𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨-𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟔’𝐬

3 June 2025

Councillor Duncan of Taupo District Council reporting, this time on a few recent Council happenings which you may be interested in hearing about.

Item 5.2 of the last Tuesday Council meeting 27 May was for the adoption of a Freedom of Expression Policy (refer https://youtu.be/3G1FF75poso?si=hTYbfU3yjqWfwY8M&t=410 )

My response to it:

“𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰-𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘶𝘥.  𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳—𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘺𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘖𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘖𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘣𝘦𝘳— 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱.  𝘚𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘺 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘯𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺, 𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘕𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦.  𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘺𝘱𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘺”.

On that same day we also held a confidential workshop entitled “Development of a Joint Management Agreement (JMA) with Tuwharetoa Trust Board”.  For not-so-obvious reasons I am unable to divulge too much about the contents of that meeting, except to say that my impression has not changed from when it was first tabled as Item 5.4 of the Council meeting on 24 September 2024 (see: https://youtu.be/vFVaXHrneNo?si=o0SXo8mkjizEVBjK&t=2365 ).  This JMA doesn’t seem to serve much of a constructive purpose for Taupo constituents that I can tell, and it is hard to shake a perception that this is not some kind of surreptitious attempt at Co-governance.  Further information can be found here:  https://www.environmentguide.org.nz/rma/maori-and-the-rma/

Lastly, at another workshop on 22 May, myself & Councillor Greenslade advocated for free entry for 16 yrs & under to the Turangi Pools.  My guesstimate is that it will not make one jot of difference to anything or anybody else, but it will take a majority vote from other elected members to make it happen of whom none displayed much enthusiasm. See: https://youtu.be/vtomTSYbk9k?si=h7loafjuuara70aA&t=644

Council meeting & agendas can be found here: https://www.taupodc.govt.nz/council/meetings/meeting-agendas-and-minutes