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Toxic waste dumped in Wainui by regional council

Posted by Trevor Mallard on December 9th, 2009

Somethings that happen are just about beyond belief. The idea that the Regional Council that is very well funded to clean up the Waiwhetu Stream took lead waste and dumped it in a Wainuiomata cleanfill sounds like something from a badly scripted horror movie.

The Waiwhetu Stream cleanup is good. It is probably the most polluted waterway in NZ. The lead levels are higher than in commercial mines. It is the result of decades of industrial waste – paint factories, wool scours and a car factory – going down the drains which then went into the stream and the Wellington Harbour. A decent earthquake or very bad flood could have dislodged the material under the stream and polluted the harbour with enough toxic material to stop swimming for years and kill all the fish.

It asppears that at least two truck loads of toxic sludge were dumped in Wainui.

At least the Council has fronted up and admitted what has happened. But that wasn’t the case for a while. In fact they appeared to be in denial. At least one councillor looks like an idiot based on staff assurances.

The idea that the council prosecutes itself does however seem to be a waste of time to me.

I want the sludge cleaned up. Assurances given in writing that there has been no leaching. And maybe a big contribution to the mtb and trail bike park that are in the path of the pollution.

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Filed under: environment, wellington
6 Comments

Night shelter showing effects of recession

Posted by Grant Robertson on December 3rd, 2009

Mike Leon

On Monday I presented a Wellington Community Champions Award (an initative of local MPs and The Wellingtonian newspaper) to Mike Leon, who runs the Wellington Night Shelter.  Mike is a quiet, unassuming guy who  in different capacities has worked for 14 years offering a bed for the night to Wellington’s homeless. Perhaps more importantly he works with the people who stay at the shelter to get their life back on track.  Part of this includes linking them up with social and medical services they despartely need.  Its hard work, sometimes the conventional path does not work, sometimes it does not always have a happy ending, but when it does it is so worthwhile.

As we were sitting with the reporter from The Wellingtonian after giving Mike the award, he passed over a piece of paper he was preparing for his monthly report to his board.  It was a graph that showed occupany per month for the year compared to the last couple of years.

Picture 144

Like all statistics the graph needs to be read carefully. Mike has made a few changes to the way the shelter is running that have contributed to higher occupancy, but a doubling of bed nights is something to be very concerned about.

In a city like Wellington it can be easy to assume that the recession has not had a huge effect, and that we are through the worst of it. As we sat there a 71 year old man arrived to let Mike know he would be needing a bed for the night as he had been evicted from his private accomodation. This will probably be a bed in the hallway as things are full up, but Mike will make it happen.

The answers to reducing this are complex, but it is about supporting people and getting on top of problems early in life.  But its good to know the Mike’s of this world are there to deal with it in the here and now.

Filed under: Uncategorized, community, inequality, wellington
10 Comments

Fair Trade City- The Race is On!

Posted by Grant Robertson on December 1st, 2009

In September the Wellington City Council confirmed its intention to be New Zealand’s first Fair Trade City.  This was the result of long hard work by a number of dedicated people.  To be a fair trade city there needs to be evidence that fair trade products are widely used and available, a steering group set up and the Council has to resolve to support fair trade and make use of fair trade products itself.  My understanding is only the last hurdle remains. 

But now it seems Dunedin thinks it might have the inside running to be the first.

C’mon Wellington City Council, I am not having that Clare Curran getting one up on me!  Lets get on and do it.  In all seriousness this is a great initative that is terrific to see more cities getting on board with.  To find out more about more visit http://fairtradewellington.wordpress.com/

Filed under: trade, wellington
9 Comments

Another good reason to live in Wellington

Posted by Grant Robertson on November 28th, 2009

The Wellington City Council is beginning work on how to encourage the uptake of electric cars.  Wellingtonians are already among the most sustainable transport users in NZ, with more people walking or taking public transport to work than any other city in New Zealand.  There is a long way to go here, but this is a positive step to a more sustainable future.

