![Not Listening [octavehighereast.com]](https://dunedinstadium.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/not-listening-octavehighereast-com1.jpg)
Not Listening [octavehighereast.com]
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There is little or no RISING GROUNDWATER at South Dunedin – this is an attack on the local community by Anthropogenic Global Warming (manmade climate change) believers like Curran, Clark, and Cull.
So-called ‘authorities’ are running their Politics over the top of the local Community, Failing to canvass the views of the local residents, property owners, service providers and businesses through agreed consultation methods Before pronouncing upon the area. This is disrespectful, dangerous behaviour. Unwarranted.
A lot of us will remember Labour MP David Clark’s importune speech on climate change at the public meeting held at South Dunedin on 20 June. He completely didn’t register the mood and understandings of the local audience.
Greenie Cull and the Labour Party are deliberately or inadvertently using South Dunedin as a Political Football. There are few votes to be earned from bullying and interference, thank god.
Listening —what is that.
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Speaking after the tour, Mr Little said the area was a “prime candidate” for urban renewal under the party’s proposed Affordable Housing Authority.
### ODT Online Tue, 26 Jul 2016
Labour timeline for South renewal
By Timothy Brown
South Dunedin’s renewal will be showing “good progress” within six years of electing a Labour government, party leader Andrew Little says. Mr Little toured South Dunedin with Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull, Dunedin South MP Clare Curran, Dunedin North MP Dr David Clark and list MP David Parker after the area was earmarked by the Opposition as one urgently needing urban renewal. The group walked from Bathgate Park School, in Macandrew Rd, down Loyalty St into Nicholson St and on to Nelson St before returning to the school. They were accompanied by members of various social groups from South Dunedin.
Read more
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### Dunedintv.co.nz Mon, 25 July 2016
Labour leader tours South Dunedin
Labour Leader Andrew Little has visited South Dunedin today, alongside a contingent of MPs and social service agency stakeholders. The group wandered around the areas hardest hit by last year’s floods, looking at the handful of houses still empty more than a year on. And Little took the opportunity to offer up his party’s plan to fix some of the issues.
Ch39 Link
Channel 39 Published on Jul 24, 2016
Labour leader tours South Dunedin
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DUNEDIN – JUNKET CITY FOR LGNZ
“How do we Efficiently capture NZ Ratepayers’ Money for our Comfy Salaries”
### Dunedintv.co.nz Mon, 25 July 2016
Local government conference kicks off
The country’s annual Local Government conference is back in Dunedin for the first time in almost a decade. More than 560 delegates have piled into the Town Hall to discuss how to make New Zealand a better place to live and work. But it’s also serving as a way to address the tension between local and central governments.
Ch39 Video
LAWRENCE YULE GO HOME
█ For more, enter the terms *flood*, *sea level rise*, *stormwater*, *hazard*, *johnstone*, *hendry*, *south dunedin action group*, *debriefing notes*, *listener* or *lgnz* in the search box at right.
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.
![Listening ear-hand [mrhudyma.com]](https://dunedinstadium.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/listening-ear-hand-mrhudyma-com.jpg)
![Larry King - Listen [via linkedin.com]](https://dunedinstadium.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/larry-king-listen-via-linkedin-com.jpg)
*Images: mrhudyma.com – Listening | linkedin.com – Larry King, Listen
What if? Dunedin... 
Tue, 26 Jul 2016
ODT: Call for more women to stand for local government office
ODT: Labour promises to boost local govt
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Look in your backpacks, councils told
A vision of 2050 when self-driving cars are the norm and robots have taken many of our jobs was presented at the Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) conference yesterday. A range of speakers at the conference in Dunedin stressed the importance of adapting in a period of unprecedented technological, environmental, and demographic change.
Packing the BS some more, University of Otago Brainwashed Dumbclucks blessed by the sainted ODT Opinion pages. [My bolding]
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Tue, 26 Jul 2016
ODT Opinion: Local and national climate-change plans needed now
By Jule Barth – intern, Wise Response Society, Dunedin
OPINION Last June’s South Dunedin floods left our community well and truly shaken. Yet consensus on how best to avoid a tragic recurrence continues to elude us, despite apparent agreement that the causes were a combination of flawed infrastructure and the effects of climate change. The science (and, honestly, common sense) suggests areas such as South Dunedin are at increased risk of floods, coastal erosion and subsequent emotional, infrastructural and economic damage as the intensity of storm events increases and sea level rises due to ice melt and ocean warming. Clearly, action is needed, and it needs to be across multiple scales in space and time.
