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Dear John, Did you know that I am doing Technology Talks on Facebook? As the National Opposition Research, Science, Innovation, AI and Technology spokesperson I continue to promote the idea that focusing on the Technology sector will create exciting and profitable new businesses and careers in New Zealand. Recently on a Facebook Tech Talk, I had the pleasure of discussing the opportunities that Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) offer to children in our schools today. I discussed the Innovative Young Minds (IYM) initiative with Emma Stoddart programme manager. IYM has been run in New Zealand since 2017 with the aim of encouraging young women in secondary school years 11 and 12 to study STEM subjects at school. It helps them to map their way through school, into tertiary STEM studies and can assist with internships so that young women can have practical experience of the various pathways to rewarding careers. The low cost IYM programmes, supported by Rotary in the Wellington region, are run once a year in-house for a week in the July school holidays and now there is a virtual programme that caters for 100 girls nationwide that runs in April. For more information go to https://www.iym.org.nz. Better Internet Service Provision in the electorate I want to pass on a possible alternative for better internet service in those areas of the electorate that really don’t have any good connectivity and for whom the government’s roll out is inadequate. Starlink is one option for getting rural and remote Kiwis connected on the internet and getting the best internet they can afford. Starlink is a Satellite Internet connection developed by Elon Musk and it creates a direct line from your satellite dish to a stationary satellite or in Starlink’s case to any one of hundreds of satellites that have a low-earth orbit. Of course there is a cost for the hardware and the ongoing service and it is more expensive than some local options but overall it is has potential as a rural internet connectivity option. More information is available on www.getgravity.nz. It is not good enough that a good number of people in New Zealand’s biggest city currently have no connectivity at all at this time and I am continuing to talk about this at Select Committee level. Local Body Elections 8 October 2022 Enrolment You have until 12 August to enrol to vote in the Local Body Elections which occur on 8 October 2022. Your voting papers will be sent out from 16 September 2022 and you can complete them at any time prior to 8 October 2022. Your vote can be returned by regular post or in specially marked boxes in libraries, supermarkets and community hubs. You can update or enrol on-line on www.Vote.nz or by posting back the form sent by the Electoral Commission by 12 August 2022. Most people enrol or update their details on-line. Make sure all the family/whanau are enrolled to vote if they are over the age of 18 years. The Auckland Council Elections team want people to participate in the Local Body Elections, as the average voting rate in 2019 was only 35 per cent across Auckland and 31 per cent in South Auckland. This indicates that rates of voting in diverse communities is lower and also that out of 86,000 people in Papakura, 26,000 voted in 2019. If we want to have a say in the services that affect our daily lives and get changes for the better, we need to vote. Local Government elections affect everything that touches our daily lives – water supply and sewerage disposal, roads, parks, beaches, building consents, public transport, ports, rubbish collections and disposal, recycling, caring for our native trees and open spaces and more. Auckland needs and wants people to stand for local positions on local boards and as councillors. People should stand for election if they have experience of the people they want to serve and feel the need to represent them. Nominations, requiring two people to second them, close on 12 August 2022. It costs $200.00 to lodge a nomination and the forms are online on the Auckland Council website Take care, keep warm and well, Judith
Hon Judith
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