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Waiheke Board plans Bridle Bridge to Brigadoon

31/8/2014

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Just when you thought the Waiheke Local Board couldn’t dream up any more silly ways to waste your rapidly increasing Council rates after their Hauraki Gulf tiki tour junket, extravagant but wasted community swimming pool promises, slush fund for the Chair and Deputy Chair etc., they now plan to build an over-bridge with this year’s precious discretionary SLIPs money (small local improvement projects).

Now some of you may be thinking that a pedestrian bridge over Oceanview Rd might not be such a bad idea. After all, the current pedestrian crossing in the middle of Oneroa village causes a bottleneck for traffic going to and from the ferry in peak summer months. But, wait for it - no such luck.

Waiheke’s first over-bridge is planned for O’Brien Rd close to the junction with Onetangi Rd. O’where? I can sense that some of you will be scratching your heads at this juncture. Not only O’where? -  but O’why?  Far from being one of the busiest roads for foot traffic on the island, this road has very little. But wait, it gets even whackier. It’s not about pedestrians at all. The main reason is to provide safe access for - horses.

Yes, I know there are hardly any horses left at the Waiheke Adult Riding Club on Onetangi Rd. From memory, the Club membership was 15 when the last Local Board provided horse-riders (and walkers) with access from the Riding Club lease area to the rest of Onetangi Sports Park (OSP) around the perimeter of the Waiheke Golf Club lease area. This, for the precise reason of providing safe passage to OSP away from the busy Onetangi Rd and far less busy O’Brien Rd.

So why on earth would the Local Board now want to spend hundreds of thousands of ratepayers’ dollars on this absurd project? Well, let me see. Who on the Board is a horse rider? Of course, it’s the Board Chair, Paul Walden and his family. And whose land is just up the road along Onetangi Straight? None other than the Walden family property with plans to subdivide (see How Green is my Valley?). Call me cynical but I can see no other reason for this breathtaking waste of ratepayers’ money.

Worse still, is the conspicuous absence of those SLIPs projects that should be first off the ranks at the beginning of the financial year. In the Local Board report, there is nothing allocated to the nationally (Te Matuku) and regionally (Rangihoua) significant wetland restoration projects started by the former Local Board. These substantial, long overdue projects require an on-going, up-front commitment from SLIPs for the next few years if they are ever going to deliver the benefits of an improved ecological and recreational Island environment.

Once again, this is a case of a so-called ‘Green’ board showing its true colours, confusing its priorities and giving the thumbs down to the environment.

If you think Auckland Council has gone mad wasting millions of our money pressing ahead with a Skypath to Cloud Cuckoo Land for a few cyclists then Waiheke Local Board must be in la-la land to even contemplate spending hundreds of thousands on a Bridle Bridge to Brigadoon.


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Fear of being called ‘racist’ leads to appalling race-based crime

29/8/2014

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Why did social services and the police fail to protect the 1400 children sexually exploited in the UK town Rotherham? 

"We cannot ignore that race played a part in these crimes," says Dan Hodges in the Daily Telegraph.  

The abuse experienced by the children of Rotherham is beyond belief. Sexual abuse. Physical abuse. Psychological abuse. It is all laid out in brutal detail in the report by Alexis Jay.

But one equally vicious aspect of the assaults on these children is identified in a less explicit way. And that is the manner in which the vast majority of the Rotherham victims were also racially abused.

Ever since the first reports, and subsequent convictions, of so called “Asian grooming gangs” began to appear, a debate has opened up about how to confront the racial element of these crimes. It was inappropriate, many people argued, to explicitly describe them as “Asian” or “Muslim” gangs at all. Others said to even touch on the race of the perpetrators, or the victims, was to itself pander to racism. When I first heard the reports, I sympathised with this argument.

I was wrong. There is no longer any debate about what happened in Rotherham. A major British town was turned into a rape camp. The overwhelming majority of the abusers were Asian men, primarily of Pakistani descent. And their victims were overwhelmingly white girls.
The report and coverage on these crimes in the UK makes grim reading. It shows a huge failing on the part of both local authorities (which run some social services) and Police. But why? Why did these two organisations, that had a duty to protect the weakest in our society, fail the white girls of Rotherham? The answer lies in the now institutionalised, deep-seated fear of being labelled a ‘racist’. This state has been induced by what are now decades of so-called ‘political correctness’. So pervasive is the fear of being labelled a ‘racist’ that it paralyses thought, action and common-sense. It undermines the integrity of individuals and public institutions and it silences the truth.

The question now is - could the same thing happen in New Zealand?

The short answer is – yes, and that’s why we need to act now to make sure it never does. The danger that comes from rewriting history, hiding our heads in the sand and failing to act because of the fear of being labelled a ‘racist’ is even worse here. Already, people ‘bite their tongues’ and skirt the issues, rather than voice the realities of numerous NZ social situations.

The dominant Anglo Saxon cultural response of ‘not wishing to offend’ has fallen easy prey to the true racists in our society, those who profit from a worsening situation by broadening their job prospects and those who propagate a race-based future for our country. There will be no lasting solutions while the myths created by political correctness dominate our actions and policies. The anger and violence aimed at those who try to tell the truth are far greater and more insidious than the ‘crime’ of speaking out.

For a real-life example, take the time to read this. The writer was powerless to dissent from the race-based orthodoxy in his educational institution. Like the Inquisition it was repent or be excommunicated.  In the long-term, unable to reconcile his integrity with kowtowing to an orthodoxy that flew in the face of all that he believed in, he voted with his feet and went into voluntary exile.

Is the future for New Zealand that we lose our brightest and best in educating our children? Race-based institutions undermine the very principles of ‘equality before the law’ and ‘freedom of speech’, themselves the bedrock of democracy. The rule of law is undermined when politically correct judges see nothing wrong in placing individuals above the law, so long as they are the privileged few from the right race (the recent case of the Maori King’s son).

And who will suffer when the inevitable outcome of this political correctness is a racially divided country? It will be the poor, the vulnerable and the very weakest in our society.


Back to Rotherham, Dan Hodges concludes:
We cannot just ignore racism because it doesn’t fit a neat binary perception of the victim being black and the perpetrator being white. When a Pakistani man calls a white child a “white bitch” because she tries to stop him raping her, that isn’t just horrific sexual abuse, it’s also horrific racial abuse.

Those who tried to cover up the racial aspect of these crimes did so because they feared giving “oxygen” to racists. But what kind of perversion is that? You counter racism by covering up racism?

For those who endured the abuse, the racial origin of their attacker will seem irrelevant. But as we’ve seen, it wasn’t irrelevant because it was their racial origin that contributed to the abuse continuing unchecked for so long. That’s why we must never again allow a situation to develop where racism is allowed to flourish simply because it challenges our conventional belief of what racism is.

The children of Rotherham were abused racially, as well as sexually, physically and psychologically. We don’t just have a right to say that, we have an obligation.

Indeed! We all have an obligation to challenge the prevailing ethos that only white people can be racist. Racism - that is, discrimination solely on account of race, should not be tolerated in any civilised society. Discrimination, whether ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ is still discrimination.
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Board admits defeat over community pool promise

29/8/2014

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PictureBroken promise
The Waiheke Local Board admitted defeat this week for its main campaign promise - to deliver a community pool within one to three years.

The Board’s PR team is now in overdrive in the local papers trying to give their failure a positive spin. In an un-credited article in this week’s Waiheke Marketplace, they even try to claim a ‘win’ of sorts by saying, “Waiheke has been included on the Council’s draft Aquatic Facilities Network Plan” and “Waiheke’s inclusion on the list will no doubt be as a result of some sustained pressure by many local people”.

What rubbish! Waiheke is in the draft Council’s Aquatic Facilities Network Plan because the last Waiheke Local Board referred it there – after paying for the first feasibility study to fast track that part of the process. The Aquatic Facilities Network Plan is the route to a community pool that this Board tried to circumvent by pursuing their own hare-brained scheme of dumping a pool on school land – to be paid for by us hapless ratepayers. What hasn’t been admitted is that Waiheke is now further than ever from getting a community swimming pool because of the actions of THIS Board.