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█ The Royal Society of New Zealand is hosting a national speaking tour and will be in Dunedin next month. The tour features Profs Tim Nash and James Renwick, two of New Zealand’s leading climate-change experts […] Profs Tim Nash and James Renwick will speak in Dunedin on August 4 at 5.30pm in the Hutton Theatre, Otago Museum.
Anyone who belongs to a group that calls itself “Wise Response” has to be immeasurably superior to the rest of us. How dare anyone challenge the wisdom of a self-annointed Wise Responder!
The Wise Response is a front for the group Sustainable Dunedin City (SDC) who are a group of political lobbyists and enviro-extremists. It was co-founded by Jinty MacTavish. Councillor MacTavish sees her purpose as promoting the ideology of SDC and that is what she has done. The DCC have given funding to SDC for various purposes. SDC are a DCC “stakeholder”. Stakeholders get priority consideration in any decisions/consultations.
MacTavish this, MacTavish that..anyone would think there is only one truly influential councillor posing a threat to that which all right thinking people hold dear. Sustenance is conservatism by another name. Serious, sometimes I think Jint E would be less disparaged if she were an old white man.
If the young woman (and cohorts) was benign we wouldn’t give a monkey’s. That she is not is the Ratepayer problem and to that end her removal is necessary and critical – or more New councillors to crunch her and BFF Cull.
It is remarkable to view the documentation of the Sustainable Dunedin City Society and The Wise Response Organisation which is based in Dunedin. So many familiar names that have the ear of so many people. For your amusement and education look them up on the Societies NZ website and look in particular at their founding documents with the list of founding members. Also interesting to note some of the financial statements including donations.
Mantrid is accurate in their description as detailed in their “visions” and “objectives”.
Very interesting to note that a University of Otago Dept appears to be a supporter of an organisation like this…….wonder how that stacks up?
Alanbec, old white men who are as ditzy, and as effective at getting their way on our $-rates, don’t escape notice. Haven’t you noticed? The amount of notice depends on the frequency and amount of damage they cause.
When they form a “f*ckbuddy relationship: with other council or DCC members to roger the city via budget mis-assignments to unnecessaries in place of core business they are pests that need to be eliminated from Dunedin’s ecosystem.
Roger Waters, hype.o.thermia, Roger Waters (Pink Floyd).
One at a time, alanbec. Should she be a target? Yes, I say. If it is a choice of sustenance or what they call sustainability, I choose sustenance. Freedom and prosperity should also prevail over their vision of how they want you and me to live our lives.
This is all true, but at the meso (municipal) level. The micro level, personal agency, private life, individual worldview, has nothing to do with Council ideology, except maybe they are charging ratepayers for elusive dreams and schemes.
As someone who spent some government funded time mooching about tertiary institutions taking fascinating but vocationally useless papers, I think that ‘bright sparks’ (not me), have transferable skills. Cr MacTavish, at Council in Public at least, is a facilitative Chair of Submissions, inclusive, ‘in charge’ and respectful of visiting submitters. If/when she is no longer on Council, those skills, arguably useful to Council efficiency, are lost. Just saying. Lord, is that the time? Must rush, the Masons are coming to buy some second hand aprons.
alanbec, Jinty has skills useful to Council efficiency, but instead what she uses them for is to implement her own political agenda.
She is good at looking after parrots. I would like to see her doing something like that, some-place where she can’t do any harm.
Yes, Mantrid, I understand. I am familiar with the custom of Banishment or The Shunning, of strong, politico women. I do not understand how one City Councillor has impacted on your life so disadvantageously. Also, why I am so snippy is because ‘Sustainability’ seems to include ending poverty, which is just not on.
alanbec, you want to end poverty? What sort of poverty do you see little swallow? I wonder because we already have the benefit of socialism. I don’t think we have real poverty. Some of it’s manufactured for the TV cameras. Perhaps you see poverty of attitude, or parents that make bad spending decisions, and anyway, what’s Jinty going to do about it? What’s it even got to do with her, her job is to fix the potholes and the pipes. If she can’t or won’t do that, then she should bugger off. Same applies to the rest of them.
