Gabriel Tupou Stands For Greater Wellington Regional Council
Fauono Ken Laban, a current GWRC councillor and candidate for Mayor of Lower Hutt is supportive of Tupou's candidacy, highlighting his strong community and governance trackrecord: 'I have known and supported Gabriel for many years, including during his time on the Community Board and Hutt City Council. He is a competent and talented governor with huge potential in public service. He would be a tremendous advocate for our community on the GWRC and I wish him well.' GWRC Councillor Quentin Duthie also acknowledges Tupou's contribution to the Whaitua process and his dedication to Te Mana o Te Wai: 'Gabriel is a strong advocate for the Lower Hutt community and environment. We worked together on ways to restore the health of our waterways so they can again be clean and safe for swimming. A vote for Gabriel is a vote for the health of our water, land and people.'
Tupou believes in strong local representation alongside Mana Whenua on regional decisions, including major initiatives like RiverLink in central Hutt City and Puketaha —a proposed ecological bird sanctuary in Wainuiomata set to be 13 times the size of Zealandia. 'I will bring the voice of Te Awakairangi ki Tai - Lower Hutt to the regional table' says Tupou. 'Whether it's flood protection, oversight of our regional parks, or better public transport options—I'm ready to listen, engage, and deliver. Send me to Wellington, and I'll bring my very best to represent our people and work hard for our entire region.'
Gabriel Tupou is a Wainuiomata resident, classical tenor, former public servant, and Hutt City Councillor. He is a manager for the Sisters of Compassion charity, volunteers as a trustee for the Duke of Edinburgh and Hillary Award and the Manaaki Ability Trust. Tupou also serves with the Māori Wardens.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scoop
23-07-2025
- Scoop
It's In The Ballot Comes To Eastern Bay Of Plenty
A NEW show to help local election candidates get their message out to voters is coming to Whakatāne and Kawerau districts in September. It's in the Ballot is a travelling webshow founded by Wellington-based political commentator Sam Somers, along with co-chair and producer Stacey Ryan. It's in the Ballot has scheduled five days of production to be held in Kawerau, Whakatāne, Edgecumbe, Tāneatua and Murupara in the month before the election. Mr Somers says he plans to create 30 hours of footage of these events. The founder, host and executive producer of the show, he initiated it after his experiences standing for office in the Greater Wellington Regional Council in both 2016 and 2019. Having attended Meet the Candidates meetings organised by various groups, he found it challenging to get his message across to his constituency. With his supporters, along with support from other candidates, he decided that a webshow was the solution, so hosted It's in the Ballot for eight electorates in the General Election in 2020. In 2022, It's in the Ballot Productions, a non-profit organisation, hosted 34 shows in the Wellington Region for the council elections, including having all candidates elected in Hutt City Council (Lower Hutt) and Upper Hutt City Council participate. This year, a new challenge has been set, to expand coverage by holding over 100 events covering 23 councils in Greater Wellington, Manawatu-Wanganui Region, Bay of Plenty and Waikato regions. The shows are held in local venues and aired live on the It's in the Ballot Website, YouTube, Facebook, Twitch and their Tiktok page. The format is loosely based on classic New Zealand television series It's in the Bag. Communities are given a chance ahead of the event to submit questions for candidates. Questions are placed in numbered boxes (or 'bags') and each candidate must select a box number and answer the question inside. Each candidate is given two 'butt in' cards which they can play to answer a question selected by another candidate and a 'defer' card, which they can play to defer their question to another candidate of their choice. Candidates also have a chance at the beginning of the show to introduce themselves, much like any other candidate's meeting. Candidates for Whakatāne and Kawerau district councils or Bay of Plenty Regional Council elections can visit to register for the events and the community is invited to submit questions for the candidates. They can also book free tickets to any of the events on the website whether they wish to attend in person or view online. Events for Eastern Bay of Plenty September 9: Edgecumbe War Memorial Hall – Rangitaiki Community Board 3pm, Rangitaiki Māori Ward 4pm, Rangitaiki General Ward 7pm September 10: Tāneatua School and Community Hall (Venue to be confirmed) – Tāneatua Community Board 4pm, Bay of Plenty Regional Council Kōhi Māori constituency 5pm, Eastern Bay constituency at 7pm September 13: Kawerau Town Hall – Kawerau District Council councillors at large 10am, Māori Ward 1pm, General Ward 4pm and Mayoral Debate 7pm September 16: Murupara Area School – Murupara Community Board 4pm, Te Urewera General Ward 5pm, Toi ki Uta Māori Ward 7pm September 18: Whakatāne War Memorial Centre – Kapu to Rangi Māori Ward 1pm, Whakatāne-Ōhope Community Board 3pm, Whakatāne-Ōhope General Ward 4pm, Mayoral Debate 7pm
The Spinoff
08-07-2025
- The Spinoff
Regulatory Standards Bill hearing, day two: ‘Just good law-making' or ‘Act's ideological fetish'?