Instead, the Board chose to focus on the schools and waste $25000 of ratepayers’ money by funding another feasibility study (undertaken by the schools themselves) on how a community pool might work on school land ie. Te Huruhi Primary and/or Waiheke High School. That was seven months ago, with a promise the report would be ready by April. It has never seen the light of day. So much for transparency and accountability.

The Waiheke community has been well and truly conned by the so-called ‘Essentially Waiheke’ team which is now in power. Ably assisted by the two local papers that ignored the previous Board’s successes, while blatantly supporting their own left-wing Green candidates and now cover for their inadequacies by lame reporting. Is it any wonder nobody trusts mainstream media

The Waiheke ratepayer has been bitten before with Council investing ratepayers’ money into Ministry of Education facilities (see blog on the Waiheke Recreation Centre, referred to locally as the ‘school gym’). They’ve learnt their lesson and will not do so again. Experience has shown that the community has been effectively shut out by the school from using the facility. Further, there are the on-going costs. We have all been picking up the tab for this white elephant for well over a decade. Rather than increase the school’s accountability and ensure value for ratepayers’ money, this Board has already increased the Recreation Centre’s funding from $75000 to $120,000 pa - and is planning to double it again, to over $200,000. Pure irresponsibility!

Big ticket Council projects like the new Waiheke Library and Artworks courtyard upgrade or a community swimming pool, take time, skill, political acumen and patience to make a reality (See blog for the history of the library). The first Local Board, under the guidance of Faye Storer, the former councillor and Board Chair who delivered the Waiheke Library, was going through all the necessary steps of a long process to bring the pool project to fruition. Providing SLIPs funding for Council’s own ‘Aquatic Facilities’ team to conduct a preliminary feasibility study and cost estimate for a community pool was the first step. This resulted in FIVE sites being deemed worthy of further exploration. Exploring those five possibilities was the necessary next step.

Because of this Board’s incompetence, inexperience and sheer spite the pool will never again be a priority for Council funding from the regional pot. Mayor Len Brown has just announced his intention for even more cutbacks to community facilities and precious time has been lost while the Waiheke Local Board tried to by-pass due process by wasting our ratepayers’ money on a Mickey Mouse attempt to pay back their supporters on the schools’ Boards of Trustees.  Worse still many other projects were canned in a pathetic attempt to ‘bribe’ Council. 

Thanks to these incompetents, you can kiss goodbye to EVER having a community swimming pool. 

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Bleating about it won't save MSM

27/8/2014

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Bloggers are themselves making the news in light of accusation and counter-accusation of behind the scene shenanigans following the publication of a book that itself is an example of all that's worst in journalism today. One of those in the gun is Whaleoil, Cameron Slater, winner of New Zealand's 'Blogger of the Year' award.

I was reading his blog yesterday about the demise of MSM (main stream media) - TV and the press to you and me - and their wailing, forgive the pun, 
and gnashing and teeth because they no longer call the shots. It was obvious to me when I sold my newspaper six years ago that the days of MSM were numbered unless they won a new on-line audience and learned how to make a profit from it.

Whaleoil quotes a long-winded diatribe from an unmanned journalist from the Nelson Mail bemoaning the exodus of journalists to become PR writers for politicians or self-publicists by writing books. You can read it for yourself here.

One quote caught my eye. 

“As mainstream media newsrooms collapse in numbers, the PR army grows and who can blame journalists for breaking ranks? No-one likes journalists.
And why is it that people don’t like journalists? 

The hacking scandal in the UK has focussed the spotlight on journalists’ malpractice, aided and abetted by their editors and owners. The public sees similarities here in New Zealand. More people than ever have personal experience of poor reporting standards of so-called journalists and recognise the appalling bias of newspaper owners.

As I’ve said before at least with bloggers you know what you’re getting, their opinion. The best of them stand up well to the scrutiny of their peers by quoting source material and tackling subjects MSM refuse or fear to tackle. Some speak with the voice of experience and these are the ones that develop a following and become trusted sources of information.

If bloggers don’t cut it their readership numbers decline and they stop. I’ve been blogging daily for seven months because I was sick and tired of hard left political media
bias here on Waiheke. I’ve seen my page views grow from 50 a day to over 2000 a day at times. I must be doing something right. I’m a one woman, unpaid, band but my followers recognise my credentials as a former newspaper owner, entrepreneur and elected member of Auckland Council. In short they trust what I’m writing, particularly about local and Auckland matters.

As Slater says

...In the past the media may have force-fed the populace what they felt we should know.  Now, people who want to know about policy can find it on various party web sites.

People who want policy analysed can follow the person, people or media organisation that they trust most.
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Cars are our future

26/8/2014

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I love my car and won’t give it up. I certainly won’t be forced to ‘get on my bike’. Here’s why. 
  • Freedom
  • Choice
  • Multi-tasking
  • Privacy
  • Weatherproof travel
  • Technology
I was 25 before I bought my first car. Until then I had used public transport to commute to school or get about the country to visit friends and relatives once I’d left home when I was 18.

When I bought my car it was not because I needed it to travel to work, I lived where I worked but, once out of an urban environment where public transport was scarce, I wanted the freedom to go wherever I pleased, whenever I wanted during my leisure time. I was prepared to pay a hefty price for that convenience, all my savings and much of my disposable income.

It was worth every penny. I took to driving like a prisoner to freedom. I discovered unexpected delights. I could expand my private world from the confines of my room to the world outside because I had my own bubble of solitude. There I could blast my music, sing without, thankfully for others, being heard, bask in the sheer delight of being on my own while travelling to be with the people whose company I enjoyed.

I suspect many commuters chose to travel by car for similar reasons. Being stuck in traffic is the perfect time to be alone with our thoughts. For many it will be their only safe place in a busy day. A place for venting emotions, for indulging ones tastes in music, or being read to, or getting angry at radio talkback. If you want to know why people won’t give up their cars don’t look to time and motion studies, look to the emotional attachment people have to their cocoons.

Technology is advancing to make this personal space more fuel efficient, easier, safer, healthier and cheaper, despite the rising cost of petrol. That is the exciting future for cars. They are weatherproof; they transport goods, babies, sports equipment, shopping. They can take us a few or a hundred kilometres in less time than public transport or mopeds. They are versatile and we love them.

Talking about exercise and saving the planet as a means of forcing people to ‘get on their bikes’ will wash, I use the term not by way of cleanliness, with a few ‘grubbies’ (green, rich, urban, biking bullies) but even these activists have their ‘dirty little secret’ cars.

I’ve a message for them. Get over yourselves, get real and get out of my face. I don’t want to spend my extorted taxpayer and ratepayer funds to indulge your fantasies of a carless future that will never come.


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How Green is my valley?

25/8/2014

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PictureThreatened green belt
Waiheke ‘green belt’ under threat.

A local property developer family has been looking for ways to make a buck out of their large land holdings on Waiheke by going through the back door of Auckland Council’s Unitary Plan, as well as appealing the ‘green belt’ provisions in the Hauraki Gulf Islands District Plan (HGIDP) review which became operative last September.

The Walden family’s attempt to urbanise Waiheke with an 80 house development on their land in Onetangi has been a closely kept secret.

They are now seeking an extension of the MUL (Metropolitan Urban Limit) boundary through the proposed Auckland Unitary Plan so that their land is included in the definition of ‘urban’ and can be sub-divided accordingly.

If successful, these tactics will open the door for a dramatic increase in land available for sub-division and radically alter the look of Waiheke forever.

These applications fly in the face of the principles of the ‘Essentially Waiheke’ document. This is particularly ironic, considering the adoption of this label by current Local Board Chair Paul Walden and his Green Party campaign buddies in their attempt to paint themselves as ‘environmentally sustainable’, when the opposite is now shown to be true.

Essentially Waiheke (2000) is a document drawn up through wide community consultation, that lays down the principles underpinning the character of the island and which are now enshrined in the HGIDP. In particular those provisions include:

• To protect and enhance Waiheke’s character: The principles to protect and enhance Waiheke’s character recognise the importance of maintaining the unique character of the Island, particularly by protecting the open character of rural areas of the Island.