Capistrano to you, Mantrid Mann. Here you go again, personalising issues. I said Sustainability wants to end Poverty. I am not Sustainability. Er, sustainable? Poverty is starving, already, those who don’t like poverty are not necessarily socialist. Ad hominem is not the way of it at Moot Court.
Mantrid. Some compassion, respect and support to people in poverty or need wouldn’t go amiss. Spend time working with people who for whatever reason can’t fend for themselves temporarily or longer term. We have much to learn by not being precious. Fate isn’t always kind. We’re not all lucky or so well organised that we can avoid serious deprivation. Ask any social service in Dunedin – volunteer some hours a week to their efforts to help others. Learn what happens all around us.
Mantrid, you’re spot-on here, “anyway, what’s Jinty going to do about it? What’s it even got to do with her, her job is to fix the potholes and the pipes.” She needs to get rid of the attitude that she’s in the job to solve all the problems of the world. Like the rest of us she’s welcome to put her energies toward that on her own time, on her own dollar, but when she’s in her paid role as a councillor she needs to focus on that, not get distracted from council duties, it’s not fair on us.
Disagree with you about poverty, there really are decent hard-working people (and would-be workers who can’t get a job) on the bones of their bums through no fault of their own. 35 hours is now designated “full time work”! Lovely jubbly on consultants’ and commissioners’ hourly rates. On minimum wage it’s a sad sick joke. It’s bad enough for solo adults skimping on food and warmth. Depriving one’s children is heartbreaking, for all those parents who are dedicated to being the best parents they can be.
Yes, there are deadshits who are poor, but the vast majority of poor people aren’t deadshits.
Well, what I said was “I don’t think that we have real poverty” and this is because we have the safety net of social welfare. I approve of the benefit system. I agree with Hype who says “the vast majority of poor people aren’t deadshits”, I am not talking about the vast majority of poor people. The question is what has gone wrong with those few that get the same level of support as all the others and yet are portrayed as living in poverty? I believe that some of these portrayals are fake (for commercial and political purposes) and for the others we need to know what the problem is. Where there is a real problem, the cause needs to be understood. Portrayals of poverty are being used to push the idea that all beneficiaries and minimum wage workers are living in poverty. This is untrue.
Now, you are completely accurate. Poverty is not just deprivation. Poverty within capitalism is a consequence of structural inequality. A system so distorted than even here, in Dunedin, young people have been forced into ‘arrangements’ to secure accommodation.
russandbev. From http://wiseresponse.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Wise-Response-ANNUAL-REPORT-to-August-2015-inc-Attachments-1-4-3.pdf
“The scientific consensus is approximately 97% in favour of the theory of anthropogenic climate change ( http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/2/024024/article ). The evidence is summarised in a new climate change website sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science ( http://whatweknow.aaas.org/ )”
Note they claim scientific consensus is approximately 97% … implying (to put it mildly) 97% of the scientific community – not the correct “97% of climate change scientists” which is quite likely correct, given that anyone who thinks anthropogenic climate change is hubristic pants isn’t going on with that branch of junk-science.
His/her qualifications don’t limit them to that cultish bovverhood.
Comment at ODT Online:
Fix the problem
Submitted by Otakou on Tue, 26/07/2016 – 8:11am.
Politicians and bureaucrats love it! A failure of infrastructure caused by poor management and bad practices, is now going to see ridiculous amounts spent to resolve a problem that does not yet exist!
Fix the drains, repair the infrastructure!
The sight of a bunch of people marching through South Dunedin promising monies that they probably will never control and probably avoid if they do, complete with Cull, who was in charge when this fiasco was caused by his employees’ failures, is a horrendous example of everything that is wrong with politics. Grandstanders rather than problem solvers.
Much easier to get some someone to promise to spend 100s of millions. So will this prove to be a boon for South Dunedin residents? No, not unless they fix the drains and repair the infrastructure which has been ignored by recent DCC managers and councillors in favour of new stadiums, cycleways, traffic lights and other fripperies. For ratepayers’ sakes, councillors and politicians, do the job we want, not the job that increases your financial upside. [Abridged]
It’s such a d’oh thing to have to admit though, isn’t it? “We can’t manage drains.”
