A group representing local councils in Aotearoa New Zealand is calling for the Local Democracy Reporting programme to be expanded after the media company NZME announced a proposal to close 14 community newspapers.

The LDR programme funds local authority coverage at various publications and is managed and funded by RNZ with support from NZ On Air.

It covers most regions, apart from Waikato, Hawke’s Bay, the Kāpiti Coast, Otago, and parts of Manawatū-Whanganui and Canterbury.

Local Government NZ, a body representing most councils, said the programme should be expanded to all communities.

“Community newspapers have long played a key role in councils sharing what’s happening locally — from roading, parks and emergency management to big decisions about the future of their region,” LGNZ president Sam Broughton said in a statement.

Broughton was concerned NZME’s plan to shut 14 papers would have a devastating impact on a combined 850,000 readers.

“We are concerned that a move like this could have a negative impact on turnout in next year’s local elections.”

Isolating rural communities
Central Hawke’s Bay mayor Alex Walker said the lack of news coverage would isolate rural communities.

“The axeing of the 14 newspapers would mean that communities like Hawke’s Bay are left with a single subscription-only news outlet, that’s focused more on urban areas,” she said.

“These newspapers are also an effective two-way communication tool between council and the people they serve; particularly our older or more remote population who do not always have access to electronic media.”

The group suggested that the LDR programme’s scope be expanded to cover the rest of the country.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Last night’s Matariki drone show was an emotional experience for some of the thousands who huddled under the glow at the edge of Lake Rotorua on the eve of Aotearoa’s national indigenous holiday today.

The Aronui Indigenous Arts Festival is hosting the first ever matauranga Māori story told with 160 drones over the Rotorua Lake last night and tonight.

The show is created by Te Arawa artists Cian Elyse White and Mataia Keepa, who were helped to tell the story by Rangitiaria Tibble and James Webster.

In both te reo Māori and English, the show tells the stories of environmental markers connected to the star cluster.

Lynmore Primary School deputy principal Lisa Groot went with a group of tamariki from the school.

The teachers had spent time together remembering those who had died in the past year, and so the display hit deep.

“The waka picks the stars up on the way, seeing it in the drone show made us quite emotional.

‘So simple to understand’
“It was so simple for everyone to understand.”

She said the group had wanted to join up for the event.

“We wanted to finish our night together, it was a beautiful way to do it.”

Frances Wharerahi said to be part of the Matariki festivities gave the children te ao Māori experiences alongside whānau.

The show was appreciated by a wide audience, and Wharerahi said as she looked around at who was watching and there were old and young standing with “people from all parts of the world”.

A statement from the charitable trust said it believed that while the drone show was a risk for a reasonably new trust, it had paid off.

“Arts is an essential service. Arts deserves investment.

‘Tough time for people’
“It’s a tough time for people at the moment with the current state of inflation and the economic climate, however, events that deliver on social impact and the uplift of communities that can be brought together under a positive premise are important to our livelihood.

“These events sustain us and give our future generations something to aspire towards.”

Rotorua Trust is among the major funders of at least at $10,000, and in-kind partners helping to promote, volunteer or support include Bay Trust, Te Kuirau Marae, Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Rotorua Lakes Council.

Aronui Indigenous Arts Festival was founded in 2019 and aimed to create a platform for Rotorua arts talent.

The charitable trust is made up of local community arts and business leaders.

Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air. Published as a collaboration.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A Gisborne councillor has called into question the mayor’s ability to lead the region forward, saying her background makes it hard to understand issues affecting Māori.

Third-term councillor Meredith Akuhata-Brown made the comments about Mayor Rehette Stoltz following questions about her intention to stand for the top position at the next election.

Akuhata-Brown, who unsuccessfully contested the mayoralty in 2019, said she was not sure if she would run against Stoltz in October.

Part of the reason was she felt her chances were impacted on by not fitting the stereotype of what power looked like.

“When Rehette first ran for council, she was elected duly based on ‘that’s what councils look like across the nation’,” Akuhata-Brown said.

“She’s the deputy mayor within a couple of terms … she’s formidable … she’s young. There’s no fight for the position, it’s handed to her.”

First elected to council in 2010, Stoltz was appointed deputy mayor by Meng Foon in 2013.

Made interim mayor
When Foon left his position to become the Race Relations Commissioner in 2019, she was made mayor in the interim.

Stoltz then cruised to mayoral victory later that year with 10,589 votes, ahead of second-placed Akuhata-Brown who secured 3845 votes.

Akuhata-Brown believes the mayor had an easy run because she fit the bill of what people were used to in the make-up of councils around the country.

“We go through an election campaign when the position has already been filled.”

On her website, South African-born Stoltz shares her journey to the top elected position at Gisborne District Council.

Arriving in New Zealand in 2001 for her OE, she took a “holiday job” as the laboratory manager for a wine business before deciding to commit to Tairāwhiti long term with partner Deon.

It wasn’t until a conversation with former councillor Kathy Sheldrake in 2009 that she decided to run for council the following year.

Little debate over mayoralty
Her background is in cardiovascular physiology and she also ran a recruitment business.

Akuhata-Brown argues Stoltz was handed the mayoral chains without much debate among councillors when Foon left prematurely.

“It’s really easy for people from overseas. They come to our place highly qualified, and they are looked upon favourably, and they get the position without fighting for it.

“If you are a certain look, that is particularly not Māori, you are highly probable to get that position.”

Akuhata-Brown said she was being a “vocal local” because she was invested in the region and wanted to highlight the issues that came with integrating governance styles from overseas.