• Location: The principles of location guide the location and form of future growth-related development (Auckland City Council 2000: 4)

Conflict of interest now looms large for the family. As already stated a family member is Chair of the Waiheke Local Board and can attempt to bring political influence to bear on planning matters. Auckland Councillor for the Waitemata and Hauraki Gulf Islands, Mike Lee, has revealed that his lawyer is patriarch Ron Walden. As Chairman of the former Auckland Regional Council, Lee was a staunch supporter of limiting urban expansion in the Gulf. Has he now changed his tune?

For years, Walden senior has advised many environmental groups on the island including the highly politicised Hauraki Gulf Forest and Bird. Will this now mean they ‘pay back’ the favour by turning their backs on this blatant proposal to urbanise the landscape? Fresh from fighting against many property owners’ dreams for their properties, will these self-appointed environmental protectors now cave in for their mates? Or will the scales at last fall from their eyes when they realise the extent of their culpability in colluding in the destruction of the Waiheke character as we’ve known it.

If the Walden family get their way, Waiheke will be just one more urban sprawl on the boundaries of Auckland. Some might admire their Machiavellian cunning. I call it hypocrisy.


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'Hip Hop-eration' film an inspiration

24/8/2014

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PictureBillie Jordan
Getting ready yesterday to go and see the first viewing of the film ‘Hip Hop-eration’ at the Bridgeway Cinema in Northcote felt very like the story of the Hip Op-eration Crew as I had experienced it – a hopeful journey tinged with apprehension that the dreams of so many were not going to be realised.

Bridgeway had offered their cinema for free and said it was an honour to host the first viewing of the film for the Crew. Long time supporters Bev Adair-Beets, Executive Director of Street Dance NZ, 
and Dziah Dance Academy manager TJ were also there to wish the film and Crew well.

I have been a huge supporter and fan of the Crew from its beginnings as a flash mob to its accolade in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s oldest dance group. In the process I became an admirer of the vision behind the group, that of bridging the gap between old and young through the medium of dance. That meant being a supporter of the inspiration behind the idea, Billie Jordan.

The ninety minute long film is the story of Billie’s vision and belief that you can take a group of the most unlikely people, literally off the street, and mould them into a team that could achieve far more than each individual could ever have thought possible.

It was the story of the group that mattered to me and I admit to some concern that concentration on individual ‘stars’ would detract from the work they had all put into making this dream a reality.

I needn’t have worried. Producer of the film from Inkubator Ltd, Paula Jones, and film Director, Bryn Evans of Brave Star Media, have taken the raw material of over a hundred hours of filming and turned them into ninety minutes of pure inspiration. There is humour, wit, pathos and bathos. Even though I knew what had happened at each step of the way I still found myself wrapped up in the emotion of the moment. Tears, unasked for, ran down my cheek as I got caught up in hopes raised and dashed, then raised again. Truth be told, most of the second half I cried till I laughed as disappointments and successes were met with the wry humour that comes from characters with a lifetime of experience.


Perhaps the thing that pleased me most about the film was the portrayal of the other character that loomed large in the film, the island of Waiheke. It has been my home for twenty years and I didn’t want to see the usual wineries, sun drenched beaches and beautiful scenery, wonderful expression of the island though they are. I wanted to see the essential Waiheke of real people in real homes and real situations. I wasn’t disappointed. Characters come across as quirky, messy, interesting and individual, just like the island itself. There is no such thing as a Waiheke community, just individuals coming together for various common purposes who, in so doing, create a variety of different communites.

Clapping had interspersed the screening. It erupted as the film ended and the credits rolled. The Crew was thrilled with the result, as was I, which is a sure sign that audiences worldwide will be as well. On a personal note, I was pleased to see the Waiheke Local Board logo amongst the credits. With the exception of Paul Walden, the former Board had the vision to see how supporting the film would be beneficial for everyone on Waiheke - its economy and its people.

As film director Bryn Evans told the Crew at the end of the screening, “You can all be proud of what you’ve achieved. I am proud of the film because the story is inspirational. It shows that no matter who you are, or what age you are, you can be and do anything you set your mind to.”


Go and see it when it comes out on general release on 25th September. I think you, too, will be inspired.

For more information and to see trailers click here
For some background see my other blogs about the Crew 

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How Greens oil their wheels of hypocrisy

23/8/2014

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Popular television and radio journalist and presenter Mike Hosking gets to the root of the supposed Green Party opposition to deep sea oil rigging in this excellent editorial. He rightly points out that, in a world still dependent on oil, the wheels need to keep turning and that means drilling for oil.

However, the Greens have a dilemma. On the one hand they must pander to the emotions of their sanctimonious followers. On the other, if they want to have wider appeal, they have to offer something more than bullshit to the practical people of this world. Hoskings suggest they have found a solution in hypocrisy. I would concur.


It’s difficult to know where to start with the Greens’ policy of banning all deep sea oil drilling. Just where do they think we’ll get the oil from? Just where do we think they’ll replace the money we get from the licenses for deep sea drilling?

As much as they love the environment, the world does still operate on oil. And even if their utopian dream of everyone eating homegrown veges, driving oil free cars and living in carbon neutral houses does come true, it is still several lifetimes away. So in the meantime back in the real world, it behoves us to provide the world what it wants and needs and what it wants and needs is oil.

Anyone who lives in or visited Taranaki lately will know the value of oil. In fact Taranaki is a good example. The Greens don’t like dairying either given it pollutes the waterways. So take the cows and the rigs out of Taranaki and just what is it the Greens are putting in places to replace the billions lost, not to mention the jobs?

Anyway, here’s the real issue. None of this is ever going to happen. Why? Because the Greens don’t truly believe in it. If they did they’d make it a bottom line in their coalition negotiations, which they haven’t. Which means that if they get to sit down with Labour and cut a deal, this is one of the policies that will go by the wayside because Labour is not ruling out deep sea drilling because (in this area anyway) they’re economic realists.

I get that the Greens need to put policy out. And I get that some of that policy is designed to grow their vote. But history shows us the Greens are about a 10 percent party, and broadly we know what they’re about. So those that are of that persuasion are already aware of what they stand for and have made their choice.

To swing more votes their way they need polices that are rock solid and I would have thought from a Greens point of view deep sea drilling is one. Why would you vote for a party where you’ve got no idea what’s going to come out in the wash if they ever get to put together a potential deal for government? If you’re attracted to the Green Party because you passionately believe we shouldn’t be deep sea drilling, how are you going to feel when that policy doesn’t happen due to the fact they gave it away?

National has done well by telling people what’s coming up. The asset sales for all their controversy at least wasn’t a surprise. If the Greens can’t draw a line under major platforms, just what is it you’re thinking you’re getting by voting for them?

People and parties have to have principals. You can have stuff that is tradeable but there needs to be baselines. The Greens are all about the environment and either they believe in offshore drilling or they don’t. If they don’t they don’t. And if they don’t, it’s a deal breaker. If it’s not a deal breaker, you can quite rightly ask how serious they really are.

I would take issue with Mike that the Greens are all about the environment. You could say that in the past tense, ‘were’ about the environment, but that was before the party was taken over by the remnants of the discredited Communists. It is not as it the Communists disappeared after the failure of their ideology during the 80s and 90s. They merely infiltrated themselves into whatever protest movement was fashionable and thus were reborn as Greens. That's why the sane world knows them as watermelons, green on the outside but red on the inside.

What I don't take issue with is that the Greens are hypocrites. Absolutely no doubt about that whatsoever. Hypocrisy is the oil that lubricates their party machine.

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‘How to overthrow a Government’ - Lessons from Waiheke

21/8/2014

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Nicky Hager’s latest ‘expose’ entitled ‘Dirty Politics’ focuses on the hard working John Keys of this world and fails to include the nefarious activities of New Zealand’s left. He could have included another chapter - ‘How to Overthrow a Government’ of which there is plenty of local evidence.

The ‘How to Overthrow a Government’ plan can be downloaded from the internet by, well, anyone. It is a blueprint for getting rid of local as well as national governments.

This is the blueprint that was used by members of Waiheke’s local Green Party to roll the sitting Waiheke Local Board in last year’s local body election. It was equally successful in promoting Green Party candidates nationwide and resulting in some local government election night surprises at both community board and council level. Here’s how they did it …

How to overthrow a Government

1. Find some opposition...ANY opposition.
Mobilise the Green Party membership (and supporters). Seek out the ‘youth vote’ - their political naivety will ensure their adherence to ‘the cause’ – rebellion in any form.  On Waiheke, this opposition was led by their ambitious Waiheke based, hard left, Green Party list MP Denise Roche.