It’s like not being able to put your gumboots on your feet – left? Right? Jeepers creepers, that’s TOO HARD. Which may explain why Certain People weren’t out there being helpful in S Dunedin during the flood and filling sandbags alongside Cr Vandervis and MP Clare Curran.
So since admitting drains are too hard is, umm, too hard – let’s turn it into a Really Big Problem, so big that even highly competent people are mind-boggled at its magnitude. Let’s make it (ta-ran-ta-ra!) Climate Change! Imminent! Dramatic! Sweeping certain selected low-lying areas – though not others – off the face of the earth!
Wow, the relief! A respectable nay dramatic explanation for the result of cocking up basic duties. See, we’re not a bunch of headless chooks, we’re shoulder to shoulder with “Wise Responders”, basking in the glory we reflect off one another. O frabjous day!
Fabrous day. Nick Jaguar and the Roly Stokers essay goodly byload Rudy Tuesday, thermally holeysin like Rotormorua or Sandy Sinclair Beach big fallen down in.
B/w photo. It’s appalling, that stem cell business, putting ears in hands across the water. Science? I have no truck with it.
LOL alanbec, a bit too Stelarc for ya.
Brave New World.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stelarc
Elizabeth- just to bring everybody back to a balanced perspective. South Dunedin Action Group members (including myself) were invited to support last Monday’s walk around in South Dunedin to support any initiative to improve housing stock in the area. It was also about supporting our local MP’s initiative to work with the DCC to try and address the issues that have been widely canvassed. Our immediate aim is still to encourage DCC to address infrastructure renewals and members of our Group with a stormwater engineering background are also providing valuable assistance in this regard.
Lyndon. You were invited to a publicity stunt, photo op. The SD issues just happened to be available at the time.
Tussock, how do you know? This really gets my Ankara goat, unfair, uninformed criticism by the anti Left of community minded citizens who chose to join a walkabout for the SD cause. In the end, Tussock, SD will do what’s best for SD. Every cause has ‘fellow travellers’.
Lyndon, Tussock is dead right. The SDAG caved in when the first SDAG meeting Chair was rejected by Cull and has effectively been sidelined. While it might be “nice” to be invited to a photo opportunity, the group is being used now. First rule when faced with a potential threat is to neutralise the threat and that is exactly what has happened to the SDAG.
Via the Labour Party, the SDAG appear to have sold out and are being manipulated by Curran & Co, and DCC.
SDAG are no longer independent or representative.
Sadly Elizabeth your are very wrong on this one. I will protect our independent from all parties, as will all members. Clare knows that and the DCC have also been informed that is the case. And equally SDAG is allowed to have a different opinion to you as well and operate as it sees best to act as a strong voice for the Greater South Dunedin community. That includes holding local and central government and other political interests to account for their actions or inaction as the case may be. This process is only unfolding it is far from being what you are describing. SDAG is free to express its opinions as an independent group. Also SDAG, for your informatio, is now a registered trust know as Greater South Dunedin Community Trust.
Ray Macleod
Spokeprson
That’s progress, Ray. Interesting a trust has been established rather than an incorporated society, although that’s not to say a trust won’t have an incorporated democratic arm further down the track as an option.
Thanks for the update. Hopefully going public on that will bolden confidence for all of us with concerns and allegiances within and for the South Dunedin catchment.
I’m happy to be wrong if as you say SDAG is operating free of unhelpful political influence. That’s to be hoped.
The signs, however, continue to be that DCC leadership can’t be trusted, in my opinion. This is not solely a reference to South Dunedin – of course. Indeed this observation stretches across many of the council’s recent budget and policy decisions, the proposed 2GP, the extent of consolidated debt, and the lacking health of two of its company subsidiaries in particular.
It is difficult not to be cynical.
Don’t make tiny concessions in private. Archie Baxter and the other conscientious objectors were (good cop, bad cop) coaxed by military authorities “just” do one little thing … put on the uniform … “just” one little concession so we can make your lives easier while respecting your right to be conscientious objectors. OK, I know this is going a bit far by way of comparisons. But the point is, a strong opponent is NOT your friend, and they’re waiting for one weak point, then working from there it’s push-pull, tap-tap until the wall falls down.
