13 November 2026
Disclaimer: I do occasionally use AI, but almost never in any of the text for these Friday updates.
John 7:38: “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water”. In other words, or my own words: “Do not strive to sate all your desires for that will be your end, instead seek the one true God your saviour, He who has a better plan”.
Well what an election on Saturday alright but I didn’t stay up until midnight watching, because it was almost certainly going to be a close run thing with a resolution weeks away. But I will share with you my theory as to why the National party leadership was reportedly ‘so stupid’ as to encourage their voters not to split their vote, and I am no political genius but sense I am probably right: My speculation is that National only did what was in the best long term interest of National, and that is to keep its dichotomy with Labour going for as long as possible. Just because that dichotomy has been like this in most of our lifetimes doesn’t mean it will last forever, and history is full of once mainstream parties which disappeared (some examples from New Zealand are the Liberal and Reform parties of late 19th and early 20th century, the later of which merged with another to become the National party in 1936).
I reckon that Chris Luxon and company decided that if National is going to stick around as a main player, it is in their best interest to keep others like Act or NZ First on the margins for as long as possible and desirably forever. Even if it means letting Labour back in for a term or two, because it’s all about keeping their party alive and relevant. So over 700k of National voters ‘wasted’ their party vote just to keep Act and NZ First down, with the leadership surely knowing that this strategy would drastically increase the odds of letting Labour back in. Like it or not, that’s what they did and I can’t believe it wasn’t by design – and I wonder what those 700k of National party voters now think?
Okay so what’s been happening in real life Taupo District Council?
The ups of flying: On Wednesday we had an Taupo Airport Authority (TAA) planning day towards a Master Plan for the airport, say looking ahead the next 30 years. It wasn’t recorded for public viewing and hasn’t even yet been decided if this Master Plan will be put out to general public consultation, but if/when that happens I imagine will be sometime next year (and there really isn’t much we can show you before then anyway). I have said before that the TAA is one of the much more convivial committees at Council, that somehow ten or so people can be in a room and have adult conversations without a set of formal rules to prevent talking over one another – it reminds me that there is a world outside the regular carry-ons of Chambers at Taupo District Council. Anyway there were loads of good ideas bouncing around with the appreciated guidance of international consultant Geoffrey Page of Airbiz which made for an entertaining afternoon, and I never knew that airports could be so interesting.
The up and downs of poo: Thursday we had the Water Services Committee meeting held in Turangi (read the agenda HERE). I would like to show you the audio-visual recording of the meeting, but because it was off-site is probably why it isn’t yet uploaded to youtube. But it was all about the Turangi Wastewater Plant, to which we had a very interesting and much appreciated site-visit beforehand (as a measure of my confidence I offered to drink a glass of the treated outflow, but staff refused). These are the facts: Since 2018 this Council has spent umpteen staff hours and over $400K on a consultant(s) to investigate a land-based disposal option instead of its treated outflow going straight back into the lake via wetlands as happens at present, and to date they have come up with zero. To get a better appreciation on this topic one really needs to see the meeting in full which I will attach as soon as available, or keep an eye out yourself on the TDC youtube channel.
My own unfiltered thoughts: This Council has been on a fools errand for years chasing something that isn’t even required for legislative environmental reasons, something which would set us back in the order of $20M plus running costs if it really did eventuate. I don’t blame the consultant for not having ratepayer affordability at the top of his mind, because since 2018 his briefing was quite clear and narrow focused. Perhaps it is just as well that no willing landowners could be found, because I have a strong suspicion that if one had then this whopper item would have slipped into your rates bill as just another ‘essential’. What local hapu would really like is for the wastewater plant to be removed altogether, and because we don’t have a spare say $50M or so sitting around for that to happen it realistically ain’t ever gonna make the bargaining table – but hold on, somebody did have an idea that we could throw it on a 30-year plan, yes that might make some people happy… People, this episode is ringing loud bells for me just the same as the Broadlands landfill: Until this Council makes affordability as its No.1 priority then these opaque episodes of catering to minority group cultural sensibilities will only continue. You will be the ones continuing to pay for it, and you almost never get told the full story.
The downs of being me: On Tuesday we also had the Regulatory Committee meeting which you can watch HERE, read the agenda HERE and AI summary HERE. The biggest surprise at least for me was that chairperson Councillor Rachel Cameron kicked me offline, after just 4 minutes of some questions I was attempting to ask staff regarding item 5.4 the new lease for Motuoapa Holiday Park (watch for yourself HERE). I believe the probable contention was my relating to the much more controversial Motutere lease renewal from a couple of years ago which is still ongoing, but the plug got pulled before I could even get my only two questions out. To be clear: I have no opposition to a new lease for Motuoapa and it sounds like the current lessees are doing a stirling job, my only reservations being if it gets sold to a less honorable operator. Anyway the upshot is that I immediately resigned from that committee because I cannot be bothered with such boorishness, and to be honest those agendas are usually quite tame.
Neither ups nor downs: Two other things happened Tuesday and if you want to hear the latest about the Council Gambling and TAB venues policy you can watch HERE and read the AI summary HERE. Also a workshop on Development Contributions which you can watch HERE and read the AI summary HERE
Ups for the mantlepiece: We won an award for the Turangi Reserves Management Plan, one which apparently couldn’t be delivered by post so we flew several staff along with Councillor Sandra Greenslade down to Christchurch to collect. My understanding of these award thingy’s is that one usually has to send in applications to enter, and they do seem to be coming up quite often. Good for staff morale?
Purple sky who can deny: Conflicts of Interest for Elected Members has come to the fore lately, with Rotorua Councillor Robert Lee’s question about it to Mayor Tania Tapsell a few weeks ago been receiving some recent media attention which you can read HERE. My take on this subject: In local government parlance, unless envelopes of cash are seen to be directly swapping hands, there is only a conflict of interest if one declares it (anybody remember the JMA incident last year with former Councillor Loughlin?). Having said that, do please recognise that just because something is perceived as a conflict, does not make it real. Tania could have promptly said something like: “I would like to address the perception I have a conflict of interest, but its actually not true because…”. But she didn’t, so now it seems to be up to the court of opinion to decide.
Fridays why can’t we have an astonishing election like they do in Serbia?
