Makaurau
As a name for the region, Auckland is wrong – a right royal-commission failure
Coastal path and the greater Mahurangi regional park
Wenderholm, objectively, was where it started. While the 1729-hectare Centennial Memorial Park established in 1940 is recorded as Auckland’s first regional park, Wenderholm was the first of a half-century of regional parkland acquisitions that resulted in today’s 41 000-hectare…
Region survives serial secessionism
Serial attempts to turn the clock back six decades have failed, and deservedly. For without regional governance, Aucklanders would be much the poorer, for example, 27 sublime regional parks poorer. It would also lack a cohesive planning mechanism to cope with…
Twin tweaks to conquer local-democracy deficit
Status quo would be the less satisfactory option. Corner to corner, the Rodney Local Board area stretches 86 kilometres—a 165-kilometre, 2-hour drive by road, plus at least an hour’s walk at either end. In the context of an area of nearly 87 000 hectares, local board is an…
If it’s democracy that’s broke, fix it
From Day One he’s wanted a better slogan than ‘the World’s most liveable city.’ For his trouble, and even before hearing what that slogan might be, Mayor Phil Goff is being rubbished and ridiculed for wanting to replace the city’s tragically generic branding, with…
Mahurangi-initiated 50-year plan hit by mainstream media
Dr Ronald Locker had suggested it as a national park. It was 1973, when he had suggested creation of a national park to protect his beloved Mahurangi Harbour, in Seacoast in the Seventies, which he co-authored with Professor John Morton and David Thom cbe…
Submission on the proposed Auckland Unitary Plan
Formed in 1974 as Friends of the Mahurangi, Mahurangi Action Incorporated is a community interest group that, from its inception, has been primarily concerned with protection, enhancement and enjoyment of the outstanding…
Draft unitary plan draws focussed feedback
September’s scheduled notification of the Auckland Unitary Plan is now in doubt. Despite that, it is possible that any further informal discussion of the draft plan will only be between Auckland Council and selected groups, and Mahurangi Action is not in that...
50 reasons to celebrate anniversary weekend 2016
First reason: It will be the 50th summer of Auckland’s coastal regional parks. The coastal parks commenced with the purchase of Wenderholm Regional Park on 31 March 1965, and its opening the following December. It was an immediate…
New unitary authority not going to plan
Len’s in danger of loosing it. As was all too apparent halfway through the term of Aotearoa’s first mayoral office to enjoy significant executive powers, Mayor Brown has bet the farm on a project for which he has little to show, come local body election year. Had...
Submission suggests city green growth capital
Submission as lodged at 3.42 pm today: Q1 There will need to be five transformational shifts to make Auckland the world’s most liveable city. Do you agree or disagree with the five transformational shifts identified in the Draft Auckland Plan and why?...
Auckland Plan for the ninety-nine percent
The wonder is that it took quite so long, to be occupied. Had it happened as he was being elected, President Barack Obama would have been presented with a mandate to save the planet rather than Wall Street. Instead, the grassroots revolt is happening…
Global warming gets chapter to itself
It is all the royal commission recommended and more. The recommendations made by the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance two and a half years ago, cite global warming, and sea-level rise in particular, as a significant…
Mayor silent on Aucklanders’ affair
It was once a paradise fought over by a hundred lovers—makaurau. Today, rather than a hundred, there are 1.5 million lovers, or residents of the region. But particularly, they are passionate lovers of Makaurau’s 26 regional parks. According to the…
Regional sea-level rise chapter revisited
North Carolina has gone one better. Aotearoa merely curtailed work on a national environmental standard on sea-level rise, in a calculatedly cynical strategy to oblige each local territorial authority to run its sea-level rise policies by a gauntlet of…
More support for Rose for Rodney
The royal commissioners failed the fundamentals. At the last election, 55% more voters supported Christine Rose for her regional role, than elected the mayor of Rodney. Even Bill Smith, the lowest-polling regional candidate, polled more votes than the mayor. The...
A healthy dose of overdue democracy
It has huge appeal. Many would love to be lord of their own domain, kingdom, republic or, in the case of Rodney district mayors, unitary authority. Mayor John Law gave it a shot, only to be brought back to Earth by the reality of the cost of delivering the governance...
As a name for the region, Auckland is wrong
The sloppy language slipped in at the beginning. Whereas its terms of reference diligently referred to the Auckland region, that key word was omitted from its very name: Royal Commission on Auckland Governance. Then the commissioners themselves were careless of the...
Mahurangi Magazine open letter to Labour
Darien Fenton and Phil Twyford Members of Parliament Dear Darien and Phil Regarding Rodney District Council’s private member’s bill. The Mahurangi Magazine has worked assiduously to encourage involvement of its readers in the process of devising new governance...
District council desperate bid for self-preservation
Essentially Auckland Regional Council media release 26 May 2010 Rodney District Council is currently calling for submissions on a private member’s bill to become a unitary authority, even though the bill is struggling to find a parliamentary sponsor. Previous...
