Debate over whether Tauranga City should return to having Local Body Elections this October keeps churning as community figures fear the work of the current Commission could be undone by the return to power of elected officials.
The discussion has surfaced recently after Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta saying she remains committed to a return to council elections in Tauranga City. But she is yet to signal when this would happen and what that might look like after the Commission's exit strategy is finalised.
If the Minister decides to retain the Commission for the foreseeable future that election could be delayed until 2025.
One community leader who wants the Commissioners to stay in place is Te Tuinga Whanau Trust chief imagination officer Tommy Wilson.
'The commissioners have done more in their tenure [since February 2021] than the previous 10 years of council,” says Tommy.
'The time is over that the tail wags the dog within the delegated authority of council employees and elected councillors.”
Tommy says he has no confidence in the calibre of the people who have looked after the city before the Commission was appointed, based on how they have looked after the city's homeless.
The Te Tuinga Whanau Trust has been working in the area of homelessness for 37 years and Tommy has been working with and involved with the trust for 10 years.
Te Tuinga Whanau offers accommodation to people requiring a roof over their heads but also works alongside each individual to support them with wrap-around social services they need.
'We've had no interest in us apart from ex-Mayor Tenby Powell, and councillors Terry Molloy and John Robson.
'There has been no Māori representative at the council either but now we have Shadrach Rolleston as an appointed Commissioner – and that's big for Tauranga Moana.
'He's well-respected, and from a cultural view that makes sense.”
Te Tuinga Whanau is now opening a wellness hub in Tauranga's CBD. 'We've met with the Commissioners now on three separate occasions but we've never met with council or any of the mayors in the 10 years I've been looking after Te Tuinga Whanau,” says Tommy.
When people say Tauranga City should go back to voting in councillors, 'I say the opposite,” says Tommy.
Te Tuinga Whanau withdrew from Tauranga City Council's - TCC - homelessness taskforce when in 2018 the council brought in the People's Project, which Tommy says is a foreign organisation born out of California and based in Hamilton.
'People's Project received $600,000 of TCC funding with council-appointed managers who transferred from senior council roles when the new CEO took over. Why would we be involved in that structure? That is not about our people,” says Tommy.
'People's Project has nothing to do with an organisation such as Te Tuinga Whanau, which has been doing this work for 37 years in Tauranga Moana. So we left the table.
'Minister Mahuta needs to understand why it's [the council is] working now and why it wasn't working before, from a Māori point of view, from an organisation like Te Tuinga Whanau that's looking after 4000 Māori a year without any assistance from council,” says Tommy.
'Keep the commissioners in. The tail has been wagging the dog way too long.”
Tommy thinks if any changes were made, it should be bringing in retiring Western Bay of Plenty Mayor Garry Webber as an additional commissioner.
'If they're looking for a fifth commissioner to lead the city who understands Tikanga Māori and understands how to run an inclusive council, you couldn't do better than engaging Garry Webber.
'He has come in to see us at Te Tuinga monthly way before and during his mayoralty [at Western Bay of Plenty District Council].
'He and his wife Carole have been supporters since day one when we started in Greerton. Garry understands and has a heart – something that needs pumping back into the soul of the CBD of Tauranga Moana.”
Following an independent review, Minister Mahuta made the decision to appoint a Commission in place of elected TCC members in December 2020, in response to what she deemed significant governance problems from elected officials.
While the business community has also spoken with praise for the commission, local ratepayer groups have, however, been critical of the commission.
So far, SunLive understands only three of the councillors stood down from TCC one year ago have plans to run again, should elections take place in October. For more on this, see: https://www.sunlive.co.nz/news/287326-elections-will-stood-down-councillors-run-again.html
8 comments
Just the opinion of one person.
