YouSay

Manuhiri deal stinks

I, like a lot of Rodney people, are absolutely gutted by Mook Hohneck and his Ngati Manuhiri Settlement Trust’s actions, in changing their mind in supporting Waste Management in their bid to build this giant toxic landfill in the Dome Valley. One has to ask, what has made this ‘trust’ do a complete reversal after all he has said against this tip and that it would never go ahead so long as he was alive.

In reading local news and hearing a few opinions, none of the local Manuhiri iwi want this landfill to go ahead and none of them apparently have ever been consulted on this.

Apparently Mr Hohneck lives in Rotorua and all their trust’s meetings are held in Rotorua. Is this so locals can’t attend the trust meetings and vote?

What use is $10 million when this landfill starts to leak, which it will do according to a lot of experts, should it go ahead?

Worse still, who will own this landfill and be responsible for any leaks and the consequences?

How much training in “cultural induction” does a workforce require to build this landfill and maintain it? Will the trust be fair and disclose how much money they will make from all of this or will they keep it secret from local iwi?

Surely Judge Smith, who is overseeing this case in the Environmental Court, will see this move for what it is – purely commercial – and deal with it accordingly. I believe that Settlement Trust’s decision is

“Special thank you to the organisers and leaders of Warkworth CRG (Community Resilience Group) and Helping Hands, who I know didn’t get much, if any, sleep all night because they were organising, rallying, making phone calls to civil defence and Red Cross, making sure that when we woke up in the morning we had food, toiletries, and a plan of action.

“You guys were absolutely incredible, and I am indeed in awe of you!

“…and to the Warkworth RSA and to the Warkworth community hall – thank you, thank you thank you so much for opening up your premises for us and to the volunteers who made tea and coffee, who made sure we had food, who offered to take us home for a shower. Your kindness, and your dedication to making our visit to your beautiful town as painless as possible has blown us away! Warkworth Rocks!”

“Hats off, high 5’s to tireless workers who took care of those us who were caught in this weekend’s deluge. We were in the traffic between Whangarei/Auckland that came to a grinding halt. Thank you, of course, to road workers clearing debris, police and emergency services. A personal acknowledgement and thanks to the two women at BP Warkworth, who were literally running serving the influx of so many people with food and drink until the pies ran out. Thank you to the Asian food store vendors who opened up late, found goji berries there and allowed people the use of their toilet. The local lady who kept us informed of road closures as news came to hand and was still on the job when we woke in the morning, directed us to safe places to park up for the night and, in conjunction, with the Warkworth RSA, provided those stranded with breakfast and hot tea/coffee, water and for those who needed it, a dry warm room, pillows, blankets to sleep the night, a toilet and power to recharge mobile phones. Saturday morning the Warkworth RSA bar opened up and bar and kitchen staff provided biscuits, hot drinks throughout the day, bacon, sausages, bread for brunch, power points also, toilets and a book too, while we waited for news of roads opening. The NZ Army based at RSA had disposable nappies for the wee ones. ‘Lest We Forget’. We were so well taken care of. Thank you so much.”

We welcome your feedback but letters under 250 words are preferred. We reserve the right to abridge them as necessary. Unabridged versions can be read at www.localmatters.co.nz/opinion

0910 a black mark against all Maori and all other Kiwis who pride themselves on living in an honest, open and caring society. They need to look at themselves and see what the rest of us see and feel about their deal. It stinks!

Maury Purdy, Warkworth

This letter was referred to the Ngati Manuhiri Settlement Trust, but it did not wish to comment at this time.

Dollars talk

So a massive backflip for the almighty silver dollar (MM Jan 30). The Ngati Manuhiri Settlement Trust board, who over the past years have all been against the [Dome] landfill, but now have been given a bribe of $10 million. When it comes to money they have no friends just the almighty silver dollar … I hope this backfires big time on the lot of them who opted to do this.

Brian Henman, Algies Bay

Goatley complaint

In the weeks prior to Christmas, I emailed Auckland Council’s AT section regarding the poor state of repair of Goatley Road, just north of Warkworth, off SH1. The reply email was headed ‘We’ve started working on your case”. Wrong.

Absolutely nothing has been done and since the recent heavy rains, we now have to drive on the wrong side of the road at blind hills/bends to avoid massive potholes and gullies gouged out of the road. Because of the numerous resource consents granted by Auckland Council, and the subsequent new builds, traffic has

Above, coincidentally, Mahurangi Matters found a grader working on the Goatley Road when we went to inspect the road after receiving this correspondence. increased dramatically, with absolutely nothing being done about the road. At the one lane bridge near No.123, there is no tarseal as there is at almost every other one-lane bridge in Rodney. A local farmer is filling the potholes on either side. There have been accidents, and there will be more accidents. Council needs to do something before someone is killed or severely injured.

David Inglis, Goatley Road