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Filed under: climate change, environment, wellington
6 Comments

Unitary authorities for Wellington?

Posted by Chris Hipkins on October 8th, 2009

The Dominion Post has been continuing an interesting series of columns on possible local government reform in the past few days with former Wellington Deputy Mayor Alick Shaw arguing in favour of amalgamations yesterday and current Lower Hutt Deputy Mayor Roger Styles arguing today for an amalgamation of the two Hutt councils and the abolition of the regional council.

I’ll start with Roger Styles, who makes some interesting and valid arguments against replicating the Auckland model here in Wellington. In particular I was interested in these figures he quotes:

Both Hutt councils are more conservative when it comes to debt. Lower Hutt’s debt is around $80 million and Upper Hutt’s just $18 million. One hundred million dollars across a population of 140,000 is around $700 per person. Wellington City residents, on the other hand, have a more relaxed attitude to their council building up debt. Currently $323 million, debt is projected to increase to $363 million in the next decade. That’s almost $2000 per person – almost three times as high as the Hutt councils. Wellington City Council’s interest payments are more than $20 million a year – almost the same as Upper Hutt’s entire annual rates income.

 Styles concludes, and I am inclined to agree with him here, that the Wellington City view is likely to prevail in any capital city Super Council. I’d be concerned that could lead to the rates paid by Hutt Valley ratepayers being siphoned off to service debt, rather than upgrade local services and infrastructure.

However while I agree with Styles on those issues, I disagree with his proposed solution, which is to do away with the Greater Wellington Regional Council and replace it with up to 3 unitary authorities (eg. Wgtn City, Hutt, Porirua-Kapiti). In my view that could lead to more fragmentation than we have now. One of the GWRC’s biggest responsibilities is regional transport infrastructure and that’s best planned on a regional basis. Take the trains for example - they cover the whole region and couldn’t easily be broken up into 3 pieces.

Alick Shaw makes some interesting arguments in favour of amalgamation, although it is by no means the most compelling case for a Wellington Super City I have ever read, and some of what he writes is simply wrong. For example, he claims that if Wellington had a super council then the old CIT site in Upper Hutt would have been turned into a university. Never mind the fact that we barelyhave the student population to sustain the two we have now, let alone a third. Never mind the fact that the establishment of universities and polytechnics is a central government responsibility, not a local one.

Although I’m a super city sceptic, I think the series of columns the Dom Post is running are useful contributions to the debate. As I have said in previous posts, and in replies to commenters, I’m not opposed to local government reorganisation in Wellington, but it needs to be supported by the communities affected. If there is a compelling case for change, and I’m not yet convinced, then some robust discussion will draw that out.

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Filed under: local government, wellington
10 Comments

More on the Wgtn Super City

Posted by Chris Hipkins on October 6th, 2009

Chris Turver, former Wellington Regional Councillor, has a column in this morning’s Dominion Post arguing that the time is not right for a Wellington Super City. He makes some good points. Wellington is geographically different to Auckland and we don’t have the sprawling communities that are slowly merging together that Auckland does. Even here in the Hutt Valley Upper and Lower Hutt are separated by a geographical ‘throat’ in the valley.

Turver also notes that Wellington councils already work well together on shared services (water being the notable biggie) and suggests that the acid test should be whether a Super City would be considerably cheaper to run, and if so, at what cost to service levels. I think perhaps his best argument is this one:

So, the loudest squeaky wheel at the regional level would inevitably get priority funding and a muted squeaky wheel on an issue of community importance would tend to be relegated towards the bottom of the super-council priorities. With the present system, outdated as it may be, communities have more direct “say” on their priorities and they determine how much to spend on them.

That’s the major concern people here in Upper Hutt commonly raise when discussing possible local government reform. They’re generally pretty happy with the responsiveness of the Upper Hutt City Council and like the fact that it is unquestionably local. They can chat to their mayor and councillors in the supermarket or when they are out walking the dog. If they want to discuss something with the council they can go into the office and generally speak to the person responsible. The bigger the bureaucracy, the more that would be at risk.

