Tag: writing

Fridays Kindergarten Council

30 October 2026

Disclaimer: I do occasionally use AI, but almost never in any of the text for these Friday updates.

If you want to hear about repentance and yet later God’s forbearance, read Isaiah 38 starting with verse 1: “In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live’ ”.

Hello people this windy Friday, here again to update on the latest Council news both local and afar. By the way I probably won’t be talking much about national politics even though an election is almost here, because I don’t really feel very well qualified to comment unless it directly covers local matters – but don’t hold me to that. However, if you want me to summarise my view of the general local government attitude towards its ratepayer customers:

So long as you are still breathing and have some sort of roof over your heads to keep up the payments, then things are all sweet.

And if we hone in some more on Taupo District Council: In my view nearly every major decision the past four years was pre-determined to some extent and for these reasons: (i) sidelining of dissenting opinions in Chambers; (ii) withholding or delaying of information by staff; and not least of all (iii) meetings and workshops unjustifiably held as confidential and out of public view.

Anyway, why don’t we just rattle through what else we’ve got:

Massage or manipulation? On Tuesday we had our monthly Council meeting which you can watch HERE with agenda you can read HERE, along with a helpful AI summary of the transcript HERE. For this term it was a record at under two hours (last term we had a few all over in 45 min flat), quite forgettable except for the one item of moderate interest being non-elected member voting for which you can watch the to and fro banter from HERE. This Council voted 8 to 5 to advocate for three categories of non-elected committee members to retain voting rights after March 2027 when the government has stipulated such practices much cease: Chair Risk & Assurance (one position); Chair Water Services Committee (one position); and Turangi Co-governance (four positions).

The last was by far the most controversial, with staff having no substantive argument in their woolly answers that the Mana Whakahono ā Rohe Agreement does oblige Council to preserve such voting privileges, or if seeking an exemption would breach that agreement. This was not helped (or should I be saying: ‘helped’) by the fact that we received this important letter from Ngāti Tūrangitukua only a couple of hours before the meeting, instead of last Friday when it was sent to staff. On that last point: in this organisation I have experienced too many instances of information withholding or delaying, to safely assume this was not a deliberate attempt to manipulate the outcome via the possible unbalancing of a few fence-sitters with last-minute information. So once again and just like the Broadlands landfill, I suspect that ‘relationships’ are being thrust ahead of wider community interests – and all for a Turangi committee which is so untransparent they won’t even provide for audio-video recordings of its meetings. At the end of the day though the new government will decide, but I do sadly suspect that political interference as may have happened here will inevitably occur again. I may even write a letter to the Minister to help explain.

Process matters but also so does common sense: On Tuesday we also had a workshop entitled Procurement Process at Taupo District Council which you can watch HERE with an AI transcript summary HERE. In this workshop I acknowledged some confidence in the procurement process in getting best value, but commented that I believe there is a fundamental problem whereby the governance table at this Council is not granted sufficient involvement in arriving at the proposed solution in the first place. We only have influence at the Long Term Plan (LTP) and Annual Plan (AP) discussions which are of limited duration, and I say with only very skimpy coverage of alternative options.

Delegated Authorities (DA’s) are really the only practical implementation that I know of for governance to get more involved without staff just deciding to do their own thing, and if the settings were done better at this Council (say for example, projects over $500K) then your Councillors would get to vote on each item one at a time and all throughout the year. To the best of my knowledge this has never been the case in Taupo, and why would staff trouble themselves coming to ask us for permission if they don’t have to? Anyway this discussion was not permitted to go its full course in this workshop, and yes, even though the DA settings were slightly amended recently so that purchases over $1M need to get the approval of Elected Members first – these are only at the very end of the process such as after a contract has been tendered, and is effectively a tickbox exercise indeed. Even Deputy Mayor Kevin Taylor has previously acknowledged it as that, so we do agree on some things. Oh well, the Daisy chain of financial irresponsibility will just have to carry on until we all go broke.

Why do Councils overspend? Rotorua Councillor Robert Lee gave an eight-point response to a member of the publics query over their 27% rates increase over just past three years which you can read HERE. All of the eight reasons given are Iwi ‘partnership’ and ‘relationship’ related and make for some stark reading – indicating that Council perhaps isn’t always acting in the best interest of constituents but somebody else. Do you think the same happens here?

Putting it pleasantly: Here the Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell does it so well, as in admitting her staff have somewhat cocked up which you can watch HERE. As in, they didn’t have a comprehensive enough asset management plan which covered a certain Council owned building which was receiving only $120 a year in rent (that’s $120, yes you heard correct) yet costs around $200K to maintain. Tania certainly has some skills as a politician because here she is very good at putting on a brave face, although based on public feedback her strawman tactic on Councillor Robert Lee about his supposed ethnically biased questioning which got him ejected from Chambers recently seems to have backfired (which you can also read about HERE).

Too much too soon and I tried to warn em: Fire chiefs in Waipa say that the speed humps over there are causing them trouble which you can read about HERE, and that Council has committed $310k to lowering the profile of 12 of them. As a practicing traffic engineer, I was one of the leading advocates who started putting them on arterial roads in West Auckland around 18 years ago, mainly in the context for multi-lane roundabouts to help pedestrians and cyclists. Prior to that, speed humps on main roads were almost heretical amongst the professional transport community except for perhaps busy town centres.

But the idea really caught on for everywhere else, and I reckon things started to get a little out of hand from around 2015 onwards – and the transport fraternity is quite a fashionable lot once an idea catches on. Around 2018 in vain I tried to warn the bigwigs at Auckland Transport there would be inevitable backlash – which there was, with government finally stepping in several years later to say they wouldn’t fund them. I actually thought it was quite good seeing a lot of them going in around Hamilton and especially at signalised intersections which are prone to having high injury crash rates, but did notice that many of them weren’t constructed to very useful speed reduction standards. Anyway, horses for courses and there are many good reasons to put them in – troublesome road safety spots especially, because lower speeds mean less severe crashes and alternatives are sometimes much costlier – but we engineers are prone to sometimes pushing things until they break, just like dummies maybe…

Sovereign nation TKNT? I just received a response from Minister Conservation Hr Tama Potaka, regarding the illegitimate occupation of Five Mile Bay Public Reserves which you can read HERE. In a nutshell as I interpret: the statutory obligations of Te Kotahitanga o Ngāti Tūwharetoa (TKNT) in their 2018 Treaty Settlement to keep these reserves publicly accessible and have a Reserve Management Plan in place by 2024 are not able to be meaningfully enforced, including by the minister or Department of Conservation (DoC), except perhaps via an expensive judicial review in the High Court by an outside party. This is a wide open admission indeed, and to all practical purposes the inference is that TKNT can do as it pleases with impunity. My AI is suggesting this is now a case which could be escalated to the Auditor General as a question of systemic weakness of public institutions, which I will probably do, but I suppose that will only take more time for dissatisfaction to simmer. Perhaps some local action would help bring some helpful national attention to this situation?

Like a bowl of covid sick: Our very own Dame Jacinda Ardern has been appointed a professorship at the University of Sydney, to apparently give lectures on such things as ’empathetic leadership’‘. But an open letter to the University from Voices for Freedom NZ has apparently caused quite a public stir which you can read about HERE. I wonder if it is perhaps due to the fact that her ’empathetic leadership’ was so successful, that she is now unable to step back safely in her country of birth?

And what about poor old Barry: the whistleblower who has been harrassed by said New Zealand government for only trying to get the truth out about the dastardly covid vaccines. Former UK politician Andrew Brigden previously tabled about it in their parliament which you can watch HERE, before any of us in this country heard about it. I tell ya folks, truth can hurt sometimes but most of all it can hurt those who try to tell it.

Fridays six-minute pictorial lesson about the bad things which can happen if you push a proud and capable people too far:

Fridays Dribbling On

16 October 2026

Disclaimer: I do occasionally use AI, but almost never in any of the text for these Friday updates.

Quote for today and it’s from me this time: “I’d rather be an artistic engineer, than an architect who only knows to build on sand”.

Hi people and this week I have some things to tell but also some things not, because as mentioned last week I am withdrawing my attention from Council areas where my interest is minimal or proper scrutiny not being allowed. First lets get over with the some things not: (i) the third (or fourth) Long Term Plan (LTP) capital works workshop you can watch HERE with AI summary HERE – nothing too riveting that I can tell and includes some stuff about erosion control and EUL land etc; (ii) the Reserves Management Plan workshop you can watch HERE with AI summary HERE – this is an endeavour I opposed going ahead in the first place because it doesn’t seem warranted, but you will hear more about it later when it gets public consulted.

Talkfest at your expense: Several of your Elected Members have been attending the Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) annual conference, this year conveniently being held 14-15 October in Rotorua. Now I wouldn’t have bothered going if it wasn’t so close to home, and even though this Council pays around $90K annual membership you still had to fork out around $1500 for each of us to go.

But the food was excellent (pork belly cutlets were a highlight) in the lovely Rotorua gardens setting even in the rain, and some of the people I talked and met with were pretty good value even though I am sure there are cheaper ways of doing those things. For anybody interested in reading about it you can read the programme HERE, but its not very informative and none of the presenters were required to submit any papers with their thoughts in writing. I did see some video cameras around, but the last time I enquired with LGNZ about recordings the response was that they don’t have the funds or personnel – I have my sincere doubts about that, and reckon its rather they don’t want too many outsider eyeballs looking in. Compared to the engineering conferences which I have attended numerous occasions in the past (which are not overly exciting), the topics were pretty dry and not very solutions-oriented.