Tairāwhiti was still fraught with racial inequalities and relationships were key for connecting with those who were still trying to eek out a living in the middle and lower classes, she said.

“Those who have money and wealth and governance roles, they can just get on with their lives and not be bothered by any of that because they can just put up higher fences.

No voice for Māori and Pasifika
“For Māori and Pasifika, the voice hasn’t been there for centuries.”

Akuhata-Brown’s final criticism of Stoltz’s leadership was she had been left alone with no extra jobs and it felt like there were low expectations.

Hoping to be made a committee chair in her third term, Akuhata-Brown said positions had instead gone to people who supported the mayor 100 percent.

“There’s a real sense that to get position and acknowledgement you have to be very much on side.

“We don’t even talk, it’s just a non-relationship.”

Mayor Rehette Stoltz responded to the criticisms, saying Gisborne had been her home for 21 years and she had made a concerted effort to get a deeper understanding of the multicultural community.

Tikanga Māori course
That included completing a year-long Tikanga Māori course and becoming a member of the council’s waiata group.

She said that under her leadership, Māori wards had been unanimously voted in and memorandums of understanding signed with hapū.

“I have good working relationships with our iwi leaders and regularly meet to discuss and make decisions in regard to issues that are important to us as a region.”

Appointment to committees and chair positions were made on interest expressed by councillors, experience and merit, she said.

“I won the mayoralty with more than a 7000-vote majority. Mayoralties are not handed down, they are voted on by the community.”

The upcoming local body election is set for October 8.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A Kaipara district councillor’s almost week-long participation in New Zealand’s anti-covid-19 mandate protest at Parliament is jeopardising the safety of Kaipara residents, warns Mayor Dr Jason Smith.

Dr Smith said he was particularly worried about those in the councillor’s West Coast/Central council ward which had Kaipara’s lowest vaccination rates.

The councillor was participating in a likely “superspreader” event when health authorities yesterday reported a surge to a record 1160 covid-19 cases.

Anti-mandate campaigner and Kaipara District Council (KDC) councillor Victoria del la Varis-Woodcock left Kaipara for the Wellington anti-vaccine, anti-mandate protest on Thursday, February 10, and was still there yesterday.

She declined to say when she would be returning home. She also dismissed Dr Smith’s safety concerns as “nonsensical”.

Since arriving at the protest, del la Varis-Woodcock has addressed thousands of protesters through a megaphone, calling for the government’s covid-19 legislation to be immediately repealed.

“My name is Victoria del la Varis-Woodcock and I have a message, repeal all covid-19 legislation now,” she has told thousands of Wellington protesters.

Declined to comment
She declined to comment on whether she was representing any of the groups participating in the protest.

Del la Varis-Woodcock has previously told Local Democracy Reporting that elected representatives needed to be role models.

“Elected members need to be role models, need to stand for values of respect, of civil liberties and human rights,” she said.

A video of del la Varis-Woodcock’s speech is circulating online, including accompanying reference to her being a protest organiser, which she said was not the case, in response to Local Democracy Reporting clarification questioning.

The video has been viewed almost 3000 times, amid a protest that started on Tuesday, 8 February 8, and is now entering its ninth day.

She said protesters would be continuing their mission, regardless of water being sprayed or music being played, until the government repealed “draconian” laws it had enacted around the virus.

Del la Varis-Woodcock has been a local government elected representative since 2016.

Individual rights
She said she was not at the protest as a KDC councillor. instead, she was there as a protester exercising her individual rights. It was possible to separate the two.

Mayor Dr Smith said being a councillor was a 24/7 365-day-a-year role.

Dr Smith said del la Varis-Woodcock was entitled to her opinions, but being an elected representative brought a unique position of leadership in her local community that needed to be taken into account.

“As an elected representative there are all sorts of responsibilities to the people and organisation of the council. It is a 24/7, seven day a week role. You don’t get to suddenly be someone else. That’s part of the responsibility of this role,” Dr Smith said.

He said her protest participation was “worrisome” in terms of Kaipara residents’ health and safety.

“It’s a long way to travel from Kaipara to a likely superspreader event during the height of a pandemic with a heightened risk of bringing the virus back here,” Smith said.

That was particularly the case with Omicron rates increasing through the community, he said.

Low vaccination rate
Dr Smith said he was particularly worried about people in del la Varis-Woodcock’s West Coast/Central council ward. Latest available figures showed Māori in this area had a double vaccination rate of just over 71 percent (76.5 percent single dose rate).

Overall, there was a just over 78 percent double vaccination rate and just under 82 percent single vaccinated, he said.

Del la Varis-Woodcock said being at the protest did not compromise being able to carry out her role as a councillor.

She said she would be participating virtually from Wellington in KDC’s District Plan review meeting. The meeting was being held face-to-face in Dargaville Town Hall.

Del la Varis-Woodcock also participated virtually while councillors gathered face-to-face for KDC’s first 2022 meeting, in the same venue on February 2. A vaccination passport is required to enter the building.

Mayor Dr Smith said del la Varis-Woodcock had not provided this.

Del la Varis-Woodcock declined today to confirm her vaccination status, including whether she was unvaccinated.

Personal information
She has previously told Local Democracy Reporting that was her personal information.

Del la Varis-Woodcock describes herself on her Facebook page as “environmentalist, district councillor, mother, artist and lover of language”.

The page shares posts including against vaccination passports and concerns over media representations regarding the virus.

Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air. Published by Asia Pacific Report in collaboration.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz