The NZTA advises that to allow for work on the intersection of Ōtaki Gorge Road and State Highway 1, the west end of Ōtaki Gorge Road will be closed for approximately three months from Sunday 28 February. During the closure, a detour will be available using Hautere Cross Road, School Road and the new Te Horo Beach Road overbridge (see above map).

This was received as a paper mail last week and has been discussed by a small group of us. There are several points:

• The person referred to by the author(s) sounds like one of the many short term contractors Mr Maxwell has. It seems unlikely that he would invite her back for a brief period before Christmas if he had bullied her out, or that she would want to come back if that was the case.
• We know that KCDC under Mr Maxwell has a high staff turnover, about twice the Local Government average. This was commented on during the 2019 election campaign.
• We also know top-down management is a feature of Mr Maxwell’s organisation; this was likewise commented on during the last election campaign.
• An extract from the employment.govt.nz website on the subject of workplace bullying and harassment is below. If Mr Maxwell does not follow these requirements, then it would be grounds for a Personal Grievance.
• There are Law Firms that specialise in the Employment Relations Act including Personal Grievances — an example
• We know that the MartinJenkins report was heavily santitized before Councillors and the public got to see it — this was the reason Mr Maxwell wanted his both his in-house lawyer Mr Power and Simpson Grierson to review it first.
• It is up to the electors of Kapiti to vote in good Councillors next year who will take their obligations seriously and do something about this. There were 3 good Councillor candidates in 2019 we endorsed who were elected (Gwynn Compton, Martin Halliday and Bernie Randall), but there were also others we endorsed who weren’t. We need at least 3 more good Councillors to form a majority and ideally Gwynn Compton as mayor.

We have asked Mr Maxwell to comment on the above letter, but he has failed to do so. We have also asked him to provide the number of Personal Grievances he has been presented since he became CEO in December 2017 as an Official Information request. He has 20 working days to comply with the law or we go (once more) to the Ombudsman.

Labour forgot to include a big group of people in its bubble of kindness, and it needs to start treating them with some dignity. Instead of giving a hug, a handout, and an extra day off, Labour’s forgotten people are used to fund the Government’s campaign of kindness and occasionally are even spat on in the plot of its political theatre.

Labour’s forgotten people are not a race, sexuality or religion, or any other superficial identity. They are in all those groups by a shared state of mind. They think it’s their responsibility to make tomorrow better than today, for themselves and those around them.

They are people like Mary, who told us she’s checking out. After years of employing a dozen people at her business, it’s just not worth it.

She starts work at 5am and works 80 hours a week, but she faces constant cost increases that have eaten up her margins, while she has to be more of a mother to her employees than her children.

She is opposed to domestic violence, loves holidays, and doesn’t like being sick. The problem is that employers like her – not all taxpayers – are now responsible for funding them all. The Government requires them to give leave for domestic violence victims, pay an extra public holiday, and five days extra sick leave.

That is on top of a minimum wage that keeps increasing faster than average productivity. She can either charge more or make less money herself; customers aren’t so keen on option one, so she’s getting squeezed.

The forgotten people are not necessarily rich. Manjit drives a taxi; his wife works at a supermarket. Between them they put in 100 hours a week. Nearly half their income goes on renting in zone for the schools they wanted their children to go to.

Manjit beams when he tells us that his two children are now studying medicine and computer science at Auckland. Somehow Manjit’s family got through 2020 when the taxi business dropped by three quarters. Somehow they had saved enough to get through it.

Labour hasn’t forgotten Manjit and Mary, or at least it hasn’t forgotten people who look like them. What it’s forgotten is their values.

They are compassionate people who understand that they are lucky in many ways. They accept paying tax, they help out where they can. But this Government ignores them at best and uses them as fodder for its political theatre at worst.

They’d love a little thanks every now and then, but they’ll settle for just being treated with dignity. Failing that, they just want to know their taxes are getting results.