Action plan preparing Mahurangi for the transition
Saying no to the chairman was not part of the plan. But when he put the question ‘But don’t you consider that this provides the mandate?’, it couldn’t be dodged. This, was the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance. And no, it did not provide a mandate to impose a...
Electing the mayor of Mahurangi
If the vote is split, the first regional mayor may all too easily be the abrasive John Banks. The risk of vote splitting could have been avoided, had local government embraced preferential voting—ludicrously, its implementation under the Local Electoral Act 2001 was...
Bad language but boundary brilliant
The New Zealand Herald story will be very welcome news to friends of the Mahurangi. Particularly those overseas, whose evening television coverage would have struggled to report on the battle of the Pūhoi–Makarau Line, in the absence of actual blood on the floor at...
Rodney didn’t speak, Rodney roared
In spite of the rain and short notice, Ascension’s banquet hall was packed to the rafters. The choice of venue had many pondering his motives, and many a facetious inquiry was fielded as to whether Dr Lockwood Smith would be shouting the first drink. The pressure for...
Key calls for a Pūhoi–Makarau Line uprising
There is nothing sacrosanct about the existing northern boundary of Rodney district. It should possibly be changed. But definitely: not at this time; and never in such a way that it excludes Mahurangi–Matakana–Leigh from the region that it is functionally part of. The...
Notion to exclude Mahurangi uncalled-for
Preposterous—the word Mahurangi Action founder John Male impassionedly used. He was describing a proposal whereby 80 copies of the 416-page Jade River: A History of the Mahurangi be photocopied to nominally discharge the undertaking to publish given to its terminally...
New Zealand Labour Party minority view
Introduction The need to reform Auckland’s governance structures is obvious; the many problems that beleaguer the region are universally discussed and widely agreed. That in part was why the previous Labour Government established the Royal Commission on Auckland...
Auckland Regional Council media release: Rodney’s disaster
The government’s lack of vision and understanding of Auckland issues has failed the people of Rodney district, says Auckland regional councillor Christine Rose. The government has today indicated its intention to split the Rodney District at the Puhoi and Makarau...
Letter to Lockwood: Mahurangi must remain in region
Dr Hon Lockwood Smith Member of Parliament for Rodney and Speaker of the House Dear Dr Smith It is rumoured that the northern boundary of the region is to be moved southward, to the Waiwera River. As the long-serving member for Rodney, you are arguably best placed to...
Mahurangi Action’s last glossy gasp
It’s always a challenge, to make a submission stand out. Particularly when committee members are facing the last batch of submitters for the week, on the Auckland governance legislation. Late of a Friday afternoon, they could be excused if their minds were beginning...
Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill Submission 930
As lodged today General Mahurangi Action embraces this historic opportunity to devise better governance arrangements for the Auckland region. The organisation was formed in 1974, for the enjoyment and protection of the Mahurangi catchment; in 1977 it revived the...
Vote yes and no
Auckland governance legislation select committee submissions closed Friday 26 June By this time next year, there will be a Mahurangi plan. Mahurangi Action founding chairman John Male made the first bid for a Mahurangi plan in 1975, pitched at the old Rodney County...
Crude devices and the r-word
Worldwide, local government reform is notoriously unpopular. It invariably creates resentments that can linger for decades, and fails to deliver on promised cost savings. Consequently, experts such as Brian Dollery advocate amalgamating service delivery, leaving the...
Name needed for new plan and for Rodney
The Royal Commission on Auckland Governance recommendations are essentially excellent news for the Mahurangi. If Thursday’s Rodney Times had been remotely on the money, the Mahurangi could have kissed goodbye to the care that is being lavished on the catchment....
Twin Streams floated their punt
Project Twin Streams features in the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance recommendations, and that is a promising sign for the Mahurangi. The 788-page report, which is eminently readable, is peppered with examples that…
Mahurangi Action submission to the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance
PDF as lodged Introduction Submission in Brief Submission Detail Background of Submitter Introduction embraces this opportunity to discuss the needs of the...
Can get bitter or get learning
’s submission to the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance could be its one opportunity to have its say on the subject. Or not. It all depends on what the government does with the...
Aucklanders in need of well-developed models
It seems difficult to credit it now. When the editor’s family moved to Waiwera, in 1959, the local council offices were in Greys Avenue, Auckland. Coming from Te Kūiti, which had its own council offices, this seemed bizarre. But much that is taken for granted about...
What time’s the tide on Saturday 24 January 2060?
Speculative and unhelpful. These are the words the Honourable Peter Salmon QC used when chastising the New Zealand Herald for its front page announcing Auckland is to become a super city with a London-style mayor with executive powers. In May 2008, at the Royal...
Regional governance inquiry in the hands of Aucklanders
Mahurangi residents need to categorise themselves as Aucklanders. That’s if the Mahurangi wishes to be heard by the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance. Either that or Auckland regioners—ghastly language, which the Mahurangi Magazine is reluctant to encourage. The...
Should Rodney District Council become a unitary authority?
As quoted in an internal report for the Christchurch City Council titled Procedural Requirements for Creation of a Unitary Authority The regional and district plans required by the Resource Management Act 1991 can be developed and combined into a single plan. This...