2. Come up with some reasons that the current government must go. The reasons could be true or not, that is irrelevant.
Some popular ones are: they’re not Green enough; they don’t listen to the people; they get on too well with the bureaucrats; they didn’t support me over my crack-pot scheme; they’re not OUR candidates …

3. Buy and/or infiltrate significant media outlets. Use these outlets to whip up a broader backlash against the leaders.
Easy – especially with the smaller community newspapers. Waiheke’s local Gulf (aka Green Party) News is owned by a long time hard left and Green Party sympathiser. It’s well-known for publishing one side of the story and shamelessly neglecting the other; printing letters that support its view and turning away the others.  The other paper - Waiheke Marketplace (owned by left wing international media group Fairfax) conveniently hired the former PR writer for hard left, Green Party list MP Denise Roche as their so-called independent ‘journalist’, just in time for the elections. The local community Green Party dominated radio station – Waiheke Radio, conducted its own smear campaign on the sitting politicians and shamelessly promoted their own Green candidates. Sound familiar?

4. Meanwhile, use overt and covert means to destabilize the ruling group.
So easy these days with the predominance of social media.  Set up multiple Facebook pages with the sole intent on overthrowing the sitting government members. A campaign of lies and deliberate misinterpretation was orchestrated on Waiheke social media by a group of Green Party activists, intent on getting their own mates into power. Activate local and national lobby groups with election promises - Cycle Action is always ready to hop on board. Identify sympathetic Council officers who can work for you inside the system. They can say they’ll lose their jobs if the current lot get back in. Create a ‘movement’ based on imagined slights. Waiheke Greens bragged they had 100 members working for a year to topple the Local Board. Sound familiar …

5. Infiltrate some community groups. You'll need some protesters in the streets. You can pay protesters to come. That's fine.
Picket the sitting government. Make up billboards. Constantly plant your people at community board/council meetings to look as though there’s opposition – it doesn’t matter what the issue is, just get them to mutter and shout. Get your supporters to join all manner of local community groups – from environmental watch dogs to school Boards of Trustees. The Green influence on Boards of Trustees has been escalating for years. On Waiheke, the partner of hard left, Green Party list MP Denise Roche, John Stansfield became chair of the High School Board of Trustees. Their daughter became the Youth Spokesperson. It’s a small Green world.

6. Stage some opposition rallies.
Get those placards out. Call up the perennial ‘rent a crowd’. Get yourself arrested. Take photos – big glossy metre square photos and cart them around to community events for maximum exposure. Latch on to an ‘issue’ – there’s always an issue in government. In Waiheke’s case – The Esplanade, Wharetana Bay, Love Matiatia. Forget the facts – this is about PR and promotion. Use well known left-wing media personalities to front the demonstrations and ensure national media attention.

7. Ramp up the anti-government rhetoric from the media outlets you control. Be completely outrageous. Call for demonstrations. Slander government officials. Do whatever it takes. The goal is now not just to spread negative information about the government but to force a response, such as having one of your outlets shut down. Then, violation of free speech gets added to the list of grievances. You can then have some "moderates" come along and say, "Well, I wasn't really that sympathetic to the opposition, but when the government began shutting down opposition media, I realized (insert name of leader here) had to go."
As per usual, local Waiheke community paper Gulf News ramped up the rhetoric. The Waiheke Marketplace’s tactic was to sin by omission. They conveniently forgot there was an election on. Roll out a moderate Mr or Mrs Nice Guy or Gal to say the quote above, and then have them announce their candidacy.

8. Begin reporting on the opposition movement in ways that make it look legitimate. Be sure these media outlets blame all violence on the current government. Don't worry that some other media will find out the truth and report it. Just make sure your headlines are bigger and get out first. Plant some stories called "The Truth about (insert name of leader here)" and make a lot of shit up.
Newsletters started appearing in the schools that contained petitions against projects undertaken by the sitting politicians. School, Council and other ‘community’ outlets were used to spread the word. In Waiheke’s case – Waiheke Library, Waiheke Cinema, and Waiheke Radio obliged by holding copies of petitions, ramping up the rhetoric. Political rallies were staged that featured, wait for it - hard left, Green Party list MP Denise Roche and her Green Party backed candidates ….

9. Keep your own involvement to a minimum, but make sure there is a lot of chaos. Usually, the best approach is to wait until the leader is deposed and then send in "peacekeeping forces."

Sound familiar?

Be careful. It works. Waiheke now has a Green Party dominated Local Board. Irrespective of experience or ability, the objective is to populate local and central government with their own ‘green’ voices. To set candidates up at local level ready for list seats at the national level. All opposition voices have been silenced – except this blog of course.

These same dirty politics, strategies and tactics are now being used against the National Government in the central government election, led naturally by the watermelons of the Green Party (green on the outside but red on the inside). Sadly, Labour are playing along, oblivious to the fact that their hard left members have already fled to the Greens, or Mana/Internet, where they are happy rolling in the muck.

Dirty Politics? – You bet.

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Local government a “plaque in the arteries of the economy”

20/8/2014

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My rates have risen 50% in four years at a time when the government has managed to keep inflation within the 1-3% target set by the Reserve Bank. How come? 

For one thing I have never seen so much waste and poor management as I witnessed during my three years in local government. As an entrepreneur I was gobsmacked to see how easily ratepayers money was poured down the drain by Auckland Council officials, whose level of managerial incompetence would make any decent business owner weep, with notable exceptions of course. But if they are bad it’s because they take their lead from a robber baron who, having stolen from his hapless ratepayers, proceeds to spend, spend, spend and borrow, borrow, borrow as if there were no tomorrow. 

Inflation is a pernicious destroyer of value, especially savings. It is vital for any economy to keep it low. However, as Bernard Hickey points out, two sectors of the economy, local government and energy companies, are to blame for a much higher inflation rate than we can afford. They need to be reigned in.

Local governments and electricity companies are to blame for New Zealand's inflation rate being much higher than it should have been for the past 10 years.

They have raised their prices between 5 and 8 per cent each year for the past decade, despite being semi-regulated and mostly publicly owned.

Although the rates have trended down since 2004, they are still much higher than the Reserve Bank's 1 to 3 per cent inflation target. And that persistent inflation has acted like a type of plaque in the arteries of the economy, putting up its blood pressure of inflation, interest rates and the exchange rate.

Without that persistent inflation at two and three times the rate in the rest of the economy, New Zealand's interest rates and currency would have been significantly lower.

I've always wondered why Reserve Bank Governors Graeme Wheeler and Alan Bollard haven't convened a conference of mayors and CEOs of councils, electricity generator-retailers and lines companies to read them the riot act.
Indeed! Speaking from personal experience again, my local board spent much of our time time and effort trying to keep useless bureaucrats on track to deliver our projects. Left to their own devices nothing much would have been achieved. In fact one of our biggest challenges was the constant change of staff foisted on us by an organisation in a permanent state of crisis. Just as an aside, the high level bureaucrats who run Auckland Council were recruited by non other than Laila Harre. Tells you heaps doesn't it. 
These two uncompetitive sectors imposed a massive price on exporters and those competing with imports.

The Reserve Bank's hard-wired focus on keeping inflation between 1 and 3 per cent meant it had no choice but to react with higher interest rates that helped make the New Zealand dollar 10 to 25 per cent over-valued relative to commodity prices and our current account deficit.

Manufacturing's share of the economy has suffered a similar fate….(but) these tradeable sectors rolled up their sleeves and whittled down costs. They came up with innovative ways to use technology and have improved their productivity.

It need not have been like this. In any area where there is no competition, the regulators should keep the pressure on to improve productivity and ensure the price-setters don't just increase prices to solve any problem.

It’s only going to get worse for Auckland ratepayers who must prepare themselves for another blow next year when they will suffer from the impact on their rates of increased property revaluations.