The upcoming amalgamations did of course get mention and Minister of Local Government Simon Watts was game to turn up and face a lot of heckles, like our own Councillor Wahine Murch’s which you can watch HERE – but I didn’t really glean a lot from the spinning central government party politicians who did come along or even if they have much of a handle on local government. But Nelson Mayor and former central government minister Nick Smith did make a pointed spiel about locally collected transport levies of $45M which he reckons should go to them rather than Wellington, although that idea clearly deserves proper scrutiny. Matamata-Piako Mayor Ash Tanner’s pointed claim that they are doing quite well enough and that any amalgamation would be detrimental to them was interesting – I suppose there must be a few well functioning Councils, but I have heard that claim too many times around here to believe it at face value. The minor highlights for me apart from the food and company, was the playground disaster roleplay exercise when a heckler brought up fluoride, and Wollongong Lord Mayor Tania Brown whose anecdotes on rate capping since 1977 will undoubtedly be taken as ammunition from both camps. Although she indicated rate caps clearly drive innovation and thinking outside the square, her passing mention that voters would surely un-elect politicians if gross wasteful spending was detected seems a little naive considering the Kiwi politically lethargic psyche.

I did have a chat with an employment agency for Chief Executives, and he agreed that New Zealand is very much a rotating inner circle for these people and the modern world expectations on them to in-depth understand all aspects of Council business is indeed quite inhuman. What else did I learn of value at the conference? Not much really, except only anecdotal things such as local government have to keep and maintain 25% of the nations infrastructure on only 10% of the tax take which is so grossly unfair – but as I said, this conference is very much off the public record and any outside scrutiny of what gets said is not made easy. So our Council Daisy felt quite at home, and perhaps she is feeling complacent that forced change isn’t coming like happened in 1989 as Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roache who recalls an LGNZ conference in 1986 where 99% of participants were dead against it. Oh yes, and Taupo District Council won the SuperLocal Award first place for the East Urban Lands (EUL) which is delivering cheap housing for locals.

Okay that’s enough about the party, so what other tidbits have we got?

So that’s how they did it: Remember last week I mentioned how Waikato District Council last financial year managed to keep rates at inflation and also get a surplus? Well it turns out they did it by getting rid of over a quarter of their staff or 125 of their roughly 450 employees, as you can read about HERE (including an expensive Chief Executive who resigned, but I suppose they will have to get another one of those). Wow that’s impressive alright, and it really does appear that their new mayor Aksel Bech is a guy who actually went in with a plan. Their Strategy and Growth group will be completely disestablished – the people who work on long-term planning, district development, housing supply and economic strategy. Perhaps its just because I am a mere doer engineer, but I have always wondered about the value of those people myself.

Smart contractors know how to game the system: That is my experience, and following some recent conversations I’ll try to tell some of my tidbits of wisdom below. Smart/disingenuous mean pretty much the same, and for jobs which really blow out it is usually the client who is most at fault. Contractors or consultants pretending to be naive about potential pitfalls can get paid dividends, and I have seen that happen first hand. Council clients who know much less about the job than the tenderer are at their mercy, a recent example which springs to mind is the $400k being forked out to a Christchurch consultant to tell us we need an $80M transport solution for Taupo town. At this Council we also have the Chief Executive with authority to discretely shovel up to $500K between contracts, and poof! that means we can have some perfect storms which hardly anybody notices. If a client can’t tell the difference between good and bad then the cheapest price will often win, and in a small town like this it probably also pays to be well connected (one of my former consultant engineer bosses made it his business to befriend key clients over coffee and lots of extras, a bit hit and miss but I have to acknowledge it helped educate that we were indeed the best option and it did get us work). Unlike yesteryear, Councils are not the most rewarding and stimulating places they once were for motivated and experienced staff to stay on and innovate, so its the smart-ass contractors who will stay in business and nice guys who try to factor in all the eventualities who won’t often win. The moral of the story to all of this and I hope it doesn’t sound negative: its all about the client.

Sloppiness under the microscope: New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) released an audit report of Taupo District Council practices which you can read HERE (happens every several years), and I give an AI generated summary below in italics. I have noticed before the incomplete nature of safety audit reports from this Council – as in, somewhat vague record of just who exactly is taking responsibility. If some of you remember the Arrowsmith Avenue/ Kiddle Drive debacle around 2019, I pursued it further at the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) regional office to try and get them to understand that if they are dishing out swathes of money then perhaps they should keep an eye on how it is getting spent (road safety projects in general get around 50% subsidy). However, although the experienced middle management engineer I spoke to agreed with my sentiments he had no authority to intervene. By the time I escalated to the senior manager who could intervene, I was talking to a somebody who claimed it wasn’t in his job description to even properly understand. I have been down that road before at another large public institution (Auckland Transport), and it can be safe to say that I am not a great believer in the management ethos which preaches they don’t need ground experience in the field. In this regard I believe Councils are much worse than the private sector because accountability for results is much rarer, with senior management too often there for political reasons and relevant experience just one factor. Remember: Councils almost never go bankrupt, so the only real limit to their sloppiness is you at the voting booth. The AI summary if the NZTA report:

“A recent NZ Transport Agency audit of Taupō District Council’s roading operations has highlighted some important issues around value for money, road safety and long-term maintenance. While the auditors acknowledged that our roads are generally in reasonable condition and commended the capability of Council’s roading team, they also identified areas requiring improvement. Of particular concern was the finding that Council has not been routinely undertaking the required financial assessments to demonstrate that pavement rehabilitation and drainage renewal projects represent the best whole-of-life value for money. The audit also found that many of the road safety audits examined were incomplete, with insufficient documentation of how identified safety concerns had been addressed. This is particularly relevant given recent public concerns about the cost of some Council roading safety projects. Although the NZTA findings do not establish that those particular projects were overpriced, they reinforce the importance of transparent decision-making, robust financial justification and proper safety assessments. Ratepayers should be able to see not only that a project improves safety, but also that the expenditure is justified, proportionate and delivers genuine value for money”.

Dare to complain: For those of you unhappy with anything Council or any other government organisation, the Ombudsman has recently put out some advice for using AI for making complaints which you can read HERE. I really think they are trying to make their own life easier, but fair enough if it helps you get an answer any quicker. But my own experience with the Ombudsman is very hit and 90% miss because their jurisdiction is so very narrow, and my better bet is to broadcast any of my dissatisfactions to you.

Bad vibes from those in charge: Rotorua Lakes Council on behalf of Rotorua Airport is currently opposing on safety grounds the proposed expansion of a nearby maori-language immersion school which you can read about HERE. The school isn’t too happy because this opposition is going to load them with extra costs, and I must admit it is seeming a mite miserable because if a plane crashes into them it will already be quite bad. Is there more to it than just that?

Be enlightened if you dare: Ever wondered what your Covid so-called conspiracy theorist relatives are on about? Perhaps if you watch THIS you might have something to talk about this coming Christmas apart from just the weather, when you are obliged to socialise for a few excruciating hours.

Fridays live is life, so this week try to make the best of it:

Fridays Open Your Eyes

9 October 2026

Ecclesiastes 3:7 reads pretty much how I view my approach at Council: “A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak…”

Hi folks it is that time of the week again, and this post on Council is on the shorter side. We had the Long Term Plan (LTP) workshops pressing on, which I mostly haven’t bothered to attend since my last Tuesday experience which told me they aren’t being chaired to allow what I would call proper scrutiny of the staff led direction forward. However the yesterday Water Services I decided to turn up, and have used AI to produce some very helpful timestamped summaries for you to hone in on the things you might be interested in (links given below). What an amazing tool is this AI now at our fingertip disposal, so I suppose we will just have to get used to having more of those data centre thingies popping up around the place.

But the sour taste still remains – it is all very well to once every three years come up with a future plan, but locking it in as this Council does with few worthwhile check-ins to Elected Members in the interim is just not on. I think of my former experience at Waitakere City as an engineer, and can only imagine what the former members of Henderson Community Board would think of all this – they functioned very much like the empowered local boards would under my Waikato Together amalgamation concept, and I regularly had to present my projects for their approval which got turned down more than just a couple of times (and present all throughout the year one by one and properly, not just rattling through them all at once). I can tell you one thing – back then if I had suggested we run things like here in Taupo, I would have been laughed out of Henderson Chambers! The horse has indeed been ahead of the cart so long, there’s nobody around to pick up let alone see the dung behind – oh that’s right, its you.

Okay lets rattle them off shall we?

Roads, Reserves and playgrounds galore: Tuesday was part 3 of the LTP series, a 5 hr marathon which you certainly don’t have to watch if you don’t want (but if you do then watch HERE). As promised, here is my AI timestamped meeting 7-page summary. The theme was basically for Elected Members to indicate ‘Include‘, ‘Maybe‘ or ‘Exclude‘ projects on the basis of presented merits, but I can tell you the provided information was very skimpy indeed. I have requested pdf copies of what we get to hopefully share with you next week, but in the meantime below is a snippeted example of a project which I previously estimated could be done for several-fold less expense (the Chemist Warehouse intersection in town at an estimated $970K – which present Elected Members nominated to ‘include‘). Three million in todays dollars is roughly what I used to have allocated for minor safety improvements at Waitakere City pop. 200K, and I think there is no way we should be expending anywhere near much on fairly trivial intersections as these.