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Filed under: local government, wellington
10 Comments

A Wellington Super City?

Posted by Chris Hipkins on October 5th, 2009

This morning the Dom Post ran a couple of interesting articles on the possibility of a Wellington Super City to match the behemoth being created in Auckland. Not surprisingly most of the mayors were cautious or sceptical, with the notable exceptions of Kerry Prendergast and Fran Wilde who no doubt love the idea that decisions affecting the entire region could be made at the Wellington Town Hall.

Personally I’m a bit annoyed that the Wellington City Council seems to think that it is their role to unilaterally plan for local government amalgamation in Wellington. What right do they have to determine how the rest of the region should be governed? Local support for any change will be critical and a top-down scheme dreamed up by WCC isn’t likely to get it.

Last year I attended a forum on public transport where a Wellington City Councillor argued public transport services to the Hutt Valley shouldn’t be improved because people should be encouraged to move into inner-city apartments instead. If that’s the kind of ignorant thinking that we’ll see from a so-called ‘super council’ I doubt residents of the region’s suburbs will want a bar of it.

The future of the Wellington region’s local councils is a matter for the local communities concerned. Everyone needs the opportunity to have their say. A recent Shape NZ poll found that around half of New Zealanders do not want a ‘super city’ in their area. Even more telling, 70 percent of New Zealanders say that any ‘super city’ plans should be put to a referendum or vote before being implemented. That clearly hasn’t happened in Auckland. We must not allow the same mistakes to be repeated here in Wellington.

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Filed under: democracy, local government, wellington
13 Comments

How we can believe Bill English.

Posted by Trevor Mallard on September 9th, 2009

Bill English has a major problem. He has told New Zealand that he didn’t change his family trust arrangements to rort the accommodation allowance system.

His suggestion is that the timing is co-incidental. Officials however went to the Prime Minister before accepting his claim.

I’m yet to meet anyone who believes him and can give a credible explanation that does not involve a rort.

It is vital that the Minister of Finance not have this problem overshadowing him. Any suggestion of lack of veracity causes the country international problems. It certainly doesn’t help our credit rating if we look like a number of countries where this sort of issue is commonplace.

And in NZ he is trying to make cuts. How can he do that under this cloud.

There may be a good, but personal, reason for the change. I can’t imagine what it might be.

I have an offer for Bill. He can brief me. I undertake to keep his reason confidential whether or not I think it is reasonable. If it is reasonable I will say so publicly and apologise. If not reasonable I will say just that.

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Filed under: by-election, democracy, economic, finance, parliament, wellington
17 Comments

Quinn auction

Posted by Trevor Mallard on August 27th, 2009

Paul Quinn originally said he wanted to be MP for Wellington Central, he still lives there, he ran in Hutt South but now appears to be sniffing around Rimutaka – though some of us doubt that he could find parliament from that far out.

I want him to be the candidate for Hutt South again. I enjoyed going to meetings with him during the last election and I have been encouraging my constituents to get to know him.

So I’ve decided to put up $200 – $100 for Paul’s campaign and $50 each for Grant and Chippie if he is the Hutt South candidate.

Hearing this in the House Paul said he wanted an auction. Well he has got one.

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Filed under: national, parliament, redundancy, wellington
39 Comments

Let’s give Kiwirail staff a break

Posted by Chris Hipkins on August 13th, 2009

I see in the DomPost this morning that Kiwirail are taking another pasting regarding ongoing problems with the Wellington train system. I can understand why our local commuters are getting frustrated and fed up with the whole thing, but I also have a lot of sympathy for the staff at Kiwirail who are literally working around the clock to keep the trains running.

Between the time NZ Rail was sold in 1993 and the time when the Labour govt bought back the tracks in 2003, very little was spent on basic maintenance and there was no upgrading at all. There was then a bit of a lag time between the tracks returning to public ownership and serious investment in upgrading taking place. We’re now right in the middle of a major upgrade but because the whole system was so badly run-down it’s pretty fragile.