Auckland has a predominently Labour/Green Council. Look on ye people of New Zealand and despair if this grouping becomes the next government, especially when they'll need the help of Laila Harre.
3 Comments

Why the greying workforce is becoming the powerhouse of the economy

18/8/2014

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There is an excellent article by Brian Gaynor in the Herald, Greying of workforce good for economy.  It is also good for most employers as I found out when I was a business owner. The reason I preferred to hire older workers was that they were hard working, good at their jobs and reliable. When I hired younger workers they were usually bright and good at their jobs, but what they were not was reliable.

I’m not saying all young people are unreliable or that my experience was typical of the workforce as a whole, but when I talked to other small business owners it emerged that this was a pattern. Here’s what Gaynor has to say:


The New Zealand workforce has changed dramatically over the past 24 years.

In mid-1990 our workforce was young and energetic with 338,500, or 22 per cent, of all employed workers in the 15 to 24 age bracket. By mid-2014 the total number of 15 to 24 year old workers had declined to 325,700 or just 14 per cent of the workforce.

This development has been mainly due to a dramatic increase in the number of 15 to 24-year-olds undertaking additional, post-secondary school education.

Good for government unemployment statistics, that only count as unemployed those actively looking for work, and tertiary institutions. It’s bad for work habits because, at a vital time, the young are encouraged into sloppy work habits. At the same time they are developing egos that tell them they deserve high wages because they’re better educated than their contemporaries. Having said that it's possible they will come good as they age – see below.
Meanwhile, the number of workers aged 65 and over has soared from 23,900 in 1990 to 127,500 in mid-2014. In other words individuals aged 65 and over now represent 5.5 per cent of the workforce compared with just 1.6 per cent 24 years ago.

Energetic grey-haired men and women have replaced young employees in shops, offices, medical centres and other areas of employment.

No surprises there. Employers value reliability.
Based on current trends there is a strong possibility that by 2054 there will be more individuals from the 65- plus age group in full or part time employment than 15 to 24-year- olds.

There are a number of reasons why more and more of the 65-plus age group are remaining in the workforce.

He includes, better health and education, the continuing trend towards office and non-manual jobs, removal of a mandatory retirement age and employer preference. Surprisingly, he also includes NZ Superannuation as one of the main reasons for staying in the workforce.
New Zealand Superannuation is one of the main reasons why such a high percentage of the population stay in the workforce after they reach 65 years of age.

NZ Super is relatively unique because it applies to everyone once they reach 65 years of age, is not subject to any income test or means test and is not contingent on retirement.

Thus, there is a strong incentive for individuals to stay in the workforce until they reach 65.

However, lowly paid workers are effectively incentivised to retire when they start receiving NZ Super because this represents a high percentage of their preretirement income.

Conversely, highly paid individuals have a strong incentive to stay in the workforce because NZ Super is neither income tested nor means tested and represents a much smaller per cent of their employment income.

In other words, NZ Super is an extremely effective culling system because it encourages unskilled workers to leave the workforce while enticing the highly skilled to stay.

In addition, most New Zealanders have the majority of their wealth tied up in residential property, which doesn't generate income if it is the family home. Thus, they are incentivised to continue working because of the low level of income generated from their property-dominated investment portfolio.

True. He concludes.
There is no doubt that a greying workforce is a positive development for the New Zealand economy. This is because it helps retain our more highly skilled workers, it enables younger people to obtain additional education and it keeps the pressure off wage increases, inflation and interest rates.

However, one of the country's main challenges is to raise our overall skills level, particularly in information technology where older workers have limited abilities.

This will be less so in future as those retiring now have grown up in the computer age. 
It is depressing to note that 371,500 individuals, representing 16 per cent of the total workforce, have absolutely no formal qualifications, either school or post-school.

These individuals will find it increasingly difficult to find gainful employment in the modern economy.

Conversely, this gives the highly skilled 65-plus age group more and more opportunities to remain in the workforce.

Yes indeed. My generation, while loving NZ Super and the Goldcard, do not have any concept of ‘retirement’ as it was previously understood. We see no reason why we shouldn’t continue to live, as we always have, as productive members of society. Life for us is just a continuum. This is something that hasn’t yet been factored into the equation of economists and social engineers, but it will be as it becomes obvious that the older generations are rewriting the textbooks and are about to become the powerhouse of the economy.

Telling us, as the Mayor of Auckland does, that it’s ‘Kid’s First’ or as the Waiheke Local Board does ‘that it’s all about the kids’ or as hard left Green Party list MP Denise Roche does ‘that the old are preying on the young’ doesn’t wash.

Get real and recognise that we’re the one who are securing your future and not the other way. Stop treating us as worthless spongers and start treating us with the respect we deserve. If you don’t, we’ll show you why you should…and, yes, that is a threat.

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How cycle lanes spoil the environment

17/8/2014

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Nothing urbanises an area as much as cycle lanes. North Shore Councillor George Wood demonstrates the negative effect the proposed SkyPath would have on Auckland heritage area Northcote Point.
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‘Muga’ introduces .krim, its new url class

16/8/2014

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The very witty Jerry Flay has posted this send up of Krim Dotcon on The Other Waiheke Community Page. It deserves a wider audience so I’m sharing it here.
NZ based internet services company Muga has announced a new url class exclusively available in New Zealand, .krim.

Business will be apply to apply for a .krim internet address on April 1 2015, provided their principals are wanted in at least 5 countries for fraud and theft.

Owners of a .krim address will be invited to an annual gathering where they will be encouraged to get a bit jolly on RTDs and joint in the mass chanting of "Fuck IP"

In this case IP refers to intellectual property, a concept not recognised by Muga.

Muga CEO Robin Hood (family motto: Steals from the rich, keeps for himself), said that revenues from selling .krim addresses would be used to fund a range of political parties with allegiances across the political spectrum, in order to be able to fight any party in power at any one time.

"we want to make extradition an ex tradition, especially as far as our glorious leader, company chairman Nick McCopyright is concerned"

No names for these parties had yet been finalised, but under consideration were the Ngati Party, the Cycling Party, the Third Party and the Birthday Party.

McCopyright himself was unavailable for comment, as he had just undergone his daily name change and would only talk to us as his new identity, Hone-Laila Cunliffe.

For interesting debate with a difference join The Other Waiheke Community Page
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Bad apples corrupt the barrel, or something rotten in the state of Blackpool

16/8/2014

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There's something rotten in the state of Blackpool. I will get to that mess of corruption after a diversion through the parlous state of the current local board meetings.

Yet again a meeting of the Waiheke Local board has been cancelled for “lack of business”, according the Waiheke Local Board Facebook Page. They're certainly keeping us on our toes: irregular meetings, four different locations for the last four meetings. Who would know where to go next or when? It's just one of the novel ways this Board has found of keeping the public in the dark.  

How times change. The former Board had agendas 500 pages long, lasted 5 hours on average, were regular as clockwork, and rarely had members absent. It was standing room only in the public gallery and interest in the work of the Board within the community was at an all time high.

But then we got through a powerful lot of work on behalf of the community. You need only view the 'Background' page on this blog to see a few of the many projects undertaken or planned and funded during our three years. At the same time we attended to the everyday business of establishing the new Auckland Council structure and were busy ensuring local boards had a voice in the wider Auckland context.

The only projects currently happening, apart from an eye-watering twenty thousand dollars-worth (part of an even more tear-jerking EIGHTY thousand dollars-worth) of fruit trees on the berms of a few Blackpool residents (more of which later), are those funded by the former Board. These include the perimeter track around the Waiheke Golf Club, the wetland restoration projects, the Round Waiheke Walkway and the million dollar upgrade to the Council Service Centre in Ostend.

It takes real vision to bring projects like the library or Round Waiheke Walkway to fruition. The Round Waiheke Walkway has been part of Faye Storer’s and successive community and local board’s long-term vision for over twenty years and should always be a work in progress. The work is never done. The Perimeter Track around the golf course, soon to be finished, being just one piece of the walkway jigsaw. Will its opening, like that of the library, be hijacked by this shameless Board? You bet!

But it’s not surprising there is a ‘lack of business’ after you’ve cancelled as many former Board projects as you can and not put any of your own in their place. Nearly a year in office and what have they achieved? The answer is the sum total of sweet FA at a time when rates have escalated as never before. Not even the much heralded $25k ‘Swimming Pool Feasibility Study’, due out in April, has seen the light of day. Only the previously alluded to fruit tree planting is happening. 


