goverment Experience

I have served as an FNDC councillor, community board member and as an NRC councillor.  

I am a  Ministry for the Environment RMA Hearing Commissioner

I enjoy working with the community to find practical ways to meet real needs.

I think decisions are best made as locally as possible, on the basis of good information.

I hate pointless talkfests.

The Job. 

The Northland Regional Council Far North General Constituency Electorate is large.  It extends from south of Kaikohe to Cape Reinga and includes North and South Hokianga on the west and from Totara North to Cape Reinga on the east. 

The electorate includes Kaikohe and Kaitaia, each with a population exceeding 4,000.  

Kaikohe is the predominant service centre for South Hokianga whilst much of North Hokianga and Te Hiku is reliant on Kaitaia. 

Major regional council roles are to ensure that our communities are safe and that we have reliable connectivity. 

A lot of my time and effort has gone into this because I chair the Regional Transport Committee (RTC), am on the NRC Infrastructure Committee and chair the Awanui and Kerikeri River Liaison groups and am alternate chair for the Whangaroa Rivers group.  The community members on these groups have a great understanding of the issues and what can be done.

The Northland Regional Council has been unwavering in it's support for the sturdy reconstruction of SH1 over the Mangamukas costing over $200 M, and for building high capacity power lines to transmit surplus power south from the Far North's solar generators and to provide the north with base load capacity from the Top Energy Ngawha geothermal generator. 

I think that the single most important climate adaptation objective for Northland is to be a net exporter of renewable electricity and be able to function as an 'electricity island' when the National Grid fails. This resilience will enable telecomunications and essential services to keep operating.  Having the electricity capacity to help when Auckland's supply fails makes Northland's resilience nationally significant and worthy of government investment.

Our major roads must be flood free if we want to rely on e-vehicles.  The RTC is developing a Route Security plan to prioritise catchment management and road resilience investment.

Community Risk.

Kaitaia remains, even with the massive flood management works that NRC has done, Northland's gravest Civil Defence concern.  The current design level of flood protection for Kaitaia is for a 1 in 100 year storm event. Storms throughout New Zealand often exceed this.

We must work on options upstream of Kaitaia to reduce peak flood volumes in the Awanui River as it passes through Kaitaia.  FNDC needs to lean in and use their 71% NZTA roading subsidy to replace the inadequate Donalds Road Bridge.

South Hokianga river and flooding issues need urgent attention too.  For instance Waimamaku, Whirinaki and Waima communities and are extremely vulnerable.   Raising SH12 between Puha Road to Taheke Bridge will provide a secure route between the Mid North and Kaitaia via Rawene when SH1 and SH10 are flooded.  Clearly the current NRC spend of 3.69 cents in.the rate dollar on flood protection and minor river work is grossly inadequate and why this core function is under government review.

Reprioritisation is necessary.

Currently NRC SPENDS 25% OF ITS RATE INCOME ON GOVERNANCE AND TALKING.

By cutting down on chatter, rate money can be better allocated.

The elephant in the room needing NRC's genuine attention is the macro erosion of  the region's flood plain river banks.  This constitutes way over 90% of the sedimentation of our harbours. NIWA tells us that in the Bay of Islands 79% of the 428,300 tonnes of the annual BOI sediment load comes from the Taumarere (Kawakawa) River alone.

The only major built and maintained sediment deposition and retrieval system system in Northland is the Awanui River management system.  DoC supported NRC to build this.  The Kaeo River needs a similar system before the extensive river realignment work.

NRC IS CURRENTLY SPENDING ONLY 3.69 CENTS IN THE RATE DOLLAR ON DEVELOPING FLOOD PROTECTION AND MINOR RIVER WORKS.

Biodiversity. 

NRC spends $1 M a month or 26.64 cents in the rate dollar on biodiversity which is well supported but the delivery needs peer reviewing.  That Madagaskan Ragwort spread was very expansive before it was identified is a real concern. NRC needs more solution focus.

Why I am standing?  -  To get important things like these done.

Whilst I am very appreciative that the current NRC councillors have supported my catchment work at Kaitaia, Hokianga and Waipapa, and gave me good support to get Northland Roading back on track, I am very troubled that NRC has lost a lot of it's can do mojo in areas of core responsibility.  Hard decisions that needed making haven't been in many regional councils across New Zealand.

I will advocate for NRC to manage Northland's drainage districts.

The Government is gravely concerned and regional councils are often seen as part of the problem rather than the solution. And as a result change is coming. I beleive that we need more practical and decisive people on our councils who want to get stuff done.   

I know the entire Far North District well as a previous FNDC chair of the Roading Drainage and Stormwater Committee, and I know Te Aupouri as a rural fire volunteer. 

Kaikohe has similarities to Kaitaia and could be described as Kaitaia without wood processers Juken Nissho Ltd.  The failure to interrupt the flow of well over a million tonnes of p. radiata logs that pass by Kaikohe unprocessed is a travesty.  A greater travesty would have been Kaitaia losing JNL because of the failure of the Mangamuka and Brynderwyn roads.  The R Transport Committee presented the Government with the 4-lane Brynderwyn option, which has now been adopted.  

I am for keeping the local in Local Government and bringing practicallity and urgency to the council table.