“𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁”—𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗱 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀, 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

20 May 2025

Tonight at 6pm (20 May), Tony Hale, General Manager of Community Infrastructure and Services at Taupō District Council, will be speaking to the Acacia Bay Residents Association about the Council’s “Local Waters Done Well” decision.

Tony speaks well and often. What he does not do is disclose his own professional background. Despite multiple formal requests, I—as an elected councillor—was denied access to his resume and to key documentation that could have been shared with external experts for independent review.

That means Council made a preferred decision on a $100M+ water restructure with no clarity about the experience of the person driving it—and no opportunity for robust due diligence.

I won’t be at tonight’s meeting, but if you are, I suggest one simple question:

“𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒔—𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌?”

Because if transparency matters, it needs to be more than just talk.

Facebook here