Labour’s Clare Curran will meet Horowhenua residents to get action on civil defence

Labour’s Civil Defence spokesperson Clare Curran will meet Horowhenua residents in Levin on Sunday, May 21.

One of the topics is just how locals can take part in the Government review of the Civil
Defence structure.

The meeting’s being organised by the Horowhenua District Ratepayers and Residents Association (HDRRAI).

Report due in August

Chairperson Christine Moriarty says: “The review team is expected to report back to the recently appointed Civil Defence
Minister, Nathan Guy, who is also the Otaki MP, by August.

Former Civil Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee initiated the review. Mr Guy has been invited to speak at the meeting
but is unavailable.

The Horowhenua residents’association invited Mr Guy, Horowhenua District Council mayor Michael Feyen and all
District Councillors to attend.”

“We are particularly keen for Horowhenua District councillor Ross Brannigan to attend because he is also employed by

Horizons Regional Council as the district’s Civil Defence officer,” Ms Moriarty says.

A Government Technical Advisory Group set up to identify
shortcomings in the civil defence structure
includes former National MP Roger Sowry, Local
Government NZ chief executive Malcolm Alexander,and assistant
police commissioner Mike Rusbatch.

Also attending are Fire Service deputy national commander Kerry Gregory, Defence Force
Major General Tim Gall and Civil Defence and Emergency
Ministry director Sarah Stuart-Black.

The meeting starts at 2pm in St Mary’s Chuirch Hall, Manchester Street , on Sunday, 21st May

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STORY OF THE WEEK

Kāpiti Coast councillors have toured of one of Aotearoa's unique buildings, the heritage - listed Rotunda at the former Otaki Health Camp, the country’s first.

Jeremy Smith reports that the 105-year-old, eight-sided rotunda predates the Health Camp.

It wasn't actually built in Otaki, but was one of two built in Rotorua in 1915 as part of a military hospital, on the site of Rotorua’s present public hospital.

Later they were taken to Otaki for the opening of the health camp in 1931.

Full story in the main column (December 19).

100 Years Ago — and the Maori Long March begins

Māori politics was dominated by the influential MPs (and sometime Cabinet ministers) Māui Pōmare ( Waitara statue photo above) and Apirana Ngata.

The 1920's also saw the rise of Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana’s religious movement, and the emergence of Te Puea Hērangi in Waikato.

Ngata worked hard to foster Māori scholarship and education and preserve traditional arts and culture.

He convinced the government to establish a Board of Maori Ethnological Research (1923), a Maori Purposes Fund Control Board (1924) and a School of Maori Arts and Crafts in Rotorua (1927).

The Reform government also took the first, tentative steps towards settling longstanding Māori grievances.

Agreements with Te Arawa in 1922 and Ngāti Tūwharetoa in 1926 recognised their respective rights over the Rotorua lakes and Lake Taupō, and led to the establishment of trust boards with some government funding.

Commissions of inquiry which examined Ngāi Tahu grievances (1920–21) and the Waikato and Taranaki confiscations (1926–27) recommended that modest compensation be paid.

Kāpiti and Coast Independent

Key Civil Defence Meeting

Labour’s Clare Curran will meet Horowhenua residents to get action on civil defence