Local Transport Specialist, James Ebbett, Selected As ACT Local Candidate For Central Hawke's Bay Election
ACT Local has selected James Ebbett a transport specialist with over 13 years of experience working for some of New Zealand's largest transport companies, as its candidate for the Aramoana-Ruahine Ward, in the upcoming Central Hawke's Bay District Council Election.
Born and raised in Hawke's Bay, James Ebbett returned with his wife after gaining experience in Auckland and overseas with a multinational transport company. With over 13 years in the transport and logistics sector, he brings a strong understanding of infrastructure and the challenges facing local communities.Outside of work, James enjoys fishing, Weber barbecuing, and spending time at the beach with his family and Bernese Mountain Dog. He's standing to bring industry expertise, local insight, and common sense to the Central Hawke's Bay District Council.
'I'm standing to rein in unsustainable rate increases by keeping council focused on core infrastructure — reliable roads, working water systems, and spending that actually makes sense. Ratepayers deserve better than constant cost hikes caused by distraction and waste.' – James Ebbett
Earlier this year, ACT New Zealand announced it would be standing Common Sense Candidates for local government for the first time — after hearing from New Zealanders across the country who are sick of rising rates, ballooning budgets, and councils that ignore the basics while chasing ideological vanity projects.
When you vote ACT Local, you know what you're getting:
Fixing the basics
Cutting the waste
Ending race-based politics
Restoring accountability
ACT Local Government spokesperson Cameron Luxton says:
'ACT Local candidates are community-minded Kiwis who've had enough of wasteful councils treating ratepayers like ATMs. It's time to take back control, restore accountability, and deliver real value for money...ACT Local is about doing the basics right: maintaining roads, keeping streets clean, and treating ratepayers with respect. Our candidates won't divide people by race or get distracted by climate vanity projects. They're here to serve, not lecture."
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Otago Daily Times
13 minutes ago
- Otago Daily Times
Scrapping councils would incur ‘damaging cost'
Scrapping regional councils would come at a ''damaging cost'' to New Zealand's clean green image, a regional councillor says. Regional Development Minister Shane Jones first promoted the notion last week. Then, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon yesterday said he was open to the idea being explored through Resource Management Act (RMA) Reform Minister Chris Bishop's present work. The Otago Daily Times canvassed Otago regional councillors, who expressed a range of views. Cr Tim Mepham said Mr Jones' New Zealand First party got only 6% of the vote at the last election and Mr Luxon had simply reverted to a response of ''exploring possibilities'' rather than supporting a previous position that supported localism. ''If the government changes to the RMA significantly reduce the level of environmental management, then the need to administer consents, monitoring compliance and enforcement will be reduced,'' Cr Mepham said. ''Yes, this could lead to regional councils becoming redundant, creating savings. But shifting a damaging cost on to our environment and New Zealand's clean green image — is this what New Zealanders really want? ''I certainly don't.'' The Post reported Mr Jones who was speaking at Future Proofing New Zealand: The 2050 Local Government Forum, in Wellington — said once the RMA changes went through it would be difficult to justify regional councils' existence. ''After the upcoming changes to the RMA, I doubt, well, certainly in the party I belong to, that there's going to be a compelling case for regional government to continue to exist.'' Speaking to Newstalk ZB yesterday from Belgium, Mr Luxon was asked whether he supported disestablishing regional councils. ''I have a personal view that I think that's something that we can explore as part of that Resource Management Act legislation that Chris Bishop is driving through,'' Mr Luxon said. Cr Gary Kelliher said he was not surprised. ''Expanding staff numbers coupled with huge rates rises year on year must leave the government wondering whether these councils are really serving their intended purpose, or have evolved into power-hungry beasts that are incredibly challenging to deal with and are strangling the ability for regional economies to grow.'' Cr Michael Laws said he had long argued that there were too many tiers of local government and that unitary authorities were the better model. ''This debate is long overdue and should also include the wider issue of whether an entire restructure of local government is required. ''We can't keep on creating expensive local government jobs for no discernible improvement in service, but horrendous rates hikes upon Otago residents,'' Cr Laws said. The issue went well beyond resource management, council chairwoman Gretchen Robertson said. Regional councils operated under a wide range of legislation and delivered essential services that affected people's daily lives, Cr Robertson said. ''This is a crucial conversation about what works on the ground — delivering for communities through the right functions, at the right scale, with local voices at the table,'' Cr Robertson said. ''Focusing on what needs to be delivered — like flood protection, transport and environmental care — ensures better outcomes than getting sidetracked by structural change alone.'' Cr Elliot Weir said they believed most in the local government sector were open to, and even had been been asking for, reform, but reform ''has to have vision though, and ideally actually involve councils and the communities they represent''. Cr Lloyd McCall said he was open to reform, but the ''biggest risk'' was the loss of local input through the centralisation of policy, implementation and regulation. -
The Spinoff
2 hours ago
- The Spinoff
How has New Zealand responded to the escalating conflict in the Middle East?