Day two of select committee hearings into the Regulatory Standards Bill saw submissions from the Taxpayers' Union, Tania Waikato and the Greater Wellington Regional Council. It was another quiet morning in select committee room four on Tuesday, and for the second consecutive day, no committee members from NZ First showed up to hear oral submissions on the Regulatory Standards Bill (RSB). One of the first submitters of the day was former district judge David Harvey, who supported the bill, with the argument that every piece of legislation created comes with the 'erosion or some form of interference with the individual or corporate liberty' – the RSB would fix this. The bill is procedural rather than constitutional, Harvey said, meaning any changes made by the bill can be amended, or the bill itself could be repealed (as the Labour Party has already promised to do if it wins next year's election). When it came to questions, Harvey came into verbal blows with Labour MP Deborah Rusell, who informed him 'I have a PhD in political theory' when he asked her if she was familiar with Jean Rousseau. 'There's no need to patronise me,' Russell told him. 'Nothing like a bit of academic jousting on a Tuesday morning,' committee deputy chair Ryan Hamilton chirped. Up next was Rebekah Graham of Parents of Vision Impaired, who submitted against the bill with the concern that the RSB would slap more red tape onto laws which make a 'positive material difference' to the lives of her members. Such as the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008, which includes an exception which allows the creation of materials in accessible formats, like braille, without needing permission – as copyright is intellectual property, Graham worried the bill would prioritise the rights of copyright holders over the rights of blind New Zealanders. The Taxpayers' Union's executive director Jordan Williams and economist Ray Deacon submitted in favour of the bill, which Williams described as 'an encapsulation of what used to be seen as just good lawmaking'. The bill would not compel compliance with its principles nor does it favour a specific ideology, Deacon said – it just provides more transparency around the creation of laws. Asked by Hamilton why there was so much 'misalignment' in positions on the bill, Williams replied: 'Because it's Act. Because it's off the back of a very contentious bill, the Treaty principles bill. It's really that simple … it's been hijacked by a campaign that piggybacks off an early campaign.' Former Act Party MP Donna Huata began her submission against the bill by reflecting on being a founding member of the party, which she believed was formed with the goal to 'fix the gutting of the common good by Rogernomics and undo the social cruelty of Ruth Richardson's brutal austerity agenda', but 'I was deluded and misled, I was wrong'. Since then, New Zealand had become like 19th century Britain, she said, with the rights of polluters graded over the rights of the environment – and this bill would 'take the economic dogma that caused this harm and elevate it into constitutional doctrine'. Rawiri Wright from Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngā Mokopuna told the committee the bill was 'dismissive' of Māori aspirations. Tamariki in kura kaupapa 'outperform' their peers in mainstream schooling when it comes to NCEA, Wright said, yet the bill gives no consideration to the state-funded obligations to the Treaty nor to the notions of collective government, leaving a question mark over how kura kaupapa will operate in a RSB world. 'I cry at the thought of what could be lost, what could be denied to future generations of tamariki and mokpuna Māori,' Wright said. After the lunch break, BusinessNZ's chief economist John Pask told the committee he supported the bill as it would be 'another tool in the toolbox towards improving the quality of regulation'. Pask suggested the reviews published by the regulatory standards board should be reviewed in an annual select committee process, and that regulatory takings should be considered in property compensation. Lawyer Tania Waikato, who was counsel for the Waitangi Tribunal's urgent review into the bill, said the 'influence and control' the RSB would afford to the regulations minister – and the bill's architect – David Seymour would be 'dangerous'. The information gathering powers granted are 'unjustified', and 'raise significant red flags about the introduction of fascism to this country,' she said. Waikato described the 'escalating security risks' the bill has caused for opponents of the bill. She and another activist had their addresses doxxed by 'right-wing extremists' last week, which has led Waikato to hire a security escort – this, along with Seymour's 'victim of the day' social media posts, shows the minister has 'given implicit support to the actions of these extremists' to target experts speaking out against the bill. Legal scholar Eddie Clark argued that, given legislation should not be designed to interfere with our daily lives, and the ministry of regulation has already deemed it unnecessary, the RSB should not be passed. The bill in its current form will not achieve its purpose, Clark warned, and suggested changing the bill's wording from a 'libertarian understanding' to a 'more generally accepted one'. '$20m for the, funnily enough, enhanced bureaucratic process for something that's supposed to cut bureaucracy, [is instead] creating significant bureaucracy,' Clark said. 