Water, water everywhere but soon enough not to drink: Yesterday we had the Water Services workshop for LTP capital projects which I did decide to attend, another 4 hr epic (watch HERE) but with a much more palatable AI timestamped 9-page summary you can read HERE. There were a bunch of items covered in water, wastewater & stormwater, and basically the format here was a staff presentation of the ‘musts‘ and ‘shoulds‘, although perhaps because we had a different chairperson there was no move to voting whether to ‘include‘. By the way if you hadn’t worked it out by now, water services are not currently proposed to be rate capped like the rest, and this is a serious shortcoming I feel. Clearly it is subjective opinion whether we really need to do many of the projects presented before us as ‘musts‘, and the necessity for some of them are dependent on extraordinary events such as an earthquake or lake algae bloom. My own view is that because Taupo is a relatively new town and we don’t have falling apart infrastructure like some, there really is no excuse we should be spending more than the inflation which ratepayers can afford. In my opinion it is just that simple, and we should be sticking to the 2-4% mandated by government as per the rest of Council expenditure. Hear me again: no excuse. But I am certainly in the very small minority of Chambers who am thinking along these lines, and on stating this yesterday received no accolades just a few sniggers. Shall I say it?…Ugh.

That’s enough of that, so what else do we have going on?

Why can’t we do that? Waikato District Council managed to end with a $26.7M operating surplus for 2025/26 which you can read about HERE. They also managed a 3.79% rates increase in that period, so it sounds as if they are certainly on the right track and could be a good partner to amalgamate with. I wonder what the government will next year decide for us?

Google better than signs: There was apparently some tensions near Turangi last week with the NZTA road closure of SH1 Waiotaka No.2 Bridge for several days, and all because some people chose to take the detour route of Waiotaka Road instead of driving all around the other side of the lake. But Waiotaka Road includes a small ford not exactly suitable unless you have a 4WD, so perhaps next time NZTA had better talk to Google because nowadays people drive by their phones and don’t necessarily see the warning signs.

Modus operandi common thread: The Ombudsman is apparently looking into allegations of secrecy in the Education Ministry which you can read about HERE, basically alleging bully tactics of management to public servants to not write things down. In my experience this absolutely applies to Councils too, and especially the one I talk about most.

Napier Highway $1M windfall: Recall a few months ago that I posted about the $1M job which Taupo District Council recently finished building? Those interested can read this consultant report which I subsequently LGOIMAed. Now it is clear that some thought did go into this with a few options explored – but I simply disagree the way things like this get handled. This was a $1M job left entirely to engineering judgement, and although it is of course too late now I would have preferred the much cheaper pictured option been taken more seriously. Yes the bank is failing and yes we seem to have made that problem go away, but I can think of better ways to spend $1M and buying time by moving the road further away from it was an entirely legitimate proposition. So another somewhat ‘ugh’ that Elected Members don’t get their proper say and that it just gets left to the engineers – back in the day it wouldn’t have happened in Henderson.

Under the gun: State of Florida is suing Pfizer don’t you know, which you can read about HERE – remember them? Florida’s complaint under its consumer protection law seeks $10,000 per violation plus disgorgement of profits, which sounds a mouthful but I am guessing could add up to quite a lot. I recall an educated pundit saying around 2022 that by the time these drug companies get revealed the ones responsible would be long gone and the money hidden away – I am guessing that will be the case but hope it isn’t.

Fridays don’t put on the glasses if you want to stay asleep:

Fridays Feast of Fools

2 October 2026

Disclaimer: I do occasionally use AI, but almost never in any of the text for these Friday updates.

Edgar Allen Poe has a quote from the Cask of Amontillado (1846) which pretty much sums up my experience of Council this week: “Ugh! ugh! ugh! – ugh! ugh! ugh! – ugh! ugh! ugh! – ugh! ugh! ugh! – ugh! ugh! ugh!”.

Councillor Duncan here, and this week in Council has crossed a new threshold which I didn’t expect so soon and to which I see no clear path to return. Interestingly it was spurred by the same issue as last term and in a similar timeframe, about a topic I know deeply because it falls within my profession: the Taupo Northern Gateway project (or Northern Access as I have been referring to it). My challenge to the set direction was firmly sidestepped, which I knew would be attempted but was still disturbing enough that my apologies in advance if much of the following comes across as even more of a rant than usual.

So on Tuesday we had the first of our Long Term Plan (LTP) capital programme workshops (watch the full 2 hrs HERE) where as by far the most expensive item at $80M this got covered first – and it was nothing short of a predicated whitewash. Since 2022 I have taken great interest in this project with my own proposed way forward which I had been led to believe would be given opportunity to table – but just one hour before the meeting Mayor John Funnell said no! Instead all that we were permitted were questions to the staff and attending consultant (who flew up from Christchurch) about their own preferred option, and one which is pretty clear won’t be happening for decades because government funding is unlikely and forecast growth on the north side of the bridge is less than predicted (i.e. to accrue the developer contributions required to pay for around 70% of the project). So the reality is that Taupo town traffic won’t be getting better for a very long time unless we come up with something a lot more affordable. That something is what I have developed for free and which the Mayor didn’t allow me to table, instead only offering me backroom presenting out of public view – which is something I steadfastly refuse to do again after my recent Waikato Together experience that never saw the light of day on Council public record. But more dismally is that virtually all of the other Councillors agreed with the Mayors approach, largely on the basis that, and I am not making this up (my paraphrasing)“if we all were allowed to present our own ideas in Chambers there would never be enough time”!! I can only think that perhaps those others just don’t have any good ideas they are confident worth sharing.

This Council has already blown $300K on consultants to do work much of which we could have done ourselves, and are about to spend another $100K or so carrying it on. It is appalling and should be scandalous, and from my perspective most of all we have Deputy Mayor Kevin Taylor to blame – he is the one who chose to withhold information from the rest of Elected Members in 2024 which directly led to deciding on an $80M solution which might not happen in our lifetimes. To say this whole guttery episode is distressing is an understatement, and I am reluctant to participate in many future “workshops” which I now see as nothing more than brain washing sessions where alternative points of view are refused coverage. So this Council will have spent over $400K to basically achieve nothing constructive for the foreseeable future, and all because of petty politics and protecting some magnificent egos. And don’t be fooled people, it is not the system at fault here and I see this as the people you voted in to govern. Amalgamation might fix some things, but if voters keep on electing a bunch of people who are happy enough to rubberstamp everything put in front of them, then not much will change with your (probably capped) rates bill except perhaps a reduction in basic services. So its ugh alright, and for this term at least never have I viewed the place and people so low. At very least this episode should belie the fallacy that capital projects get line by line scrutinised, because this is the biggest line of all and it received none.

Okay so apart from getting that off my chest, what else have we got going on?

Sorry you feel that way: In case you were listening on Tuesday and didn’t know what he was on about, watch HERE for Mayor John Funnell’s roundabout apology for my recent labelling of dummy-like behaviour by a number of Elected Members last month. I rather think that it is time Councillors do some growing up to be able to take some criticism, but as per below it is possible something may have shifted.

Political views allowed but only just the one: On Tuesday I submitted my Notice of Motion Item 5.10 (which you can watch HERE, and for my transcript read HERE) advocating for Councillor views to get reinstated in ratepayer funded Council media (eg. Councillor Korero in Taupo & Turangi News), and also to be less censored than before. Apart from Councillor Hope Woodward it was unanimously voted down, but at least there was more than zero debate this month so was an improvement. What still somewhat astounds me though, is that we have a room full of politicians who aren’t interested in reaching people with their own views alongside the corporate messages of Council as does get practiced elsewhere – especially print media for the many people who are digitally disinclined. So I guess they aren’t as motivated springboards for change or have given up hope, because silence is the recipe for status quo to remain. Of mild interest there was a brief fracas at the beginning of that item with a member of the public wanting to make their own video recording – which was something I was going to do myself, but according to interpretation of these Chambers I apparently have less rights than a member of the public so had to ask someone else instead (the current setup does not record the rest of the room during speaker time, and the Chief Executive told me it would cost $10K to do it!). However I neglected to read the fine print from Standing Orders below, that the chairperson is meant to be notified at the commencement of the meeting when they only arrived part way through, because rules matter you know…

Other bits and bobs: There were a few other mentions during Tuesday meetings which I can recall: my of course repeating about rubberstamping exercises in Chambers; a dubious decision about power of attorney that I was apparently alone to not understand but four others voted against (watch HERE); my mention that the fireworks cancellation was not decided in Chambers (watch HERE for the outraged squeals); and my mention that although Water Services won’t be rates capped we can voluntarily chose to do so (watch HERE, including some later responses that we need to follow the rules and the Commerce Commission will apparently save us from overspending – which I know they have told us they won’t). Oh yes there was also the Part 2 LTP capital works brainwash session on Thursday which I declined to attend, a marathon 5 hour effort which I downloaded the transcript to instead produce this AI summary – in future I’ll be doing this more to save myself the hassle of attending, and if I have any questions can always LGOIMA them through to staff.