The UN secretary general has described the American strikes on Iran as 'a dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge', while US allies have shown cautious support for the attacks. So what's being said in Aotearoa? Fighting between Israel and Iran ramped up overnight, after the United States' recent entry into the conflict that began earlier in the month when Israel bombed several sites in Iran, including nuclear and military facilities, and Iran retaliated. While New Zealand has echoed concerns from 19 of the countries on the board of International Atomic Energy Agency about Iran's nuclear capability, the government here has been cautious to not expressly support or oppose the American strikes, arguing in favour of diplomacy. 'Ongoing military action in the Middle East is extremely worrying and it is critical further escalation is avoided,' said foreign minister Winston Peters on Sunday. Here's a rundown of the response since from the government, opposition parties, advocacy groups and experts. What's happening for New Zealanders in the region? New Zealanders anywhere in the Middle East region have been urged to register on the government's Safe Travel website, and if they have a clear way to leave, to take it. Yesterday afternoon, acting prime minister David Seymour said 119 New Zealanders had been identified in Iran, and 117 in Israel. The government has sent personnel and a Hercules aircraft to the area to assist with evacuations, and has communicated with commercial companies about using seats on their planes. However, those flights will not be possible while the airspace isn't clear; essentially, the area isn't currently safe to fly through. In the past, repatriation flights have come at a cost to individuals who get seats on these planes. During the Covid-19 pandemic and the initial period following the war in Palestine, which started on October 7, 2023, repatriation flights cost up to $5,500 per person, much more than a commercial flight. Because of the inability to safely fly at present, New Zealand embassy staff in Tehran, Iran's capital, have been evacuated with a convoy of people from other governments. Two embassy families have travelled by land to Azerbaijan, which is north of Iran. 'The New Zealand government has a duty of care to its staff posted overseas, so we did the responsible thing to get them out of harm's way,' said Peters. 'If and when opportunities arise to assist the departure of other New Zealanders in Iran and Israel, we will pursue them with urgency.' What is the official government stance on the conflict? In an initial response to the US attacks on Sunday, Peters said in a statement that the ongoing military action in the Middle East was 'extremely worrying', and urged 'all parties to return to talks. Diplomacy will deliver a more enduring resolution than military action.' In an updated statement yesterday afternoon, Peters said, 'New Zealand has consistently opposed Iran's nuclear programme, along with many other countries. Iran cannot be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. In that context, we note the United States' decision to undertake targeted attacks aimed at degrading Iran's nuclear capabilities. We also acknowledge the US statement to the UN Security Council that it was acting in collective self-defence consistent with the UN Charter.' Standing in for Christopher Luxon, who is in Europe, at yesterday's post-cabinet press conference, deputy prime minister David Seymour did not accept that Peters' statement was an endorsement of the US's actions, but denied New Zealand was 'sitting on the fence'. 'Nobody is calling on New Zealand to rush to judgment on the rights and wrongs of the situation,' he said. 'We're far better to keep our counsel because it costs nothing to get more information but going off half-cocked can be very costly for a small nation.' Luxon is currently attending meetings in Europe, including a Nato meeting – New Zealand is a Nato partner. 'What we don't need is more military action, we need a political solution to all of these issues in the Middle East,' Luxon told Radio New Zealand yesterday. 'New Zealand doesn't want to see a nuclear-armed Iran destabilising its neighbours,' he had said the day prior. 