Posted on 06-03-2022 07:58 | By TheCameltoeKid
Tommy Wilson can blithering on all he likes but Tauranga must and will revert back to a democracy! I disagree that these Commisioners have been a good thing for the city. They've focused on nice to haves instead of what the city actually needs. He raves on about the qualities of Powell yet he conveniently forget that Powell was the cause of these Commisioners being installed in the first place. The sooner we see the Tolley and her $1000 an hour the better. She's nothing but a former National Party MP that's become a Labour Party turncoat. Good riddance to them.
Why
Posted on 06-03-2022 12:10 | By Accountable
Does Tommy expect the Council ( ratepayers ) to give more money to just the Maori people when the Government budgeted to spend $1.1 billion dollars exclusively on Maori in 2021? Tommy your being greedy! If this money is not going to the right people then the question is why and where is it going? The commissioners have to go and if your not happy with the calibre of the candidates then you are quite capable of standing yourself. I am sure you could make good use of the wages through helping those that you think need it. There should be no ethnicity in politics and democracy is the still the best way to manage a council and a country.
@TheCameltoeKid
Posted on 06-03-2022 12:48 | By morepork
I know Tommy Wilson and he is a fair-minded, decent man, who is doing (and has done) a great deal for Tauranga, without seeking self-approbation. He sees a Commission that is "out-and-about" and who will listen across a table. You can't blame him for wanting them to stay. I want Democracy restored (not just here, but throughout the country) but that doesn't mean that the Commission has no good points. Any future elected Council would do well to emulate the engagement of the Commission with the Community. As for 10B, I see a failed politician who has no place here and is a very poor example of what the Mayor of Tauranga should be. The Commission, like the Labour Party, must go, because we NEED Democracy, but we should not throw the baby out with the bath water.
Co-covernance
Posted on 06-03-2022 14:44 | By crazyhorse
That is all Tommy is thinking about, not that he'd mention it, the question to ask yourselves is what is the easiest path for the like of Tommy and Buddy? Democratically elected councillors? Or Mahuta's commissioners?
An opinion only
Posted on 06-03-2022 15:46 | By Kancho
Perhaps with a vested interest. Of course engagement is good and good to be achieved. Tommy's fucus is in local need. I do wonder why the government created Maori Health and where Toi te ora operates all with government funded. My experience with DHBs has been completely open to all and I see all races that need medical treatment have access. Also that the medical staff are from many different backgrounds and race but also a lot of work to be more welcoming . I just don't get it as it seems seperatism of a small group
The real story
Posted on 06-03-2022 16:19 | By Informed
Refreshing to read something in Sunlive that actually represents the high level of public engagement that the commissioners have undertaken - 10x what the councils ever did. And as the writer says, the commissioners have actually dug in to understand what people need and gone in to bay with central government to get central funding. This idea that the commissioners have focused on nice to haves is simply not based in any facts. But then that very hasn’t been helped by the poor coverage of the work that they have progressed for the city. There has been more real movement on transport, parks and housing in the last 12 months than in the last 12 years. And that’s the actual facts.
Short and distorted
Posted on 07-03-2022 09:41 | By R. Bell
memories drive many of the comments below. Tommy and his team provide a much needed service to Tauranga, it may well be that in a perfect world we would not need such a service, but the fact is we do. The function of Tauranga City Council was and should always be to serve ALL citizens. Those councilors who became dis functional because of their extreme views on the treaty should not be allowed to stand again until they re educate themselves, drop the racist term " race based" and replace it with the correct term Treaty Based. Then and only then will Tauranga progress and be led by adequate councilors.
The usual discussion
Posted on 07-03-2022 19:14 | By Let's get real
Over 140,000 residents in Tauranga and the discussion always comes back to a small but exceptionally vocal sector of the population that are addicted to public funding and free money. It's not about democracy at all, it's about who is controlling the purse strings and how easy it is to fund the next "imagination"... Try imagining those of us that earn an awful lot less than you Mr Wilson, have a mortgage and pay increasing rates, with additional fees for water supplies and refuse disposal (both of which were once included in the rates, but have now been outsourced to allow additional funds for nice to have projects for hobbyists and empire building)....
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