Consider the Government’s fiscal response to COVID. Under urgency with a near empty Parliament, this Government raised benefits by $25 a week. As soon as the election was over they raised the top tax rate to 39 cents. The signal couldn’t be clearer. If you want to stay home and sleep your life away, this Government is here for you. If you go out and work hard to make a buck, they’re here to tax you.

They can’t believe the name of the Police’s new operation to deal to gangs Tauwhiro, means to tend or care for, or ‘social worker.’ We are not making this up. If you’re in a gang, this Government will tend to you. If you’re terrorised by gangs shutting down your street for days on end or taking over the motorways, the Government is sorry.

They want not only their kids but all kids to be equipped for the 21^st century with skills that will allow them to earn money without selling P, but the first time the Government insists on children learning something specific is a politically motivated version of New Zealand history.

But the people this Government has forgotten still have one ace in the hole. Without them, there’s nobody left to pay the bills for Labour’s fantasies. We need to get back to a reality where people’s efforts, for better and worse, make a difference, and the Government acknowledges it.

(Natural News) International travelers who try to enter Canada from elsewhere are learning the hard way that Justin Trudeau’s henchmen are ready and waiting to throw them into Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) internment camps straight from the airport.

This is what happened to 34-year-old Steve Duesing, who upon arriving in Toronto from Charlotte was told that he would have to quarantine for three days at a camp or be arrested and taken to jail.

“I’m in one,” the Scarborough man told the Toronto Sun, contradicting the official narrative that there are no internment camps for the Chinese virus in Canada.

“I was told when I arrived (at Pearson International Airport) Sunday night from Charlotte that it was either three days quarantine or go to jail,” he further explained.

Duesing says he was escorted via shuttle bus straight from the airport to a nearby Radisson Hotel, located on Dixon Road, where he was ordered to stay confined in his room, with guards perched outside to ensure he would.

“I am not allowed to leave the room,” Duesing indicated. “There is a guard at the end of the hall.”

Before being forcibly hauled off to the ninth floor of the Radisson, Duesing was forced to get tested for Chinese germs. A cotton javelin possibly containing a secret vaccine was thrust into Duesing’s nose or anus, after which he was forced to just wait in solitary confinement for the results.

“I was told I can’t order in food,” Steve told reporters on the phone as he looked outside down into the parking lot where there was a Tim Hortons, a Harvey’s, a Subway, and a Swiss Chalet.

Coronavirus is a cover to destroy your civil liberties, make you a government slave

While still in North Carolina visiting a friend, Duesing paid $130 to get a Chinese virus test, to which he tested negative. Upon arrival in Canada, however, Duesing was forced to get tested again because those are the “rules.” And part of those rules apparently allows people to be imprisoned against their will because Chinese germs are just too darn scary to continue allowing freedom and liberty.

“It feels like that,” Duesing said about his jail-like experience living in the Radisson. “I don’t have any say in it.”

The Public Health Agency of Canada was unhappy with the “rapid test” results that Duesing procured upon arrival in Toronto and demanded he take another. In the meantime, he was forcibly detained without probable cause of any crime.

“I was escorted by police to a shuttle bus and taken to this hotel, which is fenced off from the public,” Duesing indicated, noting that the facility had a detention center feel to it. The facility was wrapped in a protective barrier, preventing anyone from coming or going without an escort.

“It’s a lonely, solitary existence,” Duesing lamented. “I should be allowed to leave at 10 pm tonight (Tuesday).”

Even the Toronto Sun was forced to admit that this type of setup hardly fits a supposedly free country. Writer Joe Warmington added that it also “seems punitive,” as if Duesing had committed some kind of crime simply for existing as a potential “carrier” of the Chinese virus.

“If he had a fever or cough, perhaps precautionary measures of some kind could be taken,” Warmington writes, recognizing that this has all gone way too far. “But taking away someone’s liberty is obscene. It feels like a violation of basic human rights in a country that purports to champion such freedoms.” (Click to Source)

Original article

 Kapiti iwi Te Atiawa …. and Ngati Toa … have combined to signal their strong support for the proposed Kapiti Gateway by gifting the name Te Uruhi to the project. –Kapiti News, Wednesday 17 February 2021

The management is anticipating success

By Roger Childs

Two obvious questions arise from the Kapiti News article cited:

• Did the Kapiti Coast District Council (KCDC) ask for a name from the local iwi?
• What does Te Uruhi mean?