Five Mile Bay part VII: I have been writing to the Minister of Conservation Hon Tama Potaka about the illegitimate occupation of public reserves, and was recently forwarded this response from the Department of Conservation which boils down to this: Usually a public reserve administered by a public body if they aren’t living up to their obligations, could be subject to Section 27 of the Reserves Management Act (see below) to revoke ownership administration back to the Crown – but because these were part of a Treaty Settlement it doesn’t apply. So if the Te Kotahitanga O Ngāti Tūwharetoa (TKNT) failure to live up to its obligations and put in a Reserve Management Plan with public access (now at least two years overdue) is to be challenged – that appears to mean by individual citizens or organisations in the High Court. My response to the Minister is asking just what he is prepared to do about this very unsatisfactory shortcoming in the legislation and his supposed jurisdiction. Will keep you posted.

Don’t be fooled: Its nice to waste less, but our landfill consent which expires the end of 2027 wouldn’t be a significant problem except Taupo District Council have left it much too late to clear Environment Court hurdles and we will quite likely be paying up very large because of it.

Giving it away: Much better spoken than myself Rotorua Councillor Robert Lee lost a battle last week to apparently prevent the giving away of $250K of Council income to local Iwi via some revesting of Council administered reserves, previous gifts now being reclaimed. But if you watch the linked “debate” – ugh, its almost impossible to properly debate anything at all when the chairperson uses their position to disrupt the flow of conversation, not to mention flippant point of orders by other members. I would like to say it is just ignorant behaviour but too often its intentional, and having said that the Rotorua chambers come across as a little more civilised than here.

Back from the brink: Santas parades back on the cards for 5 December thanks to a last minute efforts by SB Events managing director Shannelle Barrett and I gather Mayor John Funnell also lent a helping hand – so he does have his uses even if he is liable to give short shrift to democracy in Chambers and therefore to you.

Ever wonder what they get paid? I was forwarded an interesting spreadsheet of Taupo District Council staff salaries from a LGOIMA request as per snippet below, its only indicative but gives you a glimpse to decide if you think they are under or overpaid:

Auckland scraps postal voting for local elections despite the “eye watering” cost of $10 per ratepayer which seems good value to me, apparently mainly due to integrity and fraud concerns in South Auckland last election. Yes, I think that could be good for here too, what do you think?

Iwi in or Iwi out? Iwi want to demolish the Chateau read about it HERE. Now I don’t know all the details and am only reading the tea leaves as I see them: The reason that the Chateau is not commercially viable is because of Iwi, and Iwi now want it gone. Please tell if you think I’ve got it wrong.

Crux of the matter: Read here for Queenstown Crux media taking on the Council for a $200M blunder. I wish we could have as polished local investigative reporting here in Taupo, then I could take a rest.

Criminals in charge: Yesterday Dr Matt Shelton begins a two week disciplinary hearing before the NZ Medical Council for which he has waited for five years unable to work as a doctor for the duration. His “crime”? In August 2021, while practicing as a GP, Dr Shelton apparently sent the following text to his 600 patients enrolled at his clinic: “Hi [name], your GP, Dr Shelton here. I cannot in conscience support Covid vaccination of, particularly, children, and pregnant and fertile women, from my assessment of current risks and benefits, best explained at [NZDSOS website) All to make their own best decision”. You can send your messages of support for Matt HERE

Fridays foolish catchy tune, but is he madman or a genius?

Fridays Much Ado About Nothings

25 September 2026

Disclaimer: I do occasionally use AI, but almost never in any of the text for these Friday updates.

Matthew 10:16 tells us something most politicians can’t be accused of including probably myself too much of the time, but if it comes from God then it must be true: “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves”.

Well, well, what about it then. The government has decided to hold off on their Council amalgamation decision until after the election, instead of announcing it this month as originally planned. So I guess instead of scaring the horses at this inopportune moment, they must really want to win this to-the-wire election instead. So touché, bravo and well played Prime Minister Luxon, and I have to admit not seeing that one coming but in hindsight it makes a lot of sense. Politics is a ruthless human game after all, and it takes ruthless types to excel.

Apart from that, what did we have on at Council this week? Nothing! For the first time in quite a while Elected Members had a whole week off, no meetings or workshops or anything at all! I took it as a very welcome break after some of the recent few months tumultuations, and yesterday even managed a bluebird day in the snow. Because this role can suck it out of you at times, and its not for the fainthearted if you want to stay true. Next week is looking a little busier though, and I will rattle off a few of the more important things below:

Northern Access Workshop: Next Tuesday we have the first of our Long Term Plan (LTP) Capital Programme Workshops starting at 10am, where the Northern Access project is scheduled to be discussed (that’s the $80M project for the new Waikato river bridge). It was originally supposed to happen this week, but for undisclosed reasons was deferred. Yes I do have a grievance because just like the Joint Management Agreement and countless other things that happened last term, this Council’s behind-closed-doors modus operandi makes things more complicated than they need to be. Anyway I expect to be finally able to properly table my idea for a three-lane bridge and Waikato Street connection which has been playing on my mind since 2022. Because $80M is a lot of money and its the biggest LTP capital item by far, and guess who’s paying for it: You. By the way anybody in the transport profession like me who have practiced in cities are basically socialists by profession – who do you think decides that for the betterment of everybody, people need to get on buses?

Publicity but only for those more equal than others: Next Tuesday at the monthly Council meeting (read the agenda HERE) I am tabling a Notice of Motion item 5.10 that Council funded media include some coverage for Elected Members. For example you may recall the Councillor Korero inserts which used to be in the Taupo & Turangi Times? They took a required pause during the local government elections of 2025 but still haven’t been reinstated, just why that is the case is still not clear. Not every constituent is digitally inclined or even tunes in to Duncandoestaupo.com, so I think it is important that you get to hear how Elected Members are thinking whether they feel like talking or not. There is also the question of political messaging: I figure that because Councils are political organisations and “politician” happens to be our job description then you are entitled to hear our views, but that is contrary to the previous Taupo District Council guidelines which said “no political messaging”. I want those guidelines changed because if its okay for Mayor John Funnell to espouse on Council media his own political messages, then it should be okay for the rest of us too.

Here’s the solution but where’s the problem? Item 5.4 at the Council meeting is to do with powers of attorney, and like anything legal its convoluted but here my antennae are up. I don’t take anything to do with this Council for granted anymore, and I note my favourite Deputy Mayor gets special mention in this piece. People say in this business we should be free of personal angst, but in a place where accountability is in short supply – what really else is there? Anyway it is what it is, and I have my suspicions. Anybody who is a lawyer out there is welcome to contact and allay my concerns.

Apart from that, what else do we have?

What about that bypass? I forgot to mention one thing from my meeting at last weeks Waikato Regional Council (WRC) Transport Committee meeting in Hamilton – the Taupo to Turangi Bypass running between Hatepe and Motuoapa. This was a project scoped out back in 2017 at quite some expense as you can see with this SH1 Taupo to Waiouru Indicative Business Case (IBC). However the NZTA web page on the close to $1B project more or less sums it up: “has not progressed due to changes in priorities and funding”. But what a great thing when it does get to happen (will be a toll road most likely), estimated to save 14 min drive time and then we get a lakeside road for meandering tourist traffic only (a downside is that Taupo District Council gets to own and maintain it)

Not what they said it would be: Well the Local Government Improvement Bill just got past its third reading, but the Taxpayer’s Union (TU) isn’t too happy because they claim it only strengthens a Council Chief Executives hand to hold on to information that Elected Members seek. Watch HERE for the interview with Minister Simon Watts. Last week I shared a submission of mine to this bill, but I clearly misunderstood because its far too late for that – and if they won’t listen to TU then they wouldn’t have listened to me anyway.

Just good business? Watch HERE for Duncan Garner talking about the trebling of Taupo District Councils rental arrangement with Tuwharetoa which most of us have already heard about, but he is also quite incensed about a culture of information clasping which I can absolutely attest to. Information is generally only released on a “need to know” basis, and this has been one of my major frustrations the past four years. Is it perhaps just a coincidence that our Deputy Mayor is an ex-senior policeman, and that happens to also be the attitude of NZ Police?

Anyway it has stimulated myself to ask some questions, because as far as I was aware the building lease was already a done deal by the time I arrived as an Elected Member in 2022 (and it wasn’t on my radar list of priorities anyway). But I now have suspicions that it actually wasn’t a done deal: What if it was an option to not go through with, but never tabled? It has certainly happened before alright, but back in 2022 I was too green to have a clue.

Because we say so: Far North Councillor Davina Smolders recently put out an interesting post about confidentiality which you can read HERE. As an Elected Member the first thing I always challenge is the need for confidentiality in the first place, because that decision itself can be subjective. The Council staff response can be legitimate, but too often is effectively just: “because we say so”. In addition, some documents are held electronically not shareable including those not deemed “classified”, so feeding it through AI for advice is that much harder – I had a lot of problem with that last term, so far this term things are somewhat better.

Fridays sci-fi premonition of the week: Council Daisy in 2027?

