And she probably doesn't know, either!
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Councils Holding the Country to Ransom
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Originally posted by One View PostWe had EQC assessors round at our 2 places a week ago. They were nothing if not thorough ... 2.5 hours at one house, 2 at the other.
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Well now we know the price for elected Len Brown as Mayor of the Supercity.Three and a half million dollars a year from your pockets as ratepayers.
"The unelected Maori Statutory Board will cost Auckland ratepayers $3.4 million a year to run after its budget was rushed through under urgency yesterday. Councillors were given virtually no time to consider the budget, which has blown out from a $400,000 estimate - by the agency that set up the Super City - to a multi-million-dollar cost."
The unelected Maori Statutory Board will cost Auckland ratepayers $3.4m a year to run after its budget was rushed through under urgency.
The Pubs and Restaurants of Auckland will be celebrating this windfall in trade tonight.
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There is hope yet:
A decision by the Auckland Council to provide millions of dollars of funding for a board to represent Maori has been found to be invalid.
Council staff have discovered that the committee that made the decision on Tuesday did not have the required power to do so and the vote will have to be retaken.
Auckland Mayor Len Brown had persuaded councillors to vote unanimously in favour of committing about $5 million to the Independent Maori Statutory Board, the members of which will sit on council committees.
The level of funding drew criticism from Local Government Minister Rodney Hide and Prime Minister John Key, whose Government created the board.
The full Auckland Council will reconsider the issue on Monday.
Copyright © 2011, Radio New Zealand
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Now is your chance.
If you are a resident or ratepayer in Auckland, get on to your local councillor and demand that they do something about this rort.
Remind then that they work for us.
Demand performance from them at this meeting on Monday.
Details of your local Auckland City Councillors are here:
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Hope for an increase? That
five mil. was never going to be enough
for all that koha, kai moana, waipiro,
hui, tikanga and such."There's one way to find out if a man is honest-ask him. If he says 'yes,' you know he is a crook." Groucho Marx
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Oh come on flyernzl. It's only $5million and it's not their money. Why should they care?
It'll keep a bunch of Maoris and lefties all happy. And if you're a councillor and complain about this sort of thing they call you a racist.
Surely we can all just dig a little deeper into our pockets full of cash and stump up for this very valuable service.Squadly dinky do!
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This Council Issue is Actually Much Bigger
From Owen McShane.More Advisory Boards to Come.Media release (immediate) 11th February, 2011.
(For further information contact Owen McShane: 09 431 2775.)
The current outcry over the budget for the nine member Maori Statutory Board has revealed considerable confusion about the rules governing the formation and function of the Board. Many would say, with some justification, that this confusion is further evidence of the law of unintended consequences, and that the larger the reform, the more likely they are to occur.
While the public uproar over the Maori Statutory Board has been an unexpected bombshell, this debacle, so early in the piece, has surely lit a long fuse, with many more explosions to follow.
Those debating the issues surrounding the Maori Advisory Board seem to have overlooked the recent announcement on the Auckland Council Web Page, where "Latest News" advises that:
Auckland Council has confirmed the selection committees for its Pacific and Ethnic advisory panels, which will recommend panel members to the Mayor.
In other words, the Auckland Council will soon have a Pacific Peoples' Advisory Panel and an Ethnic Peoples' Advisory Panel to supplement the Maori Statutory Board. The announcement explains:
Once established, each panel will be responsible for identifying and communicating the interests and preferences of their communities in Auckland in terms of the new council's strategies, policies, plans and bylaws.
We can reasonably assume that the legislated structures, activities, and budgetary processes for these two panels will be as open-ended, and as subject to differing interpretation, as those governing the Maori Statutory Board.
The scope for tension, and conflict seems to be much larger, and even less manageable.
The Auckland Council's web page Monitor Auckland – Ethnic Composition tells us:
The region is now the most ethnically diverse in the country. In 1986, 23 per cent of the region’s population was born overseas. This proportion has steadily risen to reach 37 per cent by 2006. Auckland region is currently home to over 150 ethnicities from all corners of the world.
The following table contains some real surprises: (Note – if this table does not survive the email process simply go directly to the Ethnic Composition web page.)
Ethnic composition of Auckland region population as at 2006 census
Total responses – Auckland Region
Ethnic group as a % of Auckland region population
Total responses New Zealand
European
698,622
56.5
2,609,589
Mäori
137,133
11.1
565,329
Pacific Peoples
177,936
14.4
265,974
Asian
234,222
18.9
354,552
Middle Eastern/ Latin America/ African
18,555
1.5
34,746
New Zealander
99,258
8.0
429,429
Other 'Other' Ethnicity
648
0.1
1,494
Total People
1,237,239
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3,860,163
Notice that both Pacific Peoples and Asians are a higher percentage of the Auckland regional population than Maori – 14.4% and 18.9% compared to 11.1% for Maori.
Given that the Maori Board has 9 members, (presumably reflecting its 11.1%) does this mean the Pacific Panel, representing 14.4%, will be entitled to 12 members? And if not, why not?
Then we find that " Asians" (18.9% of the Auckland region population), and other ethnicities (excluding European and New Zealanders) bring this total up to 20.5%. Will the proposed "Ethnic Peoples' Advisory Panel" be entitled to 17 members. And if not, why not?
And will all of these additional 29 Panel Members have the same voting rights on Council Committees as the Maori Board Members? This could mean that 38 non-elected members wouuld have voting rights on Council's 18 Committees.
Will the total budget consequently sincrease from $3.4 million to $14.4 million? (Probably not given the proposed revision of the $3.4 million budget, following the public outcry.)
One has to wonder who will resolve the claims for the different Pacific People for their own "proportional" representation on the panel?
Similarly, the "Asian" grouping presumably includes groups as diverse as Indian, Singaporeans, Taiwanese, Malaysians, Sri Lankans and Fijian Indians. Looking at the 0.1% of "other" ethnicity, will, say Icelandics, have the right to have one representative attend, say, every third meeting of the Ethnic Advisory Panel?
How "non-white" does one have to be to be denied appointment to one of these Advisory panels – which does seem to be the underlying criteria.
Council and Government need to get to get together to clarify all these issues before the new Auckland Council is torn apart by competing claims to power.
Owen McShane
1104 Oneriri Rd, R.D. 2
Kaiwaka, Northland, New Zealand. 0573
64 9 431 2775Squadly dinky do!
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Originally posted by Robin McCandless View PostMany councils are near broke and have large scale capital replacement projects looming over them (particularly waste water infrastructure).
Rather than tackle the problem head on and honestly (with central Government assistance) they are trying to "Stealth Tax" their way out of trouble.
We in Auckland have become a KNOWN Corporate entity with 283 Billion dollars worth of assets, HOW MUCH INCOME ARE THESE CREATING??
A Corporation is a profit making concern How many corporations ask us to donate a large portion of our income to them & still expect us to pay for goods?? This had some validity before user pays. NZ has one of the most aggressive user pays in the world.
Have you made a LAWFUL (not legal, artificial) contract with councils to authorise them to charge YOU RATES? Then why do we pay them?
There is no need for Councils to be running short of money & if they make out they are, we should be DEMANDING to know WHY & how come.
We need to open our eyes & start questioning. Stop taking their word as truth. They can tell us anything & we have been sloppily Too trusting.
Judynz
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