DTNZ: Whangarei District Council seeks injunction against fluoridation order

Whangarei District Council seeks injunction against Director General of Health’s dictate to add toxic fluoridation chemicals to its public water supply.

Last week the Whangarei District Council reconfirmed its decision to reject the Director-General of Health’s (DG) directive to fluoridate the Whangarei water supply with toxic fluoridation chemicals sourced from industrial waste.

Geoff Parker: The Maori circus comes to Whangarei District Council

As a Whangarei District Council (WDC) ratepayer and a staunch supporter of democracy, one law for all and racial equality I tuned into the Youtube coverage of the WDC public meeting on the 29th August 2024 which was primarily about the retention of separatist Maori Wards. (a)

The Mayor to his credit did a reasonable job of containing a potential volatile situation with a roomful of Maori ward supporters and a few New Zealanders. The Mayor stated that he had previously heard all the arguments before and this time around was hoping to hear something different - perhaps he was hoping to hear the truth?

True to form the meeting was peppered with misinformation and half truths from Maori wardist speakers, they cleverly played the race, victim, emotion and white guilt cards.

Mike Hosking: Fluoride the latest example of local government weakness

 

Another example for you this morning on the weaknesses of democracy especially at local body level.

The Whangārei mayor is against fluoridation of water. Is the Whangārei mayor a medical professional? Looking her up, she appears not to be.

I’m not even sure she represents the view of the people who elected her.

But that’s democracy isn’t it? We appoint or anoint people with experience and skill in little if anything and expect them to run important stuff.

What makes her fluoridation objection so ironic is the fact she’s from Northland and it is Northland that would appear to have the disproportionate amount of trouble in the social areas - one of them being dental health.

Frank Newman: No trust in landowners

Last week commissioners began hearing submissions on what is the most significant change in Whangarei District Council planning rules in decades. Alarmingly, few people actually realise the new rules are in the pipeline. Hardly a word has been mentioned in the media, and the Council itself did not hold any public meetings to inform the public of the changes.

Ten plan changes are proposed - affecting every landowner outside of the built up urban environment. The plan changes divide the rural (countryside) area into seven "Environments" with "Resource area" overlays, each with their own rules. (Plan changes PC85, 85A, 85B, 85C, 85D, 86A, 86B. 87, 102, and 114.)

Frank Newman: Development contributions dishonest

Section 199 of the Local Government Act 2002 gives local councils, “the power to levy a development contribution if the effect of a development is to require new or additional assets or assets of increased capacity and, as a consequence, the territorial authority incurs capital expenditure to provide appropriately for reserves, network infrastructure, or community infrastructure.”

The intention was that local councils experiencing population growth would have an additional revenue mechanism to recover the cost of putting in infrastructure to service that growth.  When the levy was introduced in Whangarei in mid 2005 it was promoted as a matter of fairness by anti-development councillors and council staff. It would, they said, shift the cost burden of new infrastructure from the general ratepayer to the developer. 

Frank Newman: RMA racketeers

Unfortunately the population at large do not appreciate how much the Resource Management Act (RMA) has destroyed the economy. I guess they don't because they are not engaged in the RMA process so it does not affect them directly.

Bob Jones summed up some of the problems in an article called "Councils promoting rackets of cultural correctness a disgrace" (NZ Herald of the 9/9/14). It's well worth a read. Here are some snippets from the article.