Viewpoint – ‘Oliver’s office’ open 

Although my family and I have lived on the Hibiscus Coast for many years, there is never a day that goes by that I don’t appreciate the fantastic facilities and community that we have in our area.

As a standing joke amongst my friends, you’ll often hear them say that if you’re looking for me, you’ll find me at my “Oliver’s Café office” however, I do believe that it’s important that I’m available and accessible to people to discuss any items of interest they may wish to share – perhaps more elected representatives should do the same. Make sure you say ‘hi’ if you see me at Oliver’s early in the morning!

I think a lot of us are facing uncertain times, especially dealing with increasing inflation costs and rising mortgage interest rates, and so on. I can assure you that the Hibiscus and Bays Local board is no exception. We definitely have been faced with the difficult task of being fair and also balancing the funding for so many projects that we wanted to achieve. I have always stated that as a local board, we must have transparency and be accountable especially when it comes to the annual funding, and this year especially we have had to make some hard decisions to ensure that the funding is put to the best use for the majority of the community. 

On a positive note, it is extremely pleasing to see the Penlink development well and truly underway and you will notice the very prominent excavation work on the Northern motorway and also beside Whangaparāoa Rd (opposite New World) at Stanmore Bay. 

Your local board is doing everything in its power to advocate and convince NZTA and Auckland Transport to reconsider its plan not to fund the bus terminal at the Whangaparāoa end of Penlink. 

With having been involved and associated with many types of sporting and community groups over the past few decades, it’s always great to see these develop into stronger and extremely well run organisations especially as our population grows exponentially. Hopefully in the near future there will be a continuance of building community facilities to accommodate the many community groups as the population increases as predicted.

On a personal note, I have now finished my two-year position as president of the North Harbour Referee Association and looking forward to the entertainment side of things as it’s starting to pick up for the Christmas season, which naturally gives me an opportunity to separate from the stress council obligations. 

A few days ago, I was very honoured to be awarded the Agnew Award of Excellence 2023 at the Variety Artists Club Benny Awards in Auckland. This was a very humbling experience and I do have to thank Tracey, my wife, and the family for putting up with all those years of traveling and entertaining all over NZ and internationally.

Finally I wish everyone a fantastic and relaxed holiday season coming this year and I’m sure we’ll catch up sometime soon at my Oliver’s Café office.