The answer to the first question is almost certainly. The ‘gifted’ name means coerce, force or compel. This is a strange name, but is quite appropriate given the pressure on elected Councillors from the Chief Executive Mr Maxwell and the present mayor.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has recently completed a review of the $4.46 million project planned as part of Mclean Park just a few metres from the beach.

The project is properly a decision for the “governance” branch of KCDC, not the administration lead by Maxwell.

According to the Kapiti News, Maxwell briefed Councillors on the PWC review and the cultural, social, environmental, and economic benefits of the project… It is crystal clear what outcome he wants.

An expensive, unnecessary, unjustified project

Waikanae Watch has published a number of articles giving compelling reasons and evidence that Guru’s Gateway should not proceed. These are many including:

• The anticipated number of visitors to Kapiti Island over the coming decades is based on flawed projections. Unfavourable weather will prevent travel on a large number of days every year.
• The price to make the trip will rise considerably. The last time that happened numbers going across fell dramatically.
• One of the two companies transporting visitors is against the project.
• Two public surveys revealed that the majority of locals are against it. 
• Will people pay more to make the trip simply because there is a fancy building to pass through on the way?
• Will the suggested income streams actually raise money? For example will people pay to have bags and possessions safely locked away?
• Paraparaumu Beach doesn’t need yet another café.
• Parking spaces are already in short supply at the Beach and the area can ill-afford to lose 17 to the Gateway.
• The Gateway will be within 20 metres of the beach average tide level. There has been plenty of recent publicity about the possible impact of rising seas, and in recent decades parts of the Kapiti Coast have been eroding away. Councillor Handford from the Village is well aware of this. Even where there hasn’t been erosion, sea currents can change to cause it.
• The urgent project which is far more important and would benefit many more ratepayers is a new Waikanae Library.

What could be done to provide undercover facilities for biodiversity checks for people travelling to Kapiti Island? Use $200,000 to $300,000 to provide an addition to the south end of the Kapiti Boating Club. This would do the job and save a lot of money.

Just a reminder about Tuesday’s meeting. The talk will start at 7.30 so arrive in plenty of time.

·       Kapiti Uniting Church, 7:30 pm

·       10 Weka Road, Raumati Beach

·       Enter through the main church door

·       All welcome. Gold coin koha thanks.

Andy Oakley

What Happens to a Country when History is Rewrittten

A photo of then Minister of Transport Steven Joyce and other VIPs including then Mayor Rowan on Saturday 19 February 2011. It also saw the first public presentation of the present Matangi type electric trains. The event was marked by protests from those unhappy about the Expressway plan with a balloon floating for every house that would be removed for it. Actually, there weren’t many of them. For Geoffrey and Eva, the extension of the electrification meant being able to travel all the way to/from Waikanae without a change to/from a bus at Paraparaumu.

Julie Leibrich was a Kapiti cultural treasure. She sadly passed away earlier in the month after a courageous battle with cancer. Waikanae Watch will publish some of her famous sonnets in the next few months starting with the delightful, cliché-ridden “ A word in your Ear” .

A WORD IN YOUR EAR

By Julie Leibrich

---

I’ve got to see a man about a dog.

He’s not called Jack, he’s not all work, no play.

My life is like a mirror in a fog.

The world’s my oyster. What more can I say?

I’ve got to be footloose and fancy free,

tickle my fancy when and where I want,

be tickled pink, not busy as a bee,

say Bob’s your uncle, not my giddy aunt.

I haven’t room to swing a Cheshire cat.

I’m caught between a hard place and a rock.

I want to knock time into a cocked hat

and tell the clock where it can put a sock.

The knives are out when silly words are uttered.

A poet knows what side her bread is buttered.