The $20k for planting fruit trees, on an island awash with fruit, was gifted to a community group nobody has ever heard of, at the very first meeting of the new local board last December. It was gifted without being asked for, without the mandatory Council officer’s report, without any accountability whatsoever. Who exactly are the ‘Blackpool Residents Association’ who’ve been so favoured by the Board? A member of the public has been demanding answers to this question and not receiving them on the Waiheke Local Board Facebook Page for some weeks now. This page has as it’s sub-heading the laughable statement 'STAY INFORMED'. If you want to know how this Board goes about its lack of business, and you want a laugh, have a look at the exchange on the aforementioned page. It would be hilarious except for the waste of money involved. 

A further question the resident might ask is 'who funded the leaflet drop and drinks night at Blackpool School' advertising the planting? 

All I know is this. A multitude of fruit tree saplings have been sprouting all along Rata St in Blackpool. There’s a veritable orchard on the berm outside the rented house of the Watkins family alongside Blackpool School. I saw Millie Watkins delivering leaflets along Rata Street a few weeks ago. Millie Watkins is a constant letter writer to the Gulf (Green Party) News, publisher of the Weekender who helpfully promoted this project in an article at the end of July. Watkins is a great supporter of the current Board. Board Member Treadwell is a friend of Watkins and is herself a resident of Rata St.

Anyone else think there's something rotten in the state of Blackpool?


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I'm related to Charlemagne, how about you?

15/8/2014

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I’m related to Charlemagne, the Holy Roman Emperor, who united western Europe 1200 years ago. I’m almost certainly related to Mohammed who was at the centre of a new religion around the same time. In fact it turns out I’m related to everyone in New Zealand as well.

How do I know this? Since Crick, Watson and Franklin unlocked the secrets of the genetic code over sixty years ago the Human Genome Project has demonstrated that, not to put too fine a point on it, we are all the same under the skin. We are all related.

Given this sobering fact I am baffled by the rise in race based politics in good old Kiwiland. In Sweden, that bastion of progressive socialism, they’ve taken hold of the lessons from the discoveries in genetics and are contemplating removing the concept of ‘race’ from all legislation.

Race to be scrapped from Swedish legislation


"We know that different human races actually do not exist," Swedish Integration Minister Erik Ullenhag told Sveriges Television (SVT). 

"We also know that the fundamental grounds of racism are based on the belief that there are different races, and that belonging to a race makes people behave in a certain way, and that some races are better than others."
So once progressive New Zealand, a nation that prided itself on being at the forefront of promoting equality for all its people, is falling behind modern thinking resulting from the discoveries of science, and regressing into some fantasyland where privilege is invested in people of one particular race. Extraordinary!

I had the pleasure of attending several citizenship ceremonies when I was a member of the first ever local board for Waiheke Island. They were rewarding experiences. It was a delight to witness the joy on the faces of as many as 80 different nationalities at a time as they became citizens of this country. They were told, were assured, that this was a place where they were all equal before the law and where they would all enjoyed the same rights and responsibilities. 

I wonder what they must think when they discover this is patently untrue. I know what I think. I’m ashamed of the country of my choice.
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Does Green thinking come from having moss for a brain?

14/8/2014

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While I was at university studying economics it was often said that being first to the market with a new product was not the best place to be. Mistakes were common so coming later meant you could learn from them and better position your product for the long term. No surprises then from this new report that finds Germany has made costly mistakes in its transition to renewable energy, and suggests that the US should heed warnings when developing its own energy future. 

Germany, and by extension a Europe of followers, went hell for leather for renewable energy. The result has been escalating energy prices and slower growth, a strategy that works well enough if you’re wealthy enough to afford it but is escalating the gap between rich and poor. The desperate need for space for renewable energy sources such as wind farms has meant the devastation of beautiful tracts of previously untouched moorland and now they're busy cluttering the sea. They haven't solved the inherent energy storage problems. The social cost has been and will continue to be huge. 


The German government established a feed-in tariff (FIT) incentive system, which guarantees long-term fixed tariffs per unit of renewable power produced. Germany underestimated the ultimate cost of the FIT, which to date is $412 billion, including guaranteed and grated rates that have not yet been paid. By 2022, the estimated cost of the FIT program will reach $884 billion, according to German Minister of the Environment Peter Altmaier, and the country will pay $31.1 billion in 2014 alone. 

Though the FIT program has succeeded in bringing a large amount of renewables onto the grid in a short amount of time, the report states that consumers have suffered as a result. Electricity prices in Germany have doubled from $.18/kWh in 2000 to $.38/kWh in 2013.

Grid interventions have increased significantly as operators have to intervene and switch off or start plants that are not programmed to run following market-based dispatching. It is higher amounts of renewables with low full load hours relative to the total portfolio of power production that creates greater variability and strains on the grid. In the case of Germany, it is the large-scale deployment of both wind and solar that has impacted the entire system…… the consequences of its transition, which include high electricity prices, subsidy debts, grid instability, and costly grid upgrades.

In additional to extra work in running a more complicated grid, as more renewables are introduced Germany must also invest in energy storage technologies. Germany not only has to deal with grid stabalization, it must also invest in expanding grid infrastructure to reach onshore and offshore wind projects. According to the report, these projects are estimated to cost around $52 billion over the next 10 years. 

As the Greens slogan says: "Greens - for the rich of New Zealand". Environmentalists are up in arms and conservationists are rueing the day they ever dreamt up the destructive philosophy that has been usurped by industrialised Greens hell bent on making money from a gullible public. Unfortunately they've been sold a pup. Take this new Zealand example given by Kiwiblog:
A significant investor in Windflow are or were the Greens. In 2001 they announced:

Green Party energy spokesperson and co-leader, Jeanette Fitzsimons, and the Green Party’s Superannuation Fund have joined the growing list of investors in local wind power company Windflow Technology. …

“Our superannuation fund has a policy of ethical investing. Windflow Technology fits with our policy because it brings together local manufacturing and sustainable energy. As such, it is quite a unique investment opportunity in New Zealand and we are pleased to be able to invest at this early stage.”

British environmentalist and investor, Teddy Goldsmith, is the company’s largest investor so far.

Windflow Technology is offering two million shares at $1.50 each. The offer closes 1st June.

So the shares have lost 96% of their value. No wonder the Greens keep pushing policies to favour wind power.

As David Farrar concludes, "I don’t mind the Greens losing money in sharemarket investments, but be aware they want the NZ Government to invest millions or billions in what they call green jobs, green growth, green tech. So when the Greens go on about investing in green jobs, what they really mean is losing 96% of your money." Just so.
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SkyPath to cloud cuckoo land

13/8/2014

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Wasting money is now an art form in Auckland. Witness the $700k chandelier in the $2million ‘artwork’ for Queens Wharf, or the $5 billion City Rail Loop (CRL) - no point talking in today’s money when the Prime Minister tells us it won’t start until 2020 - or SkyPath, that $35 million sweetie for the vociferous children of the Green cycle lobby.

Before I get started on the waste of money that is the SkyPath project let’s remind ourselves that in order to achieve Loopy Len’s ‘vision’ for Auckland as the world’s most liveable city it requires a growth rate of more than 5% a year in real (inflation adjusted) terms. This requires Auckland to be a productive powerhouse the like of which has never been seen before in this country.

And how does Loopy Len and his cohorts on Council propose we achieve this dramatic increase in productivity? Apart from his costly train set one suggestion is the SkyPath, a cycle/pedestrian bridge over the Waitemata harbour that Lenny describes as a ‘game changer’.

SkyPath is the brainchild of Generation Zero (Gen-Z), a very influential Green lobby group within Auckland Council and local government throughout the country. They’re a throwback to the Germany of the 1930s, a sort of re-cycled Hitler youth, all outdoor exercise, and zeal for a healthier, vegetarian lifestyle combined with a more sinister, unhealthy hatred of anyone who drives a car or dares to challenge their orthodoxy of climate change, or any of the other global green lies so careful manufactured in the western consciousness for over a generation.

