Andrew von Dadelszen Former Regional Councillor

I sympathise with the view of many who are calling for transparency during the settlement process of the Tauranga Moana Treaty claims.

Word has it that local Maori can expect a settlement of about $150m (with probably about $50m in cash) and I personally don't have a problem with this. What is more concerning is the thought of co-governance arrangements for our harbour and waterways. While theoretically not a problem, the ongoing cost to all ratepayers and ‘reverse grievance' issues associated with co-governance, threaten to just exasperate our grievances for generations to come.
Let's get this process settled so that we can all move on as one nation. The Office of Treaty Settlements (and Minister Finlayson) represent all New Zealanders and an open and transparent process is the only way to ensure that this process is fair to us all. There should be nothing to hide and local government elected representatives and the public in general need to have confidence in this process.

As the Rena slides to the depths

The best Christmas present we got was that the Rena didn't break up over our peak holiday period. Watching the stern section slip off the reef into Davey Jones' locker will give us another short term headache, but at least we are well resourced to deal with it. Volunteers have been once again ringing to offer assistance with the container recovery, but this is not something the salvors want. There are just too many risks associated with containers and their contents for the public to being involved, but any oil coming ashore is another matter. We believe there could have been still more than 100 tonnes of oil on board (slopping around in the bilge etc), but this is less than one third of what we have already dealt with. Our volunteers were incredible during the last three months and hopefully with the stern two thirds of the Rena now sinking, the end is in sight.

If you have a view on these or any other local government issues, I invite you to email me.

Email: [email protected]