Friday Stormclouds Gather

18 September 2026

Disclaimer: I do occasionally use AI, but very rarely in any of the text for these Friday updates.

Accountability matters very much in positions of leadership, something we don’t always see a lot of in local government. And as said in Luke 16:10: “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much”.

Not too much happened again this week in Council, as we await the axe to fall probably within the next ten days as the government tells us where we will be placed or left alone. As I mentioned a few weeks ago it seems like that we really could be left alone, because the National party really do want to get back in power and not rock the boat so that means their former promise of “we will do it to you” is now sounding rather hollow. I hope that doesn’t happen because the thought of things carrying on as they are for too much longer is quite hard to bear, so we will just have to see if the wave of change arrives and lethargic Council Daisy is required to amend her ways.

On that note there has been a recent report on what some Waikato Councils spent on consultants for their Head Start amalgamation efforts. Five Councils spent $300K with Thames-Coromandel (pop. 33,000) top of the pack at $181K with Hamilton City just $29K. For something as momentous as the first re-organisation of Council in nearly 40 years I think these figures are fairly pipsqeak, and the $0 which Taupo District Council spent is a reflection of its reluctance to see past its own nose. Elected Members and the people of Taupo district did not receive unbiased information about the potential gains for reform and it really shows. Anyway, lets cross that bridge next week and see what happens.

As for rates capping, instead of tackling the problems at their root the only recent messaging from Council leadership is cancelled firework displays, promises that basic services will inevitably suffer, oh and by the way your water bills will be getting higher because rates caps don’t apply to them. Incidentally I don’t think amalgamation is the only way to sort this Council out, but it sure is coming across as very convenient. The power of a Mayor to change anything is discussed in this somewhat despairing article, but the way I see it is that whenever Elected Members are scattered the Chief Executive can easily have their way. I had something of a workaround plan in my election campaign of 2025 and it doesn’t get around that, but at least I had a plan which is more than can be said for some.

On other things:

Who pays the bill? We had a Risk & Assurance workshop this week on Natural Hazards which you can watch HERE. This is largely on the back of the recent Mount Maunganui landslide disaster where Tauranga City Council is looking to be at fault even though nobody in particular seems to be held to blame, and this is a topic now receiving wider scrutiny in national media (pay walled). My basic take is that Taupo district is much luckier than most because we are away from coast, major fault lines and severe weather, and we only have a few volcanoes which hardly ever stir. But there is an interesting mention of the steep bank situation near Waihi Village which is on private land and quite a comparable situation to Mount Maunganui. My question of who is responsible or held accountable if a disaster happened there remains unanswered until we get some fuller reporting in November – so just like Tauranga, I am guessing it is nobody.

What about Turangi? I attended a very interesting meeting at the Waikato Regional Council Transport Commitee on Monday, which is usually quite geared to other transport challenges in our region much greater than ours like Hamilton Metro and Thames-Coromandel single-lane bridges falling into the sea. But we had a few things fall nicely into place which highlights what I think is the No.1 transport problem of the Taupo District – inadequate access to public or alternative transport.

For instance we had people from Raglan submit a petition for an improved bus service to that now in place, so that commuters coming back from Hamilton don’t have to wait all the way until the last bus at 6.15pm to get back home (which is also inconvenient if they want to stay in town for dinner). Watch the ten min public presentation HERE. This is a very comparable situation with Turangi, because Raglan has a population of around 3,700 (smaller than Turangi) and the distance to Hamilton quite similar to Taupo – yet Turangi doesn’t even have a daily service, and much more reason for a commuter bus given its higher social deprivation (I gather Work & Income won’t even consider clients for Taupo jobs because of the prohibitive travel cost). So as this Councils representative to this committee, I am now making it my top priority to get this sort of disparity addressed in the Waikato Regional Public Transport Plan which we will be working on early 2027. It could look something like below which I am developing and looks quite promising, so watch this space.

Tiresome but necessary: Submissions to the Local Government (Management of Local Authorities) Amendment Bill are due today, so thought that I had better submit something about sorting out the role of Elected Members which you can read HERE (WARNING: it was 98% produced by AI so is very long-winded), and I also intend to submit in person. My take is that the legislation should answer a practical question: What changes on the first working day after it comes into force? In its current draft form I strongly suspect: not much.

Taupo fireworks again: This time its Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board (TMTB) sticking their oar in, stating they don’t want them back over the lake again because of the rubbish left behind last time. I don’t quite understand why a few firecracker wrappers would cause much concern just once a year and some are quite rightly calling out that there are much greater polluters around, but as owners of the lakebed it seems to be their call. At least they are being forthright is all I can say, unlike slippery Council where Mr Nobody is apparently responsible for the decision last month to cancel.

Bed Tax out but visitor levy in: According to my sources, Taupo District Council will receive around $2M each year for the next four years from the distributed tourist levy which the government recently announced. This is very good news indeed, and according to my own previous calculations is roughly equivalent to around a $5 per night stay (don’t quote me on that though). What shall we spend it on you ask, perhaps some firework displays?

Waters double dipping? I was recently informed about Palmerston North City Council’s fixed water and wastewater charges (shown left) which are roughly half what we pay in Taupo even though they have much older infrastructure than us. So whats the give Taupo, and wheres the transparency?

Praise due: Taupo District Council recently won a Clearway award for application of risk-based Traffic Management which was received by Transport Operations Engineer Saravana Murugan and Infrastructure Manager Roger Stokes. I don’t often give out praise and don’t know all the details, but it sounds like these guys have been reducing road cones, saving money and doing quite a good job. Now there is always two sides to every story and apparently some kickback is still being received from a few traffic management operators, so if you are one of those please I would be interested to hear.

Fridays because if you haven’t heard The Fall’s Blindness yet, then you need to and turn it up loud:

Fridays Best and Worst of Times

28 August 2026

Disclaimer: I do occasionally use AI, but very rarely in any of the text for these Friday updates.

Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities (1859), a book I once started and never had the patience to finish, and somehow it just resonates in the times of today: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way”.

I sometimes get accused of being too negative, yes really, and manage to somehow brass off somebody every week. But I can’t help how I come across at times, and I can’t understand how anybody can be motivated to fix something unless they first point out what’s broken. After I posted the video last Friday showing Dr John Campbells (no relation) breakdown of the white blood clots phenomenon, I was contacted by a local medical professional who berated me for broadcasting (my paraphrasing) unsubstantiated tripe . He also seems to think that politics is like say science and engineering, and that compelling truths are always liable to be accepted if only they are well presented..

My answer to the above: (i) The medical establishments reputation is thoroughly tarnished for its absence of ethical behaviour during covid, but I mostly blame the politicians who created this great divide in our society with the unwarranted vaccine mandates; (ii) Politics is not like science or engineering or law, where we like to think that most of the time truth and reason will prevail. Politics is about people: some who are truthful in the main, but enough who are devious and manipulative with their own often unspoken agenda; and (iii) as to the compelling argument idea – what if it isn’t even allowed to be presented? A Chairperson can politically intervene by simply excluding disagreeable voices from being heard, and some decisions come predetermined. In other words its a pretty rotten game, and I think we have enough local examples to go off.

We had our monthly Council meeting on Tuesday, and it was a lengthy one. As always you can find the agenda here, and for the entire over three-hour meeting you can watch HERE. There were quite a few items of interest this time, and incredibly I was still perky enough at the end (and sitting through all this guff is not like a real job). I will rattle through the main items as per below in their respective order:

Lakeside troubles linger: We had two members of the public make their submissions about the proposed new roundabout about to start construction at Maunganamu Drive/ Lake Terrace near Wharewaka, (watch from HERE). The first was Dean Stockwell of Pukenamu Road with a well presented summary of events which you can read HERE, as well as the Council produced community engagement summary which spells it all out loud and clear – 91% of the 55 surveyed Lakeside people don’t want to be connected. This issue seems somewhat convoluted and I also gave a report to it last week, but in short the Council’s position to connect Pukenamu Road has always hinged on this one opinion of a lawyer regarding a previously stated commitment of the Lakeside developers: “External legal advice provided to Council was that not proceeding would leave an unmet obligation and expose Council to legal and funding issues”. Personally, I don’t believe in putting lawyers in charge of running our streets, and indeed the Lakeside residents asked Council last year to support their case in Environment Court if there was any uncertainty (the answer: a resounding “no”). In any case, my recent questions to the Council lawyer look as if they will be going unanswered:

“Where has the Court determined that the particular configuration now proposed by staff is legally required? If the Court has made that determination, could you please point me to the relevant paragraph? Also when you identify said persons who would conceivably make a legal challenge, as well as an evaluation of their possible chances to succeed – please let me know”.

Immediately following was Murray McCallum from the Maunganamu side, whose main gripe was that he only received a few days notice of the construction happening. Murray spoke very well, and to be fair it sounds as if the things he is concerned about have since been addressed and in quite a short time. So I fear the main points could be lost: it is common decency to consult not just inform; and as the Road Controlling Authority this Council is still responsible to its residents even though a developer might be building it.

Maori plans change: Item 5.2 Plan changes including Maori Purpose Zones got the final tick (watch from HERE). I didn’t have anything much to say here, except about a year ago I did write a more cynical social media post that these were being foisted upon us without much discussion – but at least I accept the well intentions, so lets see what does result.