They are the natural successors to the far right or far left totalitarians of the failed fascist and then communist eras. Led by cycle evangelists like Barbara Cuthbert - think a lycra-clad Miss Marple - they pounce on any accident involving a cyclist as if it were a media PR gift for squeezing more money for cycle-only ‘safety’ lanes out of the hard pressed taxpaying and ratepaying motorists instead of a personal tragedy for those involved.

It’s as if they are looking at a picture of Shanghai as it was in the Communist era as their inspiration for the Auckland of their future. But there are only so many scaffolding poles a builder can carry on his head while cycling to work. The Chinese have subsequently worked out that if you want to modernise a country, make it productive, and actually achieve real growth in excess of 5%pa then, guess what, you’ve got to build motorways and get people off their bikes and into their commerce carrying trucks and cars. Duh!

This hasn’t occurred to Auckland’s bunch of Councillors, with a few notable exceptions, who just want to be loved (the very worst sort of politician), who jump on the next populist cyclewagon not because it makes sense for their ratepayers, but because it shows they’re in with the in crowd. Pathetic.

As most of you will have worked out by now we don’t really need a SkyPath to cloud cuckoo land because we’re there already.


20 Comments

Waiheke Esplanade - a safe and courteous space for all

12/8/2014

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PictureThe Esplanade - a road for all people
When I came back from holiday in Australia I wrote about the wonderful facility that is the Esplanade at Burleigh Heads. A lot of thought had gone into making sure everyone’s needs were catered for, as a local Council who represented all their community should. I recognised the care and thought that had gone into providing the many facilities available there because that is the care and thought that I and my fellow Local Board members brought to our work, Paul Walden excepted, who took no part in the work of the board apart from attending meetings.

Sometimes there isn’t the space or the resources to ensure everyone gets exactly what they want but, if you have a closed mind, you can’t come up with the innovative solutions that are required to ensure a good result for the community as a whole.

It was therefore very heartening to read the Auckland Transport (AT) report on the Esplanade on the agenda of the last Waiheke Local Board meeting. It gave the results of the Post Implementation Monitoring Surveys AT had been asked to undertake by the current Board. It gave the results of their survey when the road was closed to traffic in March 2011 and again this March, nine months after if was re-opened.

Despite the doom and gloom predictions of disaster and carnage that would happen there if anyone was foolish enough to step onto this ‘dangerous’ road if it was re-opened nothing could be further from the truth. In reality more cyclists and pedestrians are using the road than ever and are doing so while sharing the space with cars, motorcycles and mopeds. The number of cyclists has doubled, the number of pedestrians is up by nearly 50% with car numbers matching those of pedestrians. The community has embraced the environment as a shared space for all. Here is ATs conclusion:


“The Esplanade is considered to be operating safely for all road users. The traffic calming measures….are effective in lowering vehicle speeds to a level that is appropriate for a shared use route. Traffic volumes are low and drivers were observed to be driving in a manner that is appropriate for a shared use route and exercised courtesy and caution when they encountered vulnerable road users.”
In other words the previous Board has achieved a resounding success in saving a historic road that was crumbling into the sea and would soon have been unusable due to erosion. In doing so, they introduced traffic calming measures that have increased the amenity for all and found a solution that is inclusive and innovative. The figures speak for themselves. 

As Janet Hunt, the noted writer, conservationist and former Waiheke resident, said to me when I met her on the Esplanade a few days after it was opened, “I was opposed to the road being re-opened, but I think your Board has done a fantastic job of making it a safe and attractive environment. I've changed my mind and now think you've done a wonderful job and should be proud of your achievement.”

It is such a shame that, as the AT report notes, all 5 current Board members still want the road closed. They are an example of a Board that is exclusive, who are driven by a Green ideology that is exclusive, and they will continue to divide the community and work solely for the benefit of their own supporters, and of course, their own kids. 
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Waiheke's Exclusive Brethren

11/8/2014

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The weekend blog about the initiative shown by Nikki Kaye and ATEED to promote Waiheke’s tourism struck a chord with many. Nearly 1500 hits on the blog shows that there is deep concern about the Waiheke Local Board’s anti-tourism stance. No wonder given it’s the lifeblood of the island and so many jobs depend on it. Since then I’ve been contacted by several sources telling me exactly how the Board undermines the industry and how, by having a policy of exclusion, they are dividing the island. 

Apart from the obvious failure to grant funding to high profile tourism events such as the Waiheke Wine Festival, now denied twice, the Board persists in calling meetings, ostensibly about tourism, but excluding the main players like the winegrowers, tour operators and business association. They select only so-called environmental organisations such as Forest and Bird and the Hauraki Gulf Preservation Society for their tourism meetings presumable on the grounds that it is only these organisations that will support ‘sustainable’ tourism and by ‘sustainable’ we can assume they mean only their own Green Party supporters.

From my own experience as president of the Waiheke Womens’ Business Group I know we have never been invited to attend any of the tourism or business workshops arranged by the Board. This despite the promise made to us by Meeuwsen that we would not be excluded in the future after we wrote to the Board seeking an explanation as to why we were excluded from meetings arranged for businesses during the consultation period of the Local Board plans.

Exclusion rather than inclusion seems to be motivation behind much of their thinking. They act like an exclusive cult denying anyone not to their liking, our very own Exclusive Brethren of fundamentalists. One example is the 
$80,000 worth of fruit trees provided by our rates that excludes anyone without a berm in front of their house or those ratepayers who don’t want to add more detritus of rotting fruit to the roadsides in an island already awash with fruit trees.

The group most excluded are those whose crime is to be over 50, in other words the bulk of the ratepayers. A campaign is already underway to exclude the disabled and elderly from using their cars to enjoy the Esplanade. They will be excluded from using any swimming pool they’ve paid for through their rates because it will be on school land and unavailable to them for most of the time they wish to use it (if it ever gets built that is). Forget using it if you need to drive there because no provision will be made for parking those evil things cars. Even the Board's campaign slogan 'Everything for the Kids' shrieked exclusion not inclusion.

But the Greens have gone much further. Their hard left list MP Denise Roche has even been allowed to preach her message of exclusion in the schools where she told the children it was the nasty old folks who were depriving them of food to eat. Crackers I know but then….

There is nothing ‘sustainable’ about a Board and political party that seeks to undermine the island’s economy. There is nothing ‘sustainable’ about a Board and political party that seeks to exclude and marginalise the elderly and disabled. There is nothing sustainable about a Board and political party that preach a message of victimhood to the young.




There's a general election soon. You can start to undo the damage done by this Board. Party vote anyone but Green.

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Alison Park - a visionary future

10/8/2014

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PictureBuild on the sculpture park theme established by all former boards
I have been sent a copy of a submission to the Waiheke Local Board Plan that offers a vision of inclusiveness for Alison Park and the former Oneroa Bowling Club building. It should be given serious consideration. 

Rumour has it that the Board has already decided to lease the building to their mates in various guises thus ensuring the populace as a whole is largely excluded. It would be a great loss to Waiheke if their narrow-minded, kid-centric philosophy blinds them to the possibility of making the park and building into a genuine community asset once they vacate the refurbished premises.   

Here is a document of real vision from long time Waiheke resident Anne Kilgour. The challenge to the Board is to stop looking after their own and start looking after everyone.

Play and Picnic in the Parkland Reserve

Alison Park is a Recreation Reserve. It is also becoming an oasis of beautiful natural parkland on the approach to Oneroa. In my teaching and Playcentre days leading researchers were saying that trees, hills, sand and  natural outdoor parklands were the best children’s playgrounds.The latest trend in playground design is returning to that same conclusion. Alison Park, which was a scruffy rubbish dump in the 1950’s, has been transformed to its present attractive and nurtured state by successive Council and Board initatives. The trees are climbable, the slopes could have long safe slides down them, skateboard routes could be formed in the natural contours. The swings could be in the trees. No artificial plastic play equipment is needed.

I recommend that the Board and Council continue to make Alison Park a model children’s playground on this very public corner of Oneroa’s gateway. It will surprise and delight local parents and children and visitors alike.

