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Dear John, Meeting with some of Auckland’s Mayoral Candidates – All welcome I am hosting a Pizza and Politics Event on Friday 26 August 2022 at 6.30pm at The Pizza Box, 58 Wood Street, Papakura. Entry is $30 per person or $50 for two and includes pizza, fries, drink and a chat probably about politics. Mayoral candidates Viv Beck and Wayne Brown will be there to tell us about their plans to restore Auckland following the Covid lockdowns and the problems with funding services for us as ratepayers among other matters. For the Pizza and Politics Event Click here to register It is interesting to note that there are 22 mayoral candidates for Auckland City confirmed for the election which concludes on 8 October. To see who they are you can go to https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/elections/information-for-candidates/Documents/list-candidates-positions-local-elections-2022.pdf Your local councillor candidates and local board candidates will be listed according to where you live. As I have mentioned before, it is very important to vote in the Local Body Elections. Take time to find out about the candidates in your electorate. Then identify the mayoral candidate that you consider will do the best job to bring Auckland back to being the wonderful City of Sails again. Vietnam Veterans Honoured The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day at the Manukau RSA Memorial Gardens is on Sunday 21 August at 10am this year. This special day commemorates in particular the local New Zealanders who served in the Vietnam War between 1963 and 1975. From across New Zealand, 3,000 people served in military and civilian activities. They were involved in various settings from jungles and in the air to hospitals, training camps and South Vietnamese offices. Most of the active service occurred between 1965 and 1972. Our soldiers provided Kiwi gunners for artillery offensives and infantry for cordons and search patrols. RNZAF personnel were seconded to Royal Australian Airforce intelligence and reconnaissance missions and flew helicopter missions in the Phuoc Tuy province. The NZSAS mounted 155 patrols in two years and many troopers served more than one tour before the SAS was withdrawn in 1971. This year we are proud to remember the brave service and humanitarian contribution of all who served in Vietnam. Lest we Forget. New Food Technologies My role as Science technology AI and innovation spokesperson is constantly surprising me with all the initiatives there are around producing food sustainably, efficiently and cost-effectively. I am always finding new organisations doing things differently. Take NIWA for example – they monitor weather and the atmosphere and provide the information for weather forecasts and tides. Yes they do, but they also have teams of scientists and special high tech facilities where they undertake research and work with commercial clients to produce food. Recently I visited their operation at Northland Marine Research Centre at Bream Bay where NIWA scientists design and manage marine operations that optimise sustainable, commercial aquaculture production while meeting the required environmental and quality certification standards for producing seafood sustainably. At Bream Bay, NIWA scientists produce kingfish and Hapuku on dry land using special tanks and sustainable methods. The research here includes developing techniques to improve aquaculture waste water treatment by minimisation of nutrient discharge. Water Services Entities Bill Closer to Papakura, the horticulture industry is worried the Water Services Entities Bill (aka “three waters” reforms) will direct the Water Entities to secure the cheapest water supply for urban areas at the expense of food security and production. The Bill would establish four water service entities that will take fresh water, wastewater, and stormwater functions off local government. The Bill recently came under fire from the Auditor General for being weak on public accountability. Horticulture NZ told Parliament’s finance and expenditure committee that most horticulture was situated near urban areas and therefore shared water catchments with urban communities. Horticulture NZ said over 80% of vegetable production was consumed in NZ, with much of the export crop heading for the Pacific Islands. Many fruit crops are also grown for domestic consumption. It wants consideration of domestic food security to be explicitly written into the new law. Horticulture NZ is concerned that the Bill directs the Water Entities to pursue the cheapest water for their functions but without considering the wider social/economic costs that might be associated with it. For example there is existing tension with Auckland’s Watercare holding onto a consent to draw from the Kaawa aquifer in case of drought, which is the same source that Pukekohe’s growers rely on. Horticulture NZ considers that the Water Entities should need to collaborate with rural horticultural communities rather than taking priority to have the cheapest, deep groundwater for public use and as a consequence forcing additional costs of storage, augmentation and adaptation onto rural users. I hope to see you at the Pizza Box event for discussion of these and many other issues before us at the moment. Best wishes, Judith Hon Judith
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