Pedaling backwards but we didn’t look cool: 5.4 Review of Annual Plan Projects (watch from HERE) where Mayor Funnell is attempting to make some savings with a relook at projects already approved for the next 9 months or so. But we didn’t get very far, and the expected list for closer inspection never actually was agreed to. Councillor Rachel Cameron used it as a chance to berate the Mayor for looking backwards, and I talked about my already submitted in list of projects a month ago along with specific questions – the Mayor responded last week telling me not to waste precious staff time!

But I also challenged Deputy Mayor Kevin Taylor about his audacious behaviour last term, when he was directly responsible for inserting a $70M line item for a new Taupo township bridge and transport solution in the 2024-34 Long Term Plan (LTP) without any deliberation or debate. Kevin headed a Steering Group for the consultant $300K Northern AccessTransport Study which as far as I know has not seen the public light of day even two years later. In 2024 I felt strongly enough about this one matter that I refused to vote affirmative for the 2024-27 LTP, but the other Elected Members of the day were not so discerning. There is $150K set aside to continue this work in the next 9 months which I opposed going ahead until this gets revisited, but nobody took me up on that so I suppose will have to repeat myself about it. Oh yes, Kevin also mentioned that he managed to get this on the 2024-2054 Waikato Regional Land Transport Plan, but as No. 30 out of a total of 30 projects regionwide I can’t see that being of too much consequence. So what was the outcome of all this debating to and fro? Not much that I could tell, so somebody please wake me up in 2028 when this is all over.

Accountability yeah right: 5.5 Review of Chief Executives Delegated Financial Authority Limits (watch from HERE). Now this is where things get interesting. The staff item quite clearly identifies the problem, and even Deputy Mayor Taylor agrees – even though we decided on Tuesday to introduce a $1M limit to the Chief Executives signing authority, because Elected Members only get to see things at the very end of the process it will be a rubber stamping exercise only. So I now better understand why the spending limit was increased from $500K to unlimited two election cycles ago – they were just tickboxing then, just as we will be expected to tickbox now! So I brought along my suggested addition as per below, only for acting Chief Executive Sarah Matthews to point out it might be against the Local Government Act (LGA)! I still find it hard to comprehend what spanners get thrown my way, but anyway confusion then reigned so it will have to wait another day – probably until after our new elects get to see for themselves what rubber stamping really looks like. In the meantime, Council Daisy will continue to remain obliviously tipsy and at your expense. My suggested addition:

“That Council requests the Chief Executive to report back to Council on a pre-procurement governance gateway for significant projects, to ensure elected members have an opportunity to consider the project scope, practicable options, estimated costs and key strategic risks before the procurement process commences and before the project has substantially committed to a particular solution”.

Yay we get a binding referendum: 5.7 Electoral System for the 2028 and 2031 Triennial Elections (watch from HERE) where we agreed to a binding referendum to let you decide if we want First Past Post (FPP) as present versus the more interesting Single Transferrable Vote (STV). The referendum will be included in the 2028 local election papers so won’t cost much to make happen, and I am happy this will be a chance for Taupo residents to get a taste of some direct democracy action.

Silence of the lambs: 5.9 & 5.10 Notions of Motion (NoM) from myself to amend the standard staff report template for better informed decision-making, and also an item requesting a staff report on the New Years fireworks. Now the only thing of consequence from both of these which I think you should be aware – apart from some brief commentary from Councillor Hope Woodward who seconded, not a single other Elected Member had a word to say before voting to the negative. Watch the whole 20 min clip HERE to see for yourself, and although the camera unfortunately doesn’t show you can take it from me that during my presenting many of them were thoroughly engaged on their devices. I will probably do a special post next week to break this down further, but I’ll let you know in advance that I have fairly good reason to believe there was a conspiracy of silence going on. Because you know, being a team player is the main thing in Council chambers, right?

Apart from all that less than highly edifying business, what other tidbits are happening about the place?

In Rotorua money goes missing too: Sounds like over there they have some similar problems to us, and last week Councillor Robert Lee tried to get to the bottom of a $70M line item which managed to get slipped into their 2021 LTP going forward, but most of their elects weren’t interested in getting to the bottom of it. “Relitigating the past” some of them called it, but to me this sounds like they are just as bad as us at not wanting to learn from past mistakes. Watch the 28 min reel HERE if you like, I found it interesting.

Whistleblowers wanted: An interesting social media post appeared on the Taupo Noticeboard during the week from Daniel Gray who seems to know something the rest of us don’t. But anyway wish that I could help but I can’t, and good on him for asking because we absolutely need more people around here asking questions.

Who owns your child: Did you know what goes on behind closed doors in todays education? The idea that a school could connive with your child to take sex transitioning drugs and without parent consent is quite mind boggling, yet it is happening. Watch it HERE if you don’t believe me.

Fridays why we can’t do away with AI now that its an art:

Fridays Head Start… but really, it was a Stall

7 8 August 2026

Ecclesiastes 11: 5-6 advises us not to cease striving to do good: “As you do not know what is the way of the wind, Or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, So you do not know the works of God who makes everything. In the morning sow your seed, And in the evening do not withhold your hand; For you do not know which will prosper, Either this or that, Or whether both alike will be good”.

This Friday update (being put out on a Saturday morning) is more rushed than usual and for two reasons: first that we have come to the end of a very long road where there’s really not too much more to say, and second that I headed out for my very first day of Winter snow and skiing. Because I only put these updates together starting Friday mornings and I have little inclination to carry it on in the weekend, and the mountain is always a wonderful place to be especially after a trying time as this, and I’m glad I went.

Wow, we decided. I mean at Thursdays Council meeting on Head Start of course, even though we really had already decided last Tuesday. To Backstop – or as some others are choosing to frame it – “put in an alternative proposal”. And I objected to all six resolutions, with only one exception and that was just to let Mayor John Funnell and his Deputy correct the grammar and punctuation. You can watch the full meeting HERE, and read the agenda HERE. For just my own little speech you can watch HERE (including the Mayor’s interesting acknowledgement afterwards that I endorsed his course of action?), and if you would rather read then below is the transcript including links to some of the referred models.

“I’ll start with a quote from the Minister Chris Bishop: “Our message to councils is simple: lead your own reform, or we will do it for you. Either way, change is coming”. These have been probably the most interesting 3 months in my time both this and last term, because it’s amazing how a bit of pressure can bring out the best of people, and also the worst. I think Waikato Mayor Aksel Bech taking the lead on something as constructive as the Western Waikato Unitary Model is extraordinarily commendable and an example of leadership in crisis. In contrast, I find it interesting that we are ending up fighting tooth and nail for more time, and our Mayor using I think, inflammatory and worst case scenarios. Perhaps it is a valid negotiation tactic I am unaware of. But I think with the benefit of history and hindsight may reveal who was right or perhaps even who was right for the wrong reasons.

The problem is I think we have been very much focussing on the form before the function, and become trapped in the financial data over everything and anything else. Because of that we had little to offer smaller potential partners like Ruapehu as they saw themselves losing out, and also to bigger ones like Rotorua because we only saw ourselves losing out too. The government tried to direct us towards catchment based models which we seem to have done anything but, instead thinking that small sub-regional would be better, neglecting to consider that being part of a large Unitary would enable increased influence to Wellington and better access to professional services. Trying to become a standalone Unitary Authority has even been floated as a viable option, which is not necessarily beyond us but would probably be expensive and therefore not very realistic.

I intend, indeed I feel obliged, to submit my own letter giving the government a fuller explanation of Taupo’s position, including that our community has not got strong views opposing the Waikato Western Unitary Council because it simply has not been informed enough to be able to give a proper opinion. And things like TEL and legacy debt haven’t been dealt with, simply because we haven’t discussed them as we decided to leave the negotiations early on.

So today Taupo is making our Head Start decision, but the matter won’t be resting there. We now have three quite similar proposals for large Waikato Unitaries floating round – the Western Waikato Unitary, a Waikato Region Council (WRC) model just recently shared, and my own Waikato Together model which was unfortunately not permitted to be presented in these Chambers for public view. I believe that in September the government will announce that we will be part of one of them, or a variation of them, and it will be a once in a generation opportunity to further develop our preferred future. To reassure our community that we will protect our financial and environmental wellbeing, and even improve community representation. We could decide to try and fight it, but I believe that would be a very big disservice to people of the Taupo District. Instead we should embrace the dialogue which will be taking place”.

So folks this Council is sending in our “proposal” on your behalf due this Sunday, but its really not that. We didn’t follow the rules of the game and are trying to invent our own and plea for more time, which is a hope indeed. I realise that we aren’t the only Council trying to do the same, but the referee Minister Simon Watts only just recently gave a yellow card warning that he wasn’t going to be putting up with any of that. What is it about Kiwis and our predilection to ignore rules and signs, and hope for reasonableness from the other guy? To clarify the situation even further, this from Hamilton Councillor Sarah Thompson about their own deliberations which resulted in not submitting a proposal:

“At the meeting, we were informed (through the mayor from a phone call with the minister the night before) that if we didn’t join Head Start by endorsing the Western Waikato Unitary amalgamation proposal (which includes Waikato District, Waipā, South Waikato, Hamilton and Taupō), then any future discussions about local council representation and reform for Hamilton would happen without us in the room. The same would go for Taupō which has also declined to be part of Head Start“.