By all means continue to be polite, it’s the dignified way and costs nothing, but always make it plain you have to take any proposal however trivial back to the committee or Trust, put it out in email or facebook or however you communicate with the broader SD and indeed whole Dunedin community. Make sure everyone affected is aware. Sunlight is a great disinfectant.
Best wishes, Ray, GSDCT are fighting the good fight. Kia kaha!
The DCC has released descriptions of its Annual Plan decisions instead of responding to each submitter. For the topic of Other Decisions – South Dunedin Infrastructure we read this:
Maintaining and optimising existing infrastructure – The Council’s current priority is to ensure stormwater services are maintained as well as possible. No money is currently budgeted to upgrade the capacity of the South Dunedin stormwater system. Any significant upgrades would potentially cost tens of millions of dollars. However, the Council is investigating all possible ways of optimising the systems we already have. Some of that work is being assisted by experience and expertise within our community.
When they say- Council’s current priority is to ensure stormwater services are maintained as well as possible, what they mean is they will try to make sure the pipe renewals backlog doesn’t get too much worse. The total water and waste renewals backlog is $60 million (mostly water assets).
The capacity upgrade is essential because the pipes are fucked. Even with the new pump screen and effective mudtank cleaning, South Dunedin’s stormwater system can only cope with a 1 in 2 year rain event. This is far below the normal standard of a 1 in 10 event. the DCC have earlier proclaimed that the 1 in 10 is their target, in the hope that we would think that this had been achieved. Council staff have decided that the catchments like South Dunedin a “low level of service” will stay like that indefinitely. This is because the money we pay them to maintain and upgrade the water infrastructure has been diverted into a never-ending series of various wasteful non-essential projects.
They tell us, No money is currently budgeted to upgrade the capacity of the South Dunedin stormwater system. This means that Council staff have decided to do nothing about the defective South Dunedin stormwater system (and others). There will be some funding to replace worn-out/buggered pipes (“renewals”), but nothing to remedy the low level of service including systemic problems like undersized pipes or siltation. Renewing the worn-out pipes will help, but only a bit. To achieve the needed 1 in 10 standard will need severe spending cuts to pay for the work – perhaps $10 million per year for 10 or 15 years (wild guess). From the wording of Dave Cull’s motion at the 26/4/16 ISC meeting we can see that he was trying to encourage the councillors to accept the do-nothing approach (i.e. follow the policy of the Infrastructure Strategy), which they did. The other part of the motion, however, was a weakly worded request for staff to investigate possible ways to improve the South Dunedin’s stormwater system and report back in June, but nothing happened.
Until this Annual Plan decision was released the possibility of funding an upgrade was an issue for councillors to decide on. The matter has now been decided for them. Councillors won’t have realized, that when they approved the Annual Plan, they were condemning South Dunedin citizens to even more time exposed to the risk of another big flood. Very few councillors seem prepared to do anything about this, mostly, it seems, because they don’t care. They and Cull are happy to delay the big infrastructure spending until the whole lot is almost completely non-functional. They know that it will be someone else’s problem. The very sustainable Jinty is fully aware of this, but chose to followed her leader – and she wants that money for her own pet projects. Who should we blame more, those that knowingly make reckless decisions or those that are too stupid to know what’s going on? Nothing will happen unless a very large force is applied.
Good one Jimmy. “No money currently budgeted to upgrade the capacity of SD stormwater system.” That begs the question. Where did council get the money from to put in a oversized stormwater pipe out at Mosgiel’s Hagart Alexander Drive for a predicted FUTURE residential development, before the residential development was even consented ?
Another case of DCC openness and transparency, Wingatui Flyer.
RORT and word 9f the week : Malfeasance
Sumebody should revisit that and The Developer concerned.
A little like the House built for a former council officer (er is in the last syllable of the surname) – at Wanaka. Mowat Construction. A city councillor knows more about this through his industry connections.
I think that the best chance for South Dunedin to get the stormwater system sorted is with the help of SDAG. They have been useful and there is nothing else. The support of Clare Curran has been helpful as has her recognition that Global Warming was not the cause of the flood. And even Andrew Little has useful by saying that the suburb’s ageing infrastructure needs urgent attention (Radio Dunedin 13/7/16). This is the exact opposite of the DCC’s media/PR campaign and the exact opposite of everything Dave Cull has said and done.
