2 June 2025

From the 7 min mark of this Rotorua Lakes Council (RLC) meeting on 28 May, is the part where elected members have opportunity to mention any items of interest not on the meeting agenda. For this to happen at a Taupo District Council meeting, a Notice of Motion (NoM) has to be submitted in writing five days prior, and subject to agreement by another elected member first.

Also note the NoM immediately afterwards by Rotorua Cr O’Brien. Apart from the half dozen NoM’s of my own, there has not been a single NoM by any another elected member all of this term (except for the NoM by Cr Loughlin last October to amend Standing Orders and squash opportunity for dissent).

I hope this puts into some context the state of your local democracy under its current oppressive regime.

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26 May 2025

Councillor Duncan of Taupo ward here, reporting to you on my short take of last Thursdays workshop. A fuller summary of this topic is to be found here.

𝟏. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐚𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐭 𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐚

“This is just a workshop.”

That line was used like a spell to ward off scrutiny—as if $300,000 in consultant fees doesn’t warrant any questions or need to have come up with a clear way forward.

When I asked why 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘭 was excluded from the steering group or even having any opportunity to contribute, I got:

• “You weren’t blocked” (𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴).

• “There was a vote” (𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵).

• “This isn’t the forum for grievances” (𝘜𝘯𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦).

When I raised alternatives like:

• tidal flow lanes,

• public transport modeling,

• emergency Bailey Bridge contingencies…

…I was shut down, reframed, or scolded for “derailing the meeting”.

𝟐. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐦𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧’ 𝐌𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐬

Here’s the script being sold:

Growth is inevitable. One bridge is failing. A second bridge is the only fix. Trust the experts (𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘋𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘢𝘯).

What wasn’t done:

• No structural assessment of the current bridge (even though we need to keep it going anyway – so are we going to have to pay for 𝘵𝘸𝘰 new bridges not just one?)

• No serious public transport scenarios

• No evaluation of a three-lane tidal-flow option with a direct Waikato St link

• No stated clarity on Mercury’s actual intentions with the control gates

• No proposed public input until 2027

• And still no reason given why consultant reports weren’t or still can’t be released ten months after their completion.

So what did we really get for the $300K spent to date? Not very much is all I can tell, except the necessary excuse to increase Development Contribution fees.

And contrary to assertions – Yes, this “non-decision-making workshop” only happened because I 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘥 it to happen via a Notice of Motion nearly one year ago.

𝑪𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆. 𝑨 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒑. 𝑨 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑨 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆.

Just don’t call it transparency.

Quote for today and it’s from me: “𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘺—𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘰—𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴”.

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Watch the full meeting here:

21 May 2025

In a vote taken where I was the only dissenter, the Taupō Reserves and Roading Committee yesterday (Item 5.4, 20 May meeting) approved the removal of three mature silver birch trees from the Tapuaeharuru lakefront cliffs.

I voted 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 this, and here’s why:

While the erosion of the cliff is real, we were 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦. If we are to trade away decades-old trees—public assets—we should at least be able to explain how much it would have cost to save them. We weren’t and we can’t, so that to me was insufficient grounds to proceed with the undue urgency I felt we were being pressed into.

Are there any tree huggers in Taupō? I’m not one myself, but suspect that if this were happening in Auckland we’d be hearing about it and loudly. If not, that’s okay. Move along, nothing to see here.

Watch the meeting from 33:46 here

Meeting agenda and minutes here

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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.

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14 May 2025

Taupō Councillor Duncan Campbell reporting—as I see things anyway.

Next Thursday 22 May, Council will workshop the Northern Access Transport Study—the same study I was excluded from contributing to, despite this being squarely within my professional area of expertise. It’s also the same study for which last July I had to table a formal Notice of Motion just to make a workshop happen at all.

As with the Waters Done Well endeavour, I was again denied PDF access to the underlying reports thus preventing third-party review. Once again the documents remain locked behind a security-walled read-only platform, under the unsubstantiated banner of “confidentiality.” This obstructive pattern I have already referred to the Ombudsman.

This study underpins a $70M or so line item in our Long-Term Plan, and has received minimal scrutiny from elected members outside the Mayor’s handpicked steering group of Crs Taylor, O’Loughlin, and Williamson, and despite my efforts throughout. The public also, has been provided virtually no substantive information about what’s being planned or why. For a project of such significance to the constituents of Taupo, I say these are acts of audacity if not outright negligence.

Aside from these much less-than-transparent goings on, at the workshop next week I’ll be asking some questions including:

• Why was the option of three-laning the existing Control Gates Bridge not seriously evaluated? If that happened, is a second bridge even really necessary?
• On what evidence are traffic signal intersections being preferred over roundabouts for Taupo township? The report inferred that multi-lane roundabouts are unsuitable in areas with high pedestrian/cyclist activity—yet no supporting data is provided, and clearly some New Zealand cities do use them in these situations.

These are basic questions which should have been properly addressed very early on, but simply haven’t. My professional experience is that when decision-makers are much less informed than the consultants they rely on, poor outcomes are often inevitable. I see it as my job to help prevent this happening, and in fact it was a reason many people voted for me in the first place.

Is there anything 𝘺𝘰𝘶 would like me to ask?

Quote for the day is from Niccolo Machiavelli:

“𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥”

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12 May 2025

I’ve asked Taupō District Council to tighten up how microphone muting and audio-visual records are handled during meetings. Since moving into the new Council Building, all mic control has sat with the Chair—and there’s no official record of when or how that control is exercised.

Speakers can be cut off at the Chair’s discretion, and because the camera automatically shifts to the next speaker, the public watching may never know it happened. That should concern everyone who values transparency.

I’ve proposed a basic safeguard: let elected members control their own microphones, or at the very least, keep a log of any muting events so they can be independently reviewed. So far, I’ve received no formal response—only the implication that if I’m the only one asking questions, then I must be the problem.

If you’re watching Council meetings and notice audio dropouts, silenced speakers, or unexplained gaps in the livestream, please let me know. Democracy belongs to all of us—not just the one with their finger on the mute button.

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12 May 2025

This is a paywalled Herald article about the woes of Super City Auckland by Bruce Cotterill who is a professional director, speaker and adviser to business leaders. He is the author of the book, The Best Leaders Don’t Shout, and host of the podcast, Leaders Getting Coffee. 

But even though you mightn’t want to hear about Super City, I think his closing statement about the upcoming local body elections applies to anywhere including Taupo:

“𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗼 𝗺𝘆 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿’𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳. 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝘂𝗻𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘂𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗱𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘃𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲, 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗹𝗹, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗳 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀. 𝗜𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝘀𝗸.”

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/why-the-so-called-supercity-hasnt-delivered-for-aucklanders-bruce-cotterill/HGV5TABHH5GS3GVYCIXCQWULY4/

Also see: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Ge5hqSZK4/