Letters: Roaming dogs rule the streets; Te Pāti Māori hold Parliament in contempt; the sad state of our ferry service
Te Pāti Māori members knew they would incur substantial penalties for performing a haka in front of Act MPs, says one reader. Photo / Adam Pearse
Letter of the week
Roaming dogs
I have been forced to detour to avoid aggressive roaming dogs in the streets of South Auckland. This has me agreeing with Shane Te Pou's article (May 18) that there is a big problem with 'roaming dogs terrorising Auckland streets'. I have turned around
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
8 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Minister not impressed with council
Resources Minister Shane Jones has challenged the West Coast Regional Council to explain why it exists if it cannot approve mining consents in a reasonable timeframe. He also repeated his warning to Local Democracy Reporting that the country's regional councils are on borrowed time under the coalition government. West Coast goldminers have appealed to the minister over long delays as consent applications are processed by environmental consultants in the North Island. Some miners — including a regional councillor — have waited for more than a year for the go-ahead, and the council recently shut down a gold mine that had been bulk-sampling and waiting 17 months for consent to mine. Prominent mining adviser Glenys Perkins this week told the minister that her family has put off expanding the gold mine on their farm and hiring two more workers because a consultant wants a drain monitored for a year before granting consent. Mr Jones told LDR he was not impressed with the council's performance. "If the council cannot perform this core role, of issuing resource consents in a timely fashion, what is its purpose? "What other role does it have down there?" It was distressing to hear of obstacles being placed in the way of miners when the government was trying to grow exports and the West Coast was "riddled" with all sorts of mining opportunities. "I feel I've acted with a great deal of credibility and supported the Coast, so why can't local government on the West Coast support me? "Why are local bureaucrats importing people from other parts of New Zealand to protract, delay and undermine the agenda of our government?" That agenda was to promote growth in the regions, boost economic resilience, generate jobs and dig the country out of the post-Covid fiscal hole, Mr Jones said. Regional council chief executive Darryl Lew defended the council's record, saying consents staff have been under pressure with high numbers of consent applications including complex ones leading to hearings that were taking up large amounts of staff time. External consultants have been hired to ease the workload, but he now believed it was time to hire more staff, he said. Shane Jones said he did not know the fine details of the council's hiring practices, but he judged politicians on their results and outcomes. "And the politicians and bureaucrats of the West Coast Regional Council, they owe a high level of duty to that element of the community that's ready to risk their money and take their equity into these enterprises." Processing resource consents and enabling the economy were core business for regional councils, Mr Jones said. "But regional councils in my view have reached a very low ebb." Regional councils had been invented to administer the Resource Management Act, and with the abolition of that Act, he believed they did not have a future, Mr Jones said. "Which is why after the next election there will be local-government rationalisation and the very strong stance we're taking is that there is no longer a purpose for regional councils and I am happy that the prime minister sees that such a development should be a priority, if not for this government then the next." With the RMA split into two new Acts, people working for regional councils would no doubt end up playing some kind of role in a reformed level of regional governance, the minister said. There were already examples of regional and district councils being fused together (in unitary authorities) and after the election there would be a host of options. Councils would need critical mass and a capital base to cope with changing weather, and higher expectations from the community about how to adapt to climatic challenges, the minister said. "I accept a lot of council leaders may be reluctant to openly identify options that might spell their demise, but I just want them to know after next election, we'll do that on their behalf." — Lois Williams, Local Democracy Reporter — LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Otago Daily Times
8 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
The secret diary of . . . David Seymour
There's a lot on the agenda for David Seymour. PHOTO: RNZ MONDAY — Attend my first press conference as deputy prime minister and speak solemnly about international affairs to strengthen the perception I am a world statesman worthy of respect. — Name some worthy academic no-one has ever heard of and hold them to ridicule. — RSVP to the birthday party for a child of an influential donor from the Atlas Project. TUESDAY — Take credit for the budget cuts to Radio New Zealand to strengthen the perception that Act is a powerful enemy of state-funded left-wing propaganda that attacks Act at every opportunity and gives Labour, the Greens and old scribble face a free ride. — Increase state funding of Act's comms department. — Confirm that I will be happy to play pin the tail on the donkey at the Atlas Project birthday party. WEDNESDAY — Ridicule Labour MP Willie Jackson for his comments that the Regulatory Standards Bill is set up for my mates from powerful corporations who are following their manifest destiny to despoil the countryside in exchange for massive profits which ought not be subject to tax. — Meet mates for a drink. — Draw a line in the sand and decline an invitation to actually play the donkey that gets a tail