'So in terms of the bill's own cost-benefit standards, it's actually not clear that the bill itself meets those.' Academic Tina Ngata, who held a people's select committee on the parliament lawns prior to her submission, spoke against the bill in two submissions. As lead advisor for Maranga Mai Working Group, Ngata first spoke to the 'targeted intimidation' of opponents of the bill intended to 'dissuade the public from participating in democratic practice'. A minister 'willing to weaponise the privilege of his public platform' should not possess the political powers afforded by this bill, she said. In her individual submission, Ngata reflected on her hometown Te Araroa, and how 'Ruthanasia' and other 'neo-liberal reforms' had 'economically gutted' the community. She said given this is the third time the Act Party has tried to pass this bill, the government has an issue with 'denial of consent', which could be compared to 'procedural harassment'. Academic Jane Kelsey, one of the bill's most vocal critics, told the committee members in the coalition government they were 'pandering to Act's ideological fetish' by passing this bill. She was concerned about appointments Seymour will make to the regulatory standards board, and whether these will be 'fellow travellers of Act'. 'Are we really going to accept these unelected ideological partisans are those who should be passing judgement on proposed or existing legislation?' Kelsey asked. Greater Wellington Regional Council's Adrienne Staples, Nigel Corry and Thomas Nash told the committee they opposed the bill, as 'we're not sure what the problem is that you're trying to fix'. The bill will create 'legal risks, economic inefficiency, complexity, increased costs to ratepayers' and, at a time when the government is already 'emasculating' the council's ability to work, trying to introduce this bill is 'very frustrating', Staples said. The team of three said they also represented the interests of local iwi. 'I find that [the bill's] abandonment of [the Treaty] is abhorrent, and rather than working in partnership with our indigenous people, we seem to be trying to walk around them,' Staples said. The finance and expenditure committee will resume oral hearings into the bill today at 8.30am.
Scoop
08-07-2025
- Scoop
Gabriel Tupou Stands For Greater Wellington Regional Council
Hutt City Councillor Gabriel Tupou has announced his candidacy for the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC). With almost nine years of experience in local government, Tupou reflects on his service in achieving positive outcomes for communities across Te Awakairangi ki Tai Lower Hutt. 'My time as a Community Representative on Greater Wellington's Whaitua (Water Catchment) Committee, Chair of the Wainuiomata Community Board, and as a Hutt City Councillor has given me the experience, insights and relationships to serve our region. I hope to add value to a diverse and talented group of strategic leaders who also care for the health and prosperity of our region' says Tupou. 'I'm standing for a Regional Council that takes action on Te Mana o te Wai — water conservation, delivers reliable public transport, and builds up our resilience for a growing population who experience the daily challenges of a housing and cost-of-living crisis.' Fauono Ken Laban, a current GWRC councillor and candidate for Mayor of Lower Hutt is supportive of Tupou's candidacy, highlighting his strong community and governance trackrecord: 'I have known and supported Gabriel for many years, including during his time on the Community Board and Hutt City Council. He is a competent and talented governor with huge potential in public service. He would be a tremendous advocate for our community on the GWRC and I wish him well.' GWRC Councillor Quentin Duthie also acknowledges Tupou's contribution to the Whaitua process and his dedication to Te Mana o Te Wai: 'Gabriel is a strong advocate for the Lower Hutt community and environment. We worked together on ways to restore the health of our waterways so they can again be clean and safe for swimming. A vote for Gabriel is a vote for the health of our water, land and people.' Tupou believes in strong local representation alongside Mana Whenua on regional decisions, including major initiatives like RiverLink in central Hutt City and Puketaha —a proposed ecological bird sanctuary in Wainuiomata set to be 13 times the size of Zealandia. 'I will bring the voice of Te Awakairangi ki Tai - Lower Hutt to the regional table' says Tupou. 'Whether it's flood protection, oversight of our regional parks, or better public transport options—I'm ready to listen, engage, and deliver. Send me to Wellington, and I'll bring my very best to represent our people and work hard for our entire region.' Gabriel Tupou is a Wainuiomata resident, classical tenor, former public servant, and Hutt City Councillor. He is a manager for the Sisters of Compassion charity, volunteers as a trustee for the Duke of Edinburgh and Hillary Award and the Manaaki Ability Trust. Tupou also serves with the Māori Wardens.