'We don't want to see Gaza under Israeli occupation. We don't want to see Hamas holding onto hostages. But the answer in all of those cases, and all of the conflicts within the Middle East is actually dialogue and diplomacy, not military action.' What about the opposition parties? Labour's defence spokesperson, Peeni Henare, said the party 'does not support the ongoing attacks, including the United States' bombing of Iran, which is in breach of international law, and the government should be saying this'. Labour leader Chris Hipkins criticised an earlier comment from Luxon that the strikes on Iran created an 'opportunity' for dialogue. 'I think some of the comments from the prime minister suggesting that you should bomb a country in order to get into negotiations with it are just simply wrong,' Hipkins told The Post. The Greens called on the government to condemn America's actions, with co-leader Marama Davidson saying the attacks were 'a blatant breach of international law and yet another unjustified assault on the Middle East from the US'. Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi said the party stood firmly against 'the rising tide of military aggression', and alleged 'Luxon's complicity is putting everyone in Aotearoa at risk'. What have Iranians in New Zealand said? And what about advocacy groups? 'The fear is this war will escalate and more lives will be lost. We hope there will be negotiations for the end of this war soon, but with what America did [on Sunday] we are very stressed and scared about what will happen next,' Elham Salari, an Iranian in New Zealand with family in Tehran, told RNZ. The Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa called for the government to condemn the US attacks, while peace group Just Defence, which is planning a protest in Wellington today, said 'we urge our government to distance itself from these violent, irresponsible states [the US and Israel]'. A spokesperson for the New Zealand Jewish Council urged people not to 'conflate the actions of the Israeli government with the Jewish community'. In an RNZ interview yesterday, Ben Kepes said this happened all the time and was 'not only absurd, it's a dangerous conflation'. 'It's concerning that Jews globally are held responsible for the actions of the Israeli government… I have no control over Israel. No sane person wants war, everyone wants de-escalation.' Marilyn Garson, a spokesperson for Alternative Jewish Voices, meanwhile, told The Spinoff that the attack was 'an absolute disaster, likely to spread [through the region] and a terrible distraction from the starvation and bombardment in Gaza '. While the concerns were about Iran being close to developing a nuclear weapon, Garson said that Israel's undeclared nuclear weapon programme was just as pressing an issue. 'The New Zealand government should at least speak about what is right and wrong, legal and illegal,' she said. Do New Zealand international relations and law experts have a perspective? Academics in New Zealand have pointed out that the strikes are illegal under international law. 'There's nowhere in the UN charter that says you can bomb someone who won't negotiate with you. But whether you get to a point where that is actually condemned is going to be very different,' Alexander Gillespie, a Waikato University law professor, told RNZ. 'There's the theory of international law, with the UN Charter, and then there's the reality of international politics at the moment, which means that America will not be condemned internationally by the Security Council or even through the International Court of Justice.' Similarly, Anna Hood, an associate professor in law from the University of Auckland, told RNZ, 'Under the UN Charter, it is only possible to use self-defence if you have been attacked, or you are at imminent risk of being attacked. So that means there are missiles firing at you or you know that very, very shortly that will happen.' Te Kuaka, an independent group advocating for New Zealand to have a progressive foreign policy, condemned the US attacks on Iran. 'This attack constitutes a clear violation of international law and the sovereignty of states,' it said. 'It risks catastrophic regional escalation.'
