My principal place of residence is in the District-Wide Councillor area. I am also standing for the Waitara Community Board.
Born and raised in rural Waitara/Bell Block. Long term New Plymouth business owner. Married with 2 young children. Standing for the people a true and authentic voice. Local and proud of our region for over 45 Years. Staying strong to my beliefs and my words. I represent the people with all my ability and wisdom. My election wish would be to see council concentrating its spending on core infrastructure that is strong and robust for the future, keeping projects to/at or below budget. Minimising rate increases. Communities would greatly benefit from funds saved to put towards extra community benefits and the well being of our people.
No - I do not support any rate rises above the NZ yearly inflation rates. 2021 was 3.9%, The NZ rates may be lower or higher than 6%. This is a moving rate so it is not possible to define, or you could look at the average of 5.5% over the last 60 years or so would be a reasonable figure to consider but would be fair to adjust against current inflation rates.
No - I do not support the removal of ownership and control of our local assets from our local people, especially under force and no consideration of the people and communities. We demand better from those who serve our Country and local communities.
No - We do not have control over the dynamics of the earths various weather patterns and natural events, so it would be money down the drain which could be better utilised towards our community efforts. We should always try to consider any natural disasters that could happen and have plans/ considerations of these possible events in place.
Yes - Business is part of the community. Our job of council is to help and support all aspects of the community including Business.
No - History on separation of race based situations typically does not go well even with positive intent. I am all for supporting everyone in our district however 83% of voters voted against Maori Wards (2015) We are a community together and not a separate community. Maori descendants could quite happily occupy all council seats and Mayor if elected by the democratic system in place.
NPDC needs to optimise/reduce excess expenditure and concentrate on supporting the surrounding areas by making sure clean water and waste systems are of top quality and creating opportunities for the surrounding areas to input clearly the needs and desires of their communities. More support and transparency of current activities
Any expenditures should be transparent and of fair budget to output the best value of result. Generally I have seen blow out upon blow out of NPDC project budgets and this needs to stop for the better of our community. I do not know in depth enough of the hub to compare or what can be achieved for $40million and is that money well spent? All budgets should be capped.
Transparency and council expenditure is top priority for me as a candidate as well as bringing the community at large together in forum to have fair input and debate around all spending. We need to accept our weaknesses as we do our strengths and in that we need the transparency to make those objective discoveries and calculate the required moves to go forward.