pinned to it at the Atlas Project birthday party. THURSDAY — Give Act's comms department the hard word to find someone who has made ridiculing remarks about me so I can whine and complain about it to strengthen the perception I am constantly under attack by the intelligentsia. — Find a way to undermine Luxon. — Find a way to undermine someone who votes Green and hugs trees. — Find a way to undermine someone who can be described as a Māori fanatic. — Find a way to undermine someone who performs selfless acts for the betterment of society and gives hope to families doing it hard but who is associated with Labour. FRIDAY — Seek private medical treatment for multiple puncture wounds inflicted by rich little brats wielding really sharp pins who seemed to take great pleasure in pinning a donkey's tail all over my body at the Atlas Project birthday party. Their parents seemed to enjoy it too. I can still hear their mocking laughter. By Steve Braunias
RNZ News
19 hours ago
- RNZ News
MPs pay tribute to Takutai Tarsh Kemp
Wreaths on the House seat of Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith MPs woke on Thursday morning to the sad news that one of their contemporaries, the MP for Tāmaki Makarau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp had died on Wednesday evening aged just 50. The first term MP for Te Pāti Māori had taken leave from her Parliamentary duties last year after being diagnosed with kidney disease, but had been back at Parliament just a week prior to her death. As a mark of respect, the sitting day on Thursday adjourned early for the week. Before adjourning, the House was able to hear tributes from colleagues, who offered memories, condolences, reflections, and eulogies. The first three speeches - from National's Tama Potaka, Labour's Peeni Henare, and The Green's Teanau Tuiono - were almost entirely in te reo Māori. Labour Party MP, Peeni Henare during Parliament's obituaries for fallen Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith Tuiono, chose to split his call with his colleague, Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick, who said. "That smile and sense of humour and the warmth of Takutai Moana Tarsh Kemp will never leave us. She was a thoughtful, kind person who lived her values through her service. …In moments like this, I think that we are all gravely reminded of how fragile life is, but how the great stabiliser can indeed be love and integrity. Moe mai rā e te tuahine." Act Leader and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour was next to speak. "She was a true representative, and in her brief time in Parliament, she made a firm impression. She left no doubt about what she was here to do and who she was here to serve, and she did that even while facing and battling a chronic illness." New Zealand First MP, Shane Jones during Parliament's obituaries for fallen Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith This is the second death of an MP in as many years, with the Greens' Efeso Collins passing away in February of last year. New Zealand First's Shane Jones, acknowledged this and shared his perspective that in sobering moments such as a death, we're reminded what politics is ultimately about. "Yes, politics is a contest, but at the base of politics is the pursuit of humanity, and today we respect the contribution that this woman has made to our nation in the various pathways her life has taken her down. Perhaps, as reflective of her personality, I can say nothing better than what is outlined in Romans: 'Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves.' Farewell, Takutai." Labour's Willie Jackson was the last to speak before the House adjourned early, perhaps lifting spirits a bit with lighthearted anecdotes that were also quite genuine reflections about how, in Māori politics, an enduring whanaungatanga or connection remains, even through political disagreement. "She was such a vivacious, passionate woman ... I was listening to Tama Potaka and that last committee we did - Tama was fronting it, and we were giving it to Tama Potaka at the Select Committee, and she had the last kōrero," he said. Labour Party MP, Willie Jackson during Parliament's obituaries for fallen Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith "It was very, very clear what she felt about her relation Tama, in the National Government, and Audrey Young put that in the Herald this morning. I thought that was fabulous ... because in many ways, as the minister knows, that sort of sums up Māori politics. We just can go to war sometimes. Tama can be terrible to myself and Peeni Henare, you know-terrible-and Shane Jones, and particularly Winston Peters. You know, we can destroy each other. We can destroy each other, and then, you wouldn't think it was the same people-we'll be having a cup of tea and a kai out the back at the marae. It's the nature of Māori politics. "When I look at Manurewa and I look at my brother Peeni Henare over here, who has almost been traumatised by this, you would not have believed that a war went on in South Auckland for that Tāmaki-makau-rau seat. You would not believe how tough it was-the different sides-how passionate people were, and people would have thought that they would have been enemies for ever. But their whanaungatanga ties them for ever and a day. "I think that's the difference with Māori politics. We will always be tied by our toto, by our whakapapa, and by our identity, and Peeni Henare and Tarsh Kemp couldn't have been any closer. He's shed a few tears for Tarsh today. We all have shed a few tears for Tarsh-a passionate, vivacious, magnificent woman-and it's only right that we honour her today." At the conclusion of the speeches, all MPs stood to sing the waiata Whakaaria Mai, before the House was adjourned until Tuesday, 15 July. You can listen to the audio version of this story by clicking the link at the top of the page. *RNZ's The House, with insights into Parliament, legislation and issues, is made with funding from Parliament's Office of the Clerk.