On the other hand, Labour’s re-development idea for South Dunedin is inappropriate and disrespectful. Labour could help by promising to develop and implement appropriate national water infrastructure performance standards. The DCC has been allowed to adopt an inappropriate standard that failed to protect the citizens of South Dunedin, Green Is. etc. Bad legislation is a real problem; other cities are at risk.
Who chose that terrible name – Greater South Dunedin Community Trust? – it’s too long and reminiscent of Cull+Crick’s “Greater Dunedin” group of misguided councillors. Also it includes “community”, which gives me the impression of politically correct feebleness. SDAG is good. A lot of action is needed.
‘Community’ is collective. PC is that with which we disagree, and Margaret Thatcher said there is no such thing as Society. Community is still here after the individualists and carpetbaggers have left.
“They tell us, No money is currently budgeted to upgrade the capacity of the South Dunedin stormwater system.” – Endless money apparently available to jerk around with cycle lanes and traffic hindrances, building and demolishing and re-creating and so on. Driving through town, it’s not till you get to the residential-only areas not on the way to anywhere else that you can find a street that hasn’t been stuffed around with. Signs, traffic lights, bulges on the corners restricting turning (and forcing cyclists towards the middle of the road, by the way), paint, shiny black over previous white and yellow paint resulting in confusing pseudo-lanes whenever the road is wet…….
Yes, they love having that extra $10 million per year for their bicycles and extra swimming pools and suchlike. Some of them might not even realize that funding taken from essential infrastructure isn’t a magic, bottomless money-box. You can delay infrastructure upgrades and renewals, but the need for the spending doesn’t go away. In fact the need for it becomes more urgent as time continues. Cull and the CEO took a big gamble with the South Dunedin stormwater funding and the loosers were the citizens. They continue to divert that funding.
Convenience Factor – Politics
Oh look, we are doing our job, says DCC
—Really ??!!
The DCC propaganda is a little remiss – there was probably no need to replace the screen (at huge cost) and the fact that one of the pumps wasn’t working during the June 2015 flood is always OVERLOOKED in the fairytale of whispered mea culpa.
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Thu, 28 Jul 2016
ODT: Flaw in stormwater system to be fixed
The Dunedin City Council has started work upgrading a flaw in the city’s infrastructure which significantly added to last year’s flooding woes. The work to install a new filter screen at the Portobello Rd pumping station comes after the council estimated design flaws in the old screen added about 200mm to flood levels during last June’s storm. The old design meant debris blocking the screen could not be cleared by staff, which meant flood waters were not being pumped away at full capacity.
Thanks, Elizabeth. You tell us that the fact that one of the pumps wasn’t working during the June 2015 flood is always OVERLOOKED. I hadn’t heard that; how did you discover that?
That is astonishing that the DCC kept that detail hidden from us. Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised given their other misinformation in recent times:
— the June 2015 rainfall was 1 in 150 years (actual: 1 in 50 years or less)
— the groundwater is rising (no evidence)
— South Dunedin is sinking (no evidence)
— the South Dunedin groundwater was very high before the flood (deliberately wrong)
— the DCC is definitely not planning for abandoning South Dunedin (definitely are)
— extreme rain events are more common now (wrong)
— there is nothing wrong with the mudtanks (wrong – staff have apologised for deceiving councillors about this)
etc.
An interesting point from C Curran, MP on CH39News. South Dunedin is not just South Dunedin. It includes the shoreline road access to the Peninsula. So, what they gonna do? Kayak commute or harbour bridge?
I thought Clare Curran came across well on the Ch39 news.
Her point about Sth Dunedin including about five suburbs was well stated in the sense it was too big a part of Dunedin to write off as Dave Cull first stated…now denied.
She came across as sincere and not point scoring as she has been in the past. I felt she does care for her patch.
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{Clip and link added. -Eds}
Channel 39 Published on Jul 27, 2016
Nightly Interview: Clare Curran
The Labour Party has this week been touting its new housing plan, with several MPs visiting South Dunedin to announce it. Dunedin South MP Clare Curran was one of those involved, and she joins us now to talk about it. Ch39 Link
To be frank with you AB, to be cut off from the administration (and associated rates) imposed by the DCC on Peninsula residents would be a godsend if we could legally ensure it. At present we get no rubbish collection (although we get to sort out reusables in favour of the DCC) we are not provided with water or sewage treatment. Not only that but by guilt by association we inherit $15,000 worth of debt which would disappear once we were freed from the camel shackles of the DCC).