One ring to rule them all: I have one more thing about the WRC: even though we know they will be disestablished by October 2028, they aren’t gone just yet. Waikato Regional Councillors voted last week to back a single region-wide Unitary council, and they are submitting their own proposal of which you can read a draft HERE. It is remarkably similar to my Waikato Together and even pointedly names subsidiarity as its basis (perhaps I even influenced them?). In any case – watch this space. I think there is every chance that the government could take it on board to implement and despite peoples expressed intentions to do something else. They could decide that the Waikato kindergarten needs some adult intervention, and to that argument I think the revealed antics in recent days all over the country must have given some ammunition. For example on Friday across the border, Rotorua decided to withdraw from being part of a seemingly done-deal proposal for a Bay of Plenty Unitary, mostly it seems on the extraordinary basis of an adopted informal policy to not include unwilling partners (Western Bays was declining). Nice guys don’t often win by being nice guys, don’t they realise that?

My questions for Taupo: Why didn’t Taupo District Council take the Waikato river catchment more seriously as the basis for any submission, despite the governments clear stipulation to do so? How come we were so apparently oblivious of the Western Waikato Unitary model until the 11th hour? And why couldn’t we pivot last Tuesday or even defer, to at least hear that proposal out before we decided to go Backstop? Folks, Taupo was always going to be a smaller player in the wider game, but I think this Council leadership never had any intention to even have that conversation and instead wanted to remain kings. They were in denial, we had our chance to be part of the wider Waikato conversations which were going on, but we inexplicably dropped out by as early as the end of June. I wrote about this a few days ago in Has Mayor Funnell Dropped the Ball? The answer to that in my mind is clearly “yes”, and although I wasn’t able to exactly pin down who did decide to withdraw, it was almost certainly made by one or more of the Mayor and his Deputy, perhaps also the Chief Executive, who decided on our behalf. Like I said in my speech above: “…it’s amazing how a bit of pressure can bring out the best of people, and also the worst”.

Anyway and apart from all that, I think that whatever we decided in these chambers is not likely to change the final outcome one iota. Its in the governments hands now, and many suspect perhaps they have a plan not prepared to deflect from much anyway. Yes the Local Government Act can give us some protection if we really want to resist, but the government has already mentioned that it intends to pass new legislation to get around that. If Labour get voted in November it could be a different story, but even that is not assured as they seem to have even bigger centralising tendencies although they could relent on this one. So overall, I give it at most about a 1 in 5 chance that Taupo District Council will remain intact after October 2028. Some of you may recall me calling for a revolution in the 2025 local elections, well I think I got that wrong and should have read my history better. Because in this country, the acts of revolution always seem to come from above.

Only a couple of other things and they are on the same topic:

For the latest on amalgamation proposals around the country: you can read HERE , but because its a week old is already out of date.

Councillor Wahine Murch wants us to: That’s right, go to the steps of parliament. Here we have the Mayors of Orotohanga and Waitomo in Wellington petitioning for their own standalone King Country Council. I have already told Wahine that I won’t be coming along, but if she can convince Deputy Mayor Kevin Taylor to protest as well then my world really has gone topsy turvy.

Fridays piece of 70’s nostalgia to keep eggs in your underpants, and dammit why the hell not?

Fridays Done, But Are You Done Too?

27 March 2026

It’s all very well to say about JMA’s, but what is the point of them anyway?

Genesis 6:3: “And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years”.

We are not made to live forever, but that verse from Genesis 6:3 isn’t widely interpreted to mean we are capped at 120 years. Its context was that Noah had 120 years to build his Ark before the Flood came, and there is Biblical record of men living over that age well after that time. Noah for example, is said to have lived over 900 years. How so can that be? It is speculated that in the time of Creation, genetics were purer with sickness almost unheard of. There was no prohibition on marrying ones sister, for example (which was hard to avoid when there are only a handful of people to choose from) – and it is held that subsequent corruption of our genetics is the reason we don’t do that now. Sure there will have been accidents, but they didn’t have motorbikes back then.

Hey ya’ll its another week done, and finally we have some cooler weather arrive! About time I say, and its these middle seasons which I like most. So what have we going on in the Council space lately, at least with your Elected Members? Not a lot it has to be said, just some Long Term Plan (LTP) thingamies which wrapped up, an update with Turangi buses, and also an interesting little episode worth mentioning just because it illuminates how this Council can operate sometimes.

Lets start with the LTP. On Tuesday we wrapped up the preliminary workshop sessions which staff are using to set the general direction we want to head, and you can watch that session HERE. But for me the greatest elephant in the room for all of this is that we haven’t set any decisive rate targets to work backwards from, and it appears we might just be going through the motions to superficially justify the carrying on of business as usual – just like we have done every single year I have been on Council. However, even though there is no sign of any sort of comprehensive review of staff numbers and salaries (which comprise the significant portion of operational expenditure), there is at least a few encouraging signs that some staff are taking to heart the community have had enough. Like the idea of selling off Council assets to pay down debt and/or offset rates (otherwise known as ‘rationalising Council assets‘), and perhaps we will start to get serious about things like some sort of bed tax on non-commercial accommodation providers (Rotorua and Queenstown rating models may get a look at). But I don’t see these as significantly meaty to make such a big difference, so we will just have to see how it pans out. As I have stated many times before, and the maths is incontrovertible – unless we fix rates to consumer levels of inflation, then those on fixed incomes will inevitably be crippled.

I do have an update on Turangi buses – Waikato Regional Council (WRC) have told us that if Taupo District Council (or anybody really) can come up with a $170K injection, they will put on a five-day a week 33 seat bus service between Taupo and Turangi with timetable of our choice. We are still to ascertain a few extra details such as if this means any number of trips per day or just a few, but the overwhelming public responses received thus far from Turangi Councillor Sandra Greenslade’s community conversations (including social media) are speaking quite loudly that there will be no problem filling seats. With the price of fuel as sky high it is right now, I reckon this is the least we can be doing to help Turangi out and my money is on it will be popular after the Middle East war is over too. Canterbury Regional Council is also doing their bit to push public transport in these trying times, I reckon we should be doing the same. But we only have a week to decide, so keep your fingers crossed this idea gets past the line. Otherwise the Turangiites may start coming for us, and $170K seems a pretty cheap way of avoiding that.

And then there was this on Tuesday as well: Raukawa Settlement Trust and Taupō District Council Co-Governance Committee hui. What is that all about you may ask, and what has it got to do with me? Some of you will have to please forgive my ignorance, but I only just learned that Raukawa is an Iwi and not a river, and that they have been working a Joint Management Agreement (JMA) with Taupo District Council since 2013. What’s that you say, a JMA? Isn’t that what all the fuss is being made about lately? Well yes, and no. This is a different JMA and only concerns the Raukawa sections of the Waikato river (which bits I am not exactly sure, because I thought they are the same bits covered in the new JMA). But irrespective of all that, I figured this would be worth tuning into just to see how these JMA’s can play out and what good they can do. Because if we are going to do something bigger and supposedly better, that’s a thing to do right? Here is where things start to get interesting…

This Raukawa committee meeting is an annual affair and open to the public, and yet was never advertised (except for a secluded item in the Council website HERE), and as at the time of writing the meeting agenda has still not been made available to anybody else but committee members. A few days prior, I recognised the relevance of this meeting to the JMA we are negotiating now, and requested to our Chief Executive that it be audio-visual recorded for public record. The response I received was that the idea of recording would only be tabled at the meeting and subject to committee member approval. Long story short – the recording started happening a minute or so after that item was voted and approved around 20 minutes into the meeting, so you can watch the remaining two hour proceedings HERE. Fact of the matter though, is that there was virtually no public notification, and that recording might not have happened at all. I had to request from one of the committee members to send me a copy of the agenda which you can read HERE.

Okay Duncan, so apart from that yet another example of closed door opacity from this Council, what else is there to be made of all this? Well you probably have to watch for yourself and truth be told I put it on 1.75 times play speed to get through it, but my take is that this committee has all the hallmarks of a friendly hui without much doey. There was an early suggestion to change the title from ‘Co-governance‘ to ‘Co-management‘ (for political reasons I am fairly sure), and a few interesting things got raised by Mangakino Councillor Hope Woodward with questions to Council staff about experienced river water quality problems (watch from HERE), and there is a recent Waikato Times article emphasising that point. But as far as I could tell this committee made absolutely no decisions at all, and anything that does eventuate only happens in the background as implemented by Council staff. But I suppose that is inevitable for a committee which meets only once every 12 months, and if this is an example of how a JMA can work in practice then the public should at least be concerned about such lightweight governance – and for that reason alone, was perhaps why it went unadvertised. But I do hear that the subsequent afternoon tea went down very well.