Scoop
10 hours ago
- Scoop
How Would An Escalation In Conflict In The Middle East Impact New Zealand
Article – RNZ Explainer – America jumped into the war between Israel and Iran over the weekend, as US President Donald Trump announced air strikes on Iran's three principal nuclear sites. The intervention of the US in the conflict has raised concerns worldwide about what's next, including how it might affect New Zealand, from citizens overseas to the price of petrol. Here's a look at what you need to know so far. What's NZ's role in the conflict? Are we going to war? New Zealand has maintained a cautious stance politically as the conflict between Iran and Israel has ramped up in recent weeks. That remains the case today, with the prime minister urging that diplomatic talks resume. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who is overseas for a NATO summit, told RNZ's Morning Report that New Zealand wanted to see a peaceful stable and secure Middle East. 'The way to get there is a political solution rather than military action, it's actually through dialogue and diplomacy.' As a small country that is thousands of miles away from the conflict, all New Zealand could do was to advocate for what it thought should happen, he said. 'What we don't need is more military action, we need a political solution to all of these issues in the Middle East.' On Sunday, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said ongoing military action in the Middle East was 'extremely worrying'. Peters previously said before the weekend escalation that the provocative behaviour by both Israel and Iran was to be criticised, and New Zealand would not take sides in a conflict of this nature. 'There are no innocent parties in this conflict,' he said. Will this latest Middle East conflict affect the price of petrol – and everything else? The escalation poses a major threat to New Zealand's economy, RNZ's Susan Edmunds reports. Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen said if there were attacks on US shipping, or attempts to limit access through the Strait of Hormuz, oil prices could spike. Iran's parliament reportedly voted on Monday morning (NZ time) to close the Strait of Hormuz, which around 20 percent of the world's oil travels through. 'If [Iran] do ratchet up the tension further, if this starts to broaden out into shipping attacks, I think market expectations and worries about oil supply will increase substantially. The question is, just to what degree do you price this and how do markets look at that?' Koura KiwiSaver founder Rupert Carlyon said the biggest risk was to inflation. 'If it does turn into a broader Middle East war and potentially shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, then we are likely to see higher oil prices, which will flow through to everything and shipping delays making it harder and more expensive to import things here in New Zealand.' What about Kiwis who are in Iran or Israel? Nearly 250 New Zealanders are now registered as being in Iran and Israel as a Defence Force Hercules makes its way to the region to help. New figures provided to RNZ and recorded on SafeTravel show 119 New Zealanders in Iran and 117 in Israel. RNZ understands some of those people may have managed to flee somewhere safer, but have not yet updated their status with SafeTravel. The Defence Force announced on Sunday it is sending a plane to the Middle East to assist any New Zealanders stranded in Iran or Israel. The plane is not part of any military combat operations. The C-130J Hercules, along with government personnel, left Auckland on Monday morning. It will take several days for it to arrive. Peters said New Zealanders should do everything they can to leave now, if they can find a safe route. 'We know it will not be safe for everyone to leave Iran or Israel, and many people may not have access to transport or fuel supplies,' he said. 'If you are in this situation, you should shelter in place, follow appropriate advice from local authorities and stay in touch with family and friends where possible.' Peters earlier said the number of New Zealanders registered in Iran had jumped since the escalation of the crisis. 'We thought, at a certain time, we had them all counted out at 46,' he said. 'It's far more closer to 80 now, because they're coming out of the woodwork, despite the fact that, for months, we said, 'look, this is a danger zone', and for a number of days we've said, 'get out if you possibly can'.' There were 101 New Zealanders registered in Israel. Again, Peters said the figure had risen recently. New Zealanders in Iran and Israel needing urgent consular assistance should call the Ministry's Emergency Consular Call Centre on +64 99 20 20 20. How are New Zealanders with ties to the region coping? Elham Salari, an Iranian in New Zealand told RNZ on Sunday she was deeply worried for her family members back home. 'I'm so scared. I'm so stressed… all I'm thinking is 'What's going to happen next?' Trump said he wants peace… but Iran's regime will not let it go easily. There will be a bigger war. It's going to destroy our country and our people are going to die.' Salari said she had woken up to messages from her family on Sunday who confirmed they were safe, but she had not been able to get back in contact with them since. Meanwhile, New Zealand Jewish Council spokesperson Ben Kepes said people should not conflate the actions of the Israeli government and the Israeli military with Jews worldwide. Iran has said multiple times that it does not believe Israel has a right to exist, he said. 'Most New Zealanders when they understand the issues would say that regardless of whether they support the actions of the Israeli government, that Israel has a right to exist as a sovereign nation.' Kepes said he was a Jew in New Zealand and did not hold an Israeli passport, nor vote for the government in Israel. 'I have zero control over Israel, so holding me responsible of the actions of the government is not only absurd, but it's a stereotype that is really dangerous.'