Speaking to some of the people involved in the upgrade I know that they’re facing a lot of unforseen challenges. They dig holes for new overhead power poles to find underground cables metres from where they should be. One mistake can grind everything to a halt for hours, as happened a few weeks ago. Then of course the trains themselves are all pretty old and break down frequently.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel. I catch the train into town on a reasonably frequent basis and have watched with interest as the power poles have been progressively replaced and new substations have popped up. I’m looking forward to the arrival of a bunch of new commuter trains next year and the year after that. Platforms and shelters are being upgraded, and I’m told a new ticketing system isn’t far away either.

Kiwirail have a heck of a job to do. They’ve got to keep the whole system running while also performing open heart surgery on it. They can’t exactly shut it down for 6 months while the work takes place. I know it’s been frustrating, and no doubt will continue to be, but we’ll all have to keep being patient. In a year or two we’ll have a worldclass commuter train system as our reward.

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Filed under: privatisation, public services, transport, wellington
21 Comments

Great chair from Hutt South

Posted by Trevor Mallard on August 10th, 2009

Most electorate MPs spend non sitting days visiting schools, community groups and businesses in their electorates as well as running clinics or visiting constituents.

I’ve been following a great company in Hutt South called Formway Furniture for years. They are morphing into a design company – partly pushed by the fact that it is hard to compete building furniture – and there have been job losses – but it is now real modern economy stuff. They work in teams involving marketing people, design people, material engineers, other engineers. They did the life chair.

Now it is the Be chair which has been designed around the acknowledgment that ‘task’ work is much more than sitting in the one ‘correct’ position throughout your working day, it’s the worlds first multi-postural, multi-mode task chair that lets me sit or lounge how I wanted to want to.

5 years in the making, the chair has already won the highly coveted NeoCon Gold award for Task seating in the U.S. competing against the worlds largest furniture businesses.

Very few moving parts. New material. Good for office or Cabinet Committee but probably don’t have decorum for Parliament.

Great for people who work online for longer periods. And for those of us with various back issues. You can keep an eye on developments at:  www.formway.com/be

We did take some photos of me on it but they didn’t look as good as these. Wonder why?

generation_pebble_duo knoll-05-06-09-092302-copy knoll-05-06-09-092283-copy knoll-2 chair

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Filed under: wellington
3 Comments

Not popular at Kensington

Posted by Trevor Mallard on July 31st, 2009

Not since I closed schools in Mosgiel have I been so unwelcome in Otago as I was cheering Wellington’s tries at the Kensington tonight. Game of two halves Lions kept it exciting.

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Filed under: wellington
12 Comments

Taranaki Whanui Settlement

Posted by Grant Robertson on July 31st, 2009

A great day at Parliament yesterday for the Taranaki Whanui ki te Upoko o Te Ika with the passing of legislation to finalise their Treaty claim.  It is well worth folks from Wellington and beyond reading some of the historical account of that lies behind the settlement.  There are some unique elements to this settlement.   One is that in additional to the Crown apology for actions that breached the Treaty, the Taranaki Whanui have offered a statement of forgiveness.  This is an incredible gesture, and gives a positive platform for the future relations between the city and iwi.  The legislation also contains an opt-out clause for one of the iwi represented (Ngati Tama). This is not something that anyone wants to see become a practice in settlement legislation, but is reflective of the unique nature of the settlement covering Taranaki iwi, Te Atiawa, Ngati Ruanui, Ngati Mutunga and Ngati Tama.

We in Wellington all owe a huge debt of gratitude to Ngatata Love and his team, as well as all the officials and Ministers who have worked so hard on this claim. I said in my speech in the Third Reading yesterday that I intend to send the full Deed of Settlement to all schools in the city.  I think this is something everyone growing up in Wellington will benefit from understanding.

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Filed under: M?ori, wellington
8 Comments

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