Viewpoint – Unexpected challenges

Speed bumps, potholes and speed limits – these are the three key topics that got me elected as a representative of the people. As a lifestyle farmer living in the rural north of Auckland, Rodney, the three challenges mentioned above, which impact all of us, are amplified significantly.

Here is some shocking news for you: the Rodney Local Board voted on building a $600,000 speed bump outside Mahurangi College at its July business meeting. I was obviously disappointed that this item passed even though I tried to vote against it. As I’m sure you can imagine, there are far more appropriate uses for $600,000 of Rodney ratepayers’ money.

Speed limits on major transport routes have been reduced as per the direction set under our current government to increase journey times and discourage vehicle use, instead of maintaining our roads.

Potholes need to be prevented and not repaired. Potholes form because the road surface is fatigued due to lack of regular maintenance, and this is partially because money is continually siphoned away from the road renewals and rehabilitation in favour of employing more bureaucrats and consultants, building speed bumps and reducing speed limits, not to mention the hundreds of millions wasted on “road to zero”.

The worst offence on the Rodney Local Board that I have seen, in relation to wasted ratepayers’ money on administrative and consultant costs, is the proposal from the previous Rodney Local Board to build a park and ride in Kumeu for a cost of $4.5 million. The project has been cancelled by the current local board (2022-25) but $450,000 has already been consumed by administration staff and consultants, who seem to be in it just to make a profit off the ratepayers. The consultants have no responsibility for that money they have taken from you as the ratepayer and $450,000 is a reasonable chunk of cash for zero delivery of anything other than a couple of concept drawings.

I want to challenge the system and redirect funds to where they are needed and not where the unelected bureaucrats think it should be spent. Unfortunately, it seems that the challenge is far more difficult than I had first imagined, especially with a minority vote against the Rodney First political party who have majority control of the board and, therefore, have the option to overrule any common sense suggestions I make.

Being an elected member on the local board does come with some unique challenges that I wasn’t expecting, such as the mental and emotional stress pushed onto us from bureaucrats driving their own agenda, which I can assure you doesn’t align with what I stand for and what I am hearing from the community. I can see why very few good people from normal working-class backgrounds stand for government and why even fewer stick around for more than one term. P.S. The next council election is two years away.