This is one of the answers received in this Official Information request. The first and obvious resulting question from (1) above has to be why are they needed? If it’s to check people’s vax passes then that is a huge price for futility; everyone knows, because Bloomfield admits it, that the jabs don’t prevent transmission of omicron. The official NZ data, see a previous post, confirms that.

The second resulting question is about the amount of the charge-out rate stated. $35 an hour would be believable if the KCDC was employing these people directly, but not if it’s through a security firm, or a staff agency. They will have overheads to cover which go on top of what the men get. If a margin does come out of that $35, then what are the men getting? The minimum wage of $20 an hour?

The fifth question in the response above relates to the property on the east side of Marine Parade at Paraparaumu Beach. This was bought for $1.43 million in 2019 and last November the council voted to sell it again in a secret session. However, the answer states that as at yesterday the sale hadn’t happened. This, we believe, relates to the Guru Gateway saga because the Reserves Act states that a building like a museum/cultural centre (which is now the revised proposed main use of it) can’t be built on a Reserve if a nearby site is available for it — see Christopher Ruthe’s latest article.