The completely refurbished former Bowling Green Pavilion will be available for public use when the Board Offices have been rebuilt in Ostend. The park can then have a Tea  Kiosk, open to all, as do the wonderful parks in Hamilton’s Sillary Gardens and Pukekura Park in New Plymouth. The commercial kitchen can be a café and gathering place for the elderly, for parents of children in the park and also for public gatherings , catered  dinners or small conferences. It could be a fund raising venue for a whole range of community groups. The Tea Kiosk is an integral part of the park and belongs in the development plan.  The building work has been done by the Council to a high commercial standard. It is ready to use. All ratepayers  and residents can access, benefit from and enjoy the asset which our rates have provided.

There is more. A mini golf course could be created on the former bowling greens. There can be open fronted stalls around the perimeter of the golf course for community groups to hire for quality market days and fund raising initiatives. Similarly the Te Kiosk by day can be hired for fundraising events, quiz nights and community gatherings at night. It is a ready made family and community hub on the route into Oneroa . The natural amphitheatre behind the buildings, where the tennis courts were earlier, is an outdoor performance area. Fruit trees and herb gardens can also be planted and tended.

Alison Park is potentially an awesome asset for all our community to enjoy.  Visitors to the Island will also benefit from it. I  recommend that  this open and beautiful  environment be made a welcoming facility for all of us for the years to come.

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Kaye steps in where devils fear to tread

9/8/2014

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Waiheke’s local MP for Auckland Central, Nikki Kaye, met a group of island residents a few weeks ago to hear their concerns. Many of those attending were business people and therefore, inevitably on an island whose economy depends on tourism, their concerns honed in on their dismay at having a local board that does not support the industry.

It evolved, after some brainstorming with the group, that what they need is to drive the tourism industry on Waiheke is a professional co-ordinator to act on behalf of the group as a whole. The stumbling blocks in the past, when tourist operators have tried to form a business association, were the competitive rivalry between businesses and a lack of money to pay a tourism co-ordinator whose job transcended those differences.

On hearing this it appears Kaye went back to ATEED (the Auckland Council owned CCO charged with tourism and economic development) to find a way forward. ATEED in turn were receptive to the plight of tourism on Waiheke, not least because the island is an integral part of their own strategy for driving the economy of all Auckland. 

The outcome of these productive meetings is that they have pledged the money to pay an independent tourism co-ordinator.

The Law of Unintended Consequences has once again to come into play. The Local Board wants to turn the clock back to some imaginary idyllic past where there were no cars, the only transport was horses, and the only visitors were occasional yachties (and they’re doing their best to discourage these).

Dream on McDuff. The people of Waiheke are bigger and have more oomph than these Luddites. They’ve gone above the heads of our local politicians to the real leaders. Waiheke’s tourism future now looks bright and will flourish, the opposite of what was intended by Walden et al. This will be thanks to the initiative of our local National Party MP and an independent body sitting, thankfully, outside the strangling grip of our sanctimonious, profligate yet wasteful Mayor. 


P.S. Nikki will be speaking on the island today and had invited everyone along to hear her at Ostend Hall at 1.30 this afternoon.

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Policeman dies on Waiheke

8/8/2014

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The police issued the following statement this afternoon


"Police regret to inform the public that Senior Constable Clinton Vallender died while on duty today on Waiheke Island at around 3pm. There are no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death and it will be referred to the Coroner."


My condolences to his family, colleagues and friends.

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Hip Hoperation documentary film release to be announced on 'Seven Sharp' tonight

8/8/2014

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PictureSome of our ninety year olds
The long awaited 'Hip Hoperation' documentary is due to be released next month and will be in cinemas from 25th September. The film makers are announcing it along with a trailer on 'Seven Sharp' tonight so make sure you're glued to your television sets for a first preview. After its initial release in New Zealand the documentary film will be distributed worldwide.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the completed film having been a supporter of the Crew from the outset and, dare I say, there might be a small role in the film for me. The film crew spent an evening at my house filming a poker night with friends that included Crew member Dianne Bartlett. They also filmed the fundraiser at MORRA Hall where I acted as auctioneer and, because I was at most of their public performances and several rehearsals, there might be a glimpse of me there. However, the camera team followed the Crew for a year and shot over a hundred hours of film which has had to be cut to make the final ninety minute doco so I guess it's unlikely.

After all this is a film celebrating positive ageing and shows what can be achieved when a visionary like Billie Jordan takes a group of enthusiastic over 65s literally off the street, as you'll see in the film I hope, on a small island near Auckland New Zealand and turns them into a world wide dance sensation. As publicity for Waiheke nothing could come near the impact this film will have. Long may we celebrate the contribution our silver citizens make to our economy and demonstrate that life is for living no matter how old you are.


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Hip Hop Hooray for New Hope Shop

8/8/2014

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PictureBillie Jordan and Crew member Dianne Bartlett
The Hip Op-eration Crew were one of many recipients of a donation by the New Hope Shop in Ostend yesterday.

The World’s Oldest Dance Group: The Hip Op-eration Crew is the only international group invited to perform to an audience of over 14,000 at the Taipei Stadium in Taiwan. The event in November is called ‘Seniors on Broadway’ and features 10 performance groups from around Taiwan; all aged in their retirement years.

"The gift of money from New Hope will enable members of my dance crew, who are really struggling to raise the funds to get to Taiwan, achieve their goal. We have all been saving every penny for a year now in case an opportunity like this came up; but we are still a bit short. This money will get us over the line," says Hip Op-eration Crew Manager Billie Jordan. 

“My crew are so proud to represent Waiheke Island and senior citizens all over the world in Taiwan. The event is a really big deal and attracts a lot of attention from news media all over Asia,” says Billie.

The Waiheke Island based hip hop mega crew was recently awarded the international status of ‘World’s Oldest Dance Troupe’ by Guinness World Records and will be included in the 2014 issue when it comes out in September this year.

The Hip Op-eration Crew consists of 23 senior citizens aged 67 to 95 years old; all neighbours on Waiheke Island. They have competed in the NZ National Hip Hop Championships over the past two years and were guest performers at the World Hip Hop Championships in Las Vegas last year where they received standing ovations. 


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Political Correctness and the alienation of the majority

7/8/2014

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By winning a majority of the British seats in the European Parliament UKIP upset a hundred years of voting that gave power to one of the two major British parties . Several reasons were put forward to explain how this came about, but perhaps they could all be summed up by saying that the mainstream parties failed to represent the views of the majority. 

Political Correctness had become so entrenched in government and the media that it left the common man without a voice until UKIP came along. UKIP was prepared to say publically what was being discussed in many, if not most, households around Britain – that they didn’t want to be ruled by Eurocrats, that they did want to limit the number of immigrants, and they did want criminals to feel the full force of the law. As a result they were called racists, spat at and accused of being Nazis.

In New Zealand the last 40 years has also been a haven of Political Correctness, that corruption of thinking that Doris Lessing describes as “the heritage of Communism”.  Sovereignty is again at the heart of the discontent. Just as the free people of Britain are unwilling to give up any more sovereignty to foster the ambitions of a pan-European State, those of British decent in New Zealand, which includes most Maori, find it intolerable that they are now living in a country of that fosters race based discrimination. This denies them their rights as individuals equal before the law.  The very idea of race based anything is anathema to them whether it be unelected representatives having a vote in a democratically elected assembly, or race based seats in paliament.  

There is a groundswell of discontent amongst the electorate that says race based policies should not be allowed to sour the melting pot that is all the people of New Zealand. Some political parties are voicing this. NZ First, ACT and the Conservatives have all said they will not form a coalition with race based parties such as Maori and Mana/Internet, despite the risks of being derided by the media as appealing to a ‘sick’ minority.

That is why the UKIP victory in Britain is relevant half way across the world in New Zealand. Having suffered the slings and arrows of being labelled racists and Nazis by the media and dubbed irrelevant by the major political parties, UKIP still won an impressive victory because they speak for the people and say what others, mired in political correctness, will not. This gives heart to those who are prepared to speak out against increasingly race based political and social institutions in New Zealand.

Here are some recent examples of writers willing to challenge established PC thinking.

Barend Vlaardingerbroek: The Kings and Chiefs of Old Calabar and Old NZ 

Bob Jones: Forcing te reo on children is a waste  

Dr Muriel Newman: Discrimination or Equality

Unless we all enjoy the same rights, freedoms and responsibilities that we will never be a nation. The race based PC road that New Zealand is now travelling down is a very dangerous one indeed.


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