And on that note, I caught a recent social media commentary regarding the proposed JMA for Taupo waters:

“I want to offer a word of warning to Council about an element of the Act that gives me grave concern. As background, before retiring I was a Commercial Manager who was involved in the development and negotiation of many commercial contracts and I would never enter into a contract that could not be terminated once established which I understand is what the Act anticipates in the JMA. Contracts are put in place to formalise conditions that the parties would like to operate under as things are known today, but no one is able to foresee what will happen in the future that could make the contract unworkable. Therefore the Council should not enter into any agreement that cannot be terminated. This is just good contractual/commercial practice! The Council has no control or power over what another contracted party, such as the Tuwharetoa Māori Trust Board, may evolve into over time. Hypothetically just to emphasise this point only, what if the TMTB were to be taken over by a foreign political or ideological movement as an extreme example? Would we still want obligations to that evolved party? My suggestion is for Council to advise government that it cannot enter into good faith contracts on a “no termination” basis and advise them you will not progress until this is removed as a requirement of the Act!” 

And after I commented that it was spurious to believe Tuwharetoa Maori Trust Board (TMTB) can possibly represent the best interests of all Maori, I received this response:

“You act like the Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board is an unregulated entity. Of course they are accountable. They operate under the Māori Trust Boards Act 1955, which sets out governance, financial reporting, and accountability requirements, just like any other entity. They’re required to produce annual reports, have audited accounts etc. It’s no wonder you are getting hammered with accusations of racism, your comments are so out of touch. Do better”.

So I decided to do better and ask Chatgpt this question: “What can you tell me please about the legislated ‘transparency and accountability’ of Maori Trust Boards to the public and their own members, relative to the requirements of local government? I have been pointed to the Maori Trust Boards Act 1955 (which was apparently superceded in 2011)”. You can read the full ChatGPT response HERE but here are a few snippets below:

And for a supplementary question about the transparency and accountability of specifically Tuwharetoa Maori Trust Board to its own beneficiaries:

So until I receive evidence to the contrary, I remain undeterred in saying that the public has every right to be concerned with any partnership deals and whatever they are called. Down south Federated Farmers are up in arms about impending Nga Puhi undue influences to their way of life (will they be doing the same here?), and Hobsons Pledge are putting out some alarm bells about Taupo as well.

So what else is new?

O Delegations, Delegations, Wherefore Art Thou Delegations? Following the release a few weeks ago of my presentation on Financial Delegations which you can watch HERE, I had one of the elected members follow up with a couple of questions:“Why would staff need to work the weekends if they do value for money projects”, and “Isn’t doing the cheapest job more expensive in the long run?” My responses are shown below:

“Throwing a big pile of money at a single project is virtually always less time consuming for project managers than trying to handle multiple projects, and I have certainly experienced this first hand. Especially if that work gets handed to contractors or consultants to undertake as usually happens with almost all Councils nowadays. Yes there are lazy Council workers who take the easy path as at any other workplace, but with their performance is often not measured by results on the ground but by accountants who look at balanced books and budgets spent on time. It is also my experience in the public sector, that people are more likely to be elevated past their level of competence.

On your second point, I will defer to the Dunedin cheapy roundabout example. They may seem more expedient than the ideal, but the cost of doing nothing has to be weighed up also. Intersections are the flashpoints and bottlenecks of any transport network, and waiting to do the rolls royce option every time is simply not tenable when we have crashes and driver delays happening every day. These are costs to society which is the role of a Road Controlling Authority to duly address, and I was greatly surprised to find after moving here that instead of No.8 wire solutions which I would have expected of an overstretched provincial place, I see the rolls royce happening (and a few road safety disasters as well). That was entirely my original motivation to stand for Council”.

Dog attack in Turangi: Last weekend a roaming dog attack left a woman unconscious in Turangi when she tried to protect her toddler. I am not sure if it has been properly reported to Council yet or even if it is widely known about in the Turangi area, but this coincides with a recent government announcement to try and tackle this issue more seriously. In the meantime though, I see that the only measures for the average person are: (1) Public need to report in detail about any incidents including dog identification, because action cannot be taken without this happening. Taupo District Council’s Antenno App is easy to use, and allows for anonymous reporting if you really wish; (2) Carry a big stick. I used to be a bicycle postie back in the day, and have figured out that unless a dog is on their own property some aggression on your behalf can often go a long way to defusing the situation.

Aussis get serious, so why aren’t we? Over the ditch it seems they aren’t very keen on E-bikes being used in an anti-social way, and that includes seizing and crushing any which go faster than their imposed 25 km/hr speed limit. As somebody who is great fan of personal mobility other than large boxed motor vehicles, I think they are taking things way too seriously – but I am sure there will be many Taupoite lake path users who will disagree.

Give money for more sculptures: If you liked Boom Boom the dinosaur or even if you don’t, the Taupo Sculpture Trust has a new website where you can keep informed with the latest developments and also give them some of your hard earned money towards the new. I am pretty sure that back in the day of Michelangelo it was only through individual sponsorship that the great classical sculptures ever happened at all, so here is a chance to be a part of it.

Balloons over Waikato : Last weekend I happened to be in Hamilton for this annual event, along with I estimate around 10,000 people who had a great time in the early morning seeing them all off. The Nightglow experience that evening with music set to earth-bound balloons – less exhilarating, and by all accounts the public transport after was absolute chaos as reported here.

And on that note, it just has to be said…

Fridays undisputed best balloon song of all time:

Friday and its raining

12 September 2025

Councillor Duncan reporting in with the past weeks Council happenings, or at least the ones I noticed anyway.

The assassination of Charlie Kirk isn’t exactly of local news relevance – or is it? In my view the tolerance to hear someone else’s views, or even to let others hear them, has waned quite significantly since around 2019.  Violence has been a way of solving problems for a very long time, and against those in leadership roles especially.  Are we so far off from having the same happen here?  I am not so sure.  

This week we have:

In case you missed them: my candidate 90 sec interview, and I also put out some information on my campaign priority #1 – Restore Democracy. Next week will be #2 – Take Back Control of Council.

Rotary rhetoric, or are they just relics?  The Rotary event on Monday 8 September was well attended, and if you have two hours on your hands to hear a little more about candidates you can watch here.  Otherwise, to the question: “Describe the purpose of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and how it affects your local government role?” this was my 70 second response.  I did also prepare answers to several other questions about Rates Caps, Local Waters done Well, the Joint Management Agreement (JMA) and Maori wards, and you can find my written responses to those here.

There seemed to be a fixation on questions about Maori wards which I found a little odd given it is a public referendum question to decide in October, and the strict Y/N format of the questions at the end deteriorated things a little. Overall I think it wasn’t too bad an effort by Rotary who put it all on, and it would have been challenging to cater for so many candidates.  But a couple of things did stick out for me: first that I am in a very small minority who openly say they would breach confidentiality – I think new candidates need to appreciate in matters of greater public interest that justifiable exceptions can be made, and also to challenge every time something is being held as confidential.  And Cr Loughlin’s mentioning that staff could go to jail if they fail to adhere to legislation – I have not heard of that happening before in New Zealand, ever.

Mirror on the wall: Robert Lee mayoral candidate for Rotorua poses an interesting question about the Treaty of Waitangi, and what it means for Councils.  Like me, he says: not very much at all. Having said that, the Kaipara District Council legal opinion which downplays Treaty obligations to Councils was recently rejected by a South Island Mayor

Why aren’t they signing? The Taxpayer Union pledge isn’t attracting signatures from too many Taupo ward candidates as you can see here, although for some reason they haven’t included Maori ward candidate responses (if you are in one of the other wards, you need to ask here).  I find it a little strange that two of the front running mayoral candidates will sign, but only a few of us others.  I am reading that as a bit of a disconnect to actually getting rates down, because any time you give The Council Machine an inch it will always take a mile.

Joint Management Agreement refresher: To piece together all my posts and info on the JMA, I have put together a special JMA page here.  On that note, have a listen to Shane Jones inferring that some kind of woke virus has infected regional councils including our own Waikato one.

Race-based or just r**ist? New Plymouth Councillor censored for stating that a race-based procurement policy is r**ist.  I am not sure if TDC have a similar policy for preferential treatment, but one of these days I intend to ask.   

Why do we need Councils anyway? So says this guy, but I think it’s probably easier to run away in a housebus.  

Works in progress but we are just about there now: Here are my candidate statements to Policy.nz, which don’t quite match the three campaign priorities I am putting out now because these were submitted several weeks ago.

Legal costs mounting? I reckon an interesting metric to compare Councils would be legal costs per ratepayer (including payouts), because I have a sneaking suspicion that Taupo District Council could be near top of the list.  Just looking back to the John Hall debacle of 2023 where hundreds of building consent producer statements got signed off fraudulently over a several-year timeframe, I never did get satisfactory answers to my questions at the time.  Like say: how many of these were simply vetted for quality purposes (because sloppy engineering practice is a much bigger problem than fraud)?  Or even: have the processes since been improved to prevent it happening again?  But the walls of The Council Machine went up very quickly with self-preservation at No.1, so I gave up trying. 

Power back to the people: Auckland Transport to be stripped of most of its powers, with Minister of Transport Chris Bishop saying: “These changes mean that Auckland Council’s elected members will be directly accountable to the public for most transport decisions that affect the daily lives of Aucklanders”. I reckon the same needs to happen for elected members in Taupo, who for too long have been treated as tick-boxers for significant transport issues affecting the entire district. We just need the right leadership to get elected in.

Friday insider peek at… TRAFFESSIONALS, your local shop for traffic engineering advice: