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Derek goes consulting
Over to Titirangi
where the local ratepayers residents and association has written to
all the Waitakere City Councillors asking them to a Local Area Plan
(LAP) for Titirangi. The plan already being developed by council officers
would give greater consultation with residents on future development of the
village. Unfortunately not every councillor thinks consultation is a good
idea, and having received an email from the residents group, New Lynn Councillor
Derek Battersby hot footed it up the Titirangi Road to explain to local
business's why...
All went well until the hapless Battersby encountered a local resident in the Titirangi Pharmacy. Battersby was asked if he was going to support a LAP for Titirangi. He replied "no."He was then asked why he was in Titirangi. Battersby replied: "gauging public opinion." he was then asked if a majority of residents supported a LAP would he vote for it. Battersby replied: "no." The resident persisted and asked Battersby why, to which he replied: "I don't believe in it." Battersby was then asked why he didn't believe in it. It was at this point a a very flustered and red faced Battersby turned on his heel and stormed out of the shop.
So refreshing to see a politician stick to his convictions and not be swayed by public opinion even when he doesn't represent the people he isn't listening to...
JT's back
National's
Super City consultations haven't been going quite as planned. Paula Bennet's
recent foray into Kelston being no exception. Billed as a meeting hosted
by Paula Bennett visitors were surprised to find Associate Local Government
Minister John Carter fronting the evenings proceedings, leaving Paula,
dressed for the west in faux leopard skin, uncharacteristically sitting it
out. Just when you thought things couldn't get worse for our Paula John
Tamihere and Te Whanau o Waipareira showed up and stole the show, unfurling
a “No Super City without Maori” banner on the stage. Putting on
a brave face Bennett and Carter treated JT like an old friend who arrived
late at the party, laughing heartily at his jokes. So heartily in fact
that that Carter nearly fell over backwards when JT referred to Local
Government Minister Rodney Hide as a 'prick'...
Carter's moment of levity. Picture ©John Chapman
Low pay
Over to South
Pacific Pictures in Henderson where ACT's vertically challenged Law and
Order Spokesperson, David Garrett has been working as an extra on the
set of Outrageous Fortune. The ACT member who recently failed to rise
for Helen Clark was filmed enthusiastically enjoying a blue movie at
Grandpa's. Mr Garrett should be commended for taking a hands on view
of Westie subculture. Garrett whose occupation is listed as a barrister
on the ACT web site was working as a contract extra for $8.00 dollars
an hour. His elevation to list MP status probably came just in time leaving
his former colleagues to wonder whether his experience of low pay will
prompt him to support the forthcoming Minimum Wage and Remuneration Bill.
The bill will give contractors the same minimum wage rights as all other
workers. Is $12.50 too big an ask for ACT?
In denial
Down to Wellington
where the normally ebullient David Garrett is being coy about his debut
as an actor. It seems my earlier piece on Mr Garrett's supporting role
in Outrageous Fortune generated some interest in the mainstream press
resulting in the Herald enquiring as to the veracity of the story. Responding
to the query ACT's Law and Order Spokesperson repeatedly denied the story
.Clearly the
man claiming to be David Garrett, on the set of Outrageous Fortune, at
South Pacific Pictures Henderson, on Tuesday the 30th of September 2008,
must have been an impostor. His claims to have been involved with
the Sensible Sentencing Trust must have been a cunning plan to deceive me
into thinking he was David Garrett. What should have convinced me he wasn't
David Garrett was his neurotic obsession with the US penal system and his
insistence as we conversed in the Rusty Nail, waiting for our scene to be
called that the fabric of New Zealand society was being torn apart by crime.
The real David Garret, Act's spokesperson on Law and Order, would never
have tried to mislead about something so trivial as being an extra in Outrageous
Fortune, would he?
"Paula
Poo"
Over
to Waitakere where Paula Bennett is is the new MP National Party MP for
Waitakere. The feisty right winger seems to have had
a Damascene conversion from her student days as President of the Massey University
Student Association. Writing under her pseudonym Paula
Poo she lambasted the National Party for increasing
student fees and making education cuts saying; "Fees suck and fee increases
just piss me off. Damn the Nat's who bring cuts to our education system,
make us pay for them out of student loans that will take many people decades
to pay off. In my own case, I will probably still be paying off my student
loan when my daughter gets to university age; her future looks promising!"
Urging her fellow students to make
their vote count she advised "don't vote for f**k wits." Sound advice
Paula!
for the National view on student loans click here
Grassgrub
to the rescue
Wednesday's demonstration in support of democracy in West Auckland went of without
a hitch. Hundreds turned out in support of local community groups leaving no
one in doubt the community's concern for Rodney Hide's Supercity plan. Organisers
made it quite clear to the local politicians that this was a march from the grass
roots and it wouldn't be hijacked by MP's or Councillors wanting to get their
mug on telly. Instead we were treated to the spectacle of some of Waitakere's
largest egos bringing up the rear. Putting paid to the lie that the groups participating
were a front organisation for the Council.Step
forward John Riddell, former ACT candidate and Community Board member for Massey.
Affectionately known as 'Grassgrub' to his colleagues, Riddell dashed off an
Email to NZPA claiming, that because the community groups received funding from
the Council they must be a front organisation. Many of Riddell's colleagues are
now wondering why someone so against community organisations wants to sit on
a community board. It has been suggested to us that Grassgrub is a little confused...