Many of us have boats so the roads are unnecessary and no one cycles so the cyclelanes are an oxymoron.
So I vote for secession. The only ones who won’t are “Cull de Mayor”, Christine Garey (out of a job) and Paul Pope as he could not become the next mayor of Dunedin. However we could all contribute $1,000 of the $15,000 saved to offer him a stipend as Mayor Peninsula Pope, it has such a nice ring to it that he can wear that too.
Have solicited help to answer
JimmyJones – the Portobello Rd pump(s) ‘no go’ issue is (first?) mentioned in DCC’s Nov 2015 report, but has never been emphasised anywhere by DCC. Funny that.
Report – Council – 30/11/2015 (PDF, 553 KB)
Infrastructure Performance During June 2015 Flood Event
Thanks for checking. I too had a memory about the “no go” pump but as you say it has not been mentioned in public in all the discussions and meetings and newspaper reports so I wondered, was I imagining it?
I wonder if the pumps are operated in a sequential manner according to demand. By this I mean if the water inflow increases so the pumps ramp up increasing the capacity. The blocked mud tanks and screens would impede the flow of water to the pumphouse thus sending false signals to the controls. Result. As experienced. A very good reason not to mention the pump failure (that wasn’t). Just a thought.
The screen was poorly positioned and trapped debris without anyone being able to get to it during flooding to clear it, so water couldn’t get through to the pump. Like the mudtank gratings, it may be fairly clear till the rain is bucketing down, washing leaves and other debris ahead. And that’s the very time workers are trying to clear many places at once. I’m going by CEO Bidrose’s description at the 2nd SD meeting, which made sense to me. A screen to stand up to the force of water and weight of added debris can’t simply be lifted up and replaced at a different angle, with human access or mechanical clearing retrofitted.
Yes it was a heart-rending distraction. Tick.
(I nearly wrote vote-catching)
(or was that point-scoring for capture, jesus weeps)
How many years had the pumping station and screen worked well in heavier precipitation without adding 200mm through people’s homes and businesses.
The attempt to cry is subverted by sneezing.
The screen would have had a much heavier burden delivered onto it faster than usual because mudtanks hadn’t been cleared for a year or so. There were several factors, all under the headings Neglect and Stuffup, that constituted the 200mm clusterfuck. All of them need to be sorted, each and every one.
“Alanbec, old white men who are as ditzy, and as effective at getting their way on our $-rates, don’t escape notice. Haven’t you noticed? The amount of notice depends on the frequency and amount of damage they cause.
When they form a “f*ckbuddy relationship: with other council or DCC members to roger the city via budget mis-assignments to unnecessaries in place of core business they are pests that need to be eliminated from Dunedin’s ecosystem.”
I Hype r ventilated on those lines Hype- brilliant and in so few words too!
ODT 1.8.16 (page 10)
Dunedin City Council meeting 1 Aug 2016
Agenda: https://infocouncil.dunedin.govt.nz/Open/2016/08/CNL_20160801_AGN_207_AT_WEB.htm
Item 38 Notice of Motion
Support for Urban Renewal Injustices in South Dunedin/Funding to Assist with the protection of Public and Private Infrastructure and Assets at Risk from Ground Water as Sea Level Changes
– this was being pushed by Cr Benson-Pope [no doubt with some intention to flag up his continuing existence to the Labour Party… not the political crusaders that brought about his resignation as a Cabinet Minister] who stood up in the council meeting and said that contrary to comments from some quarters…. he thanked ORC for its easy to read report on South Dunedin – [he carefully didn’t comment on the data content of the report]…. Other Crs (Noone and MacTavish) wanted the matter debated but they ran out of time before the lunch break. Both Councillors felt it was wrong to not have debate with the local community before making deputations to central government. More was to ensue later today….
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### dunedintv.co.nz Monday, August 1, 2016 5:52 pm
Council keen to take action on South Dunedin
Discussions at a city level are continuing about what the best course of action should be in South Dunedin.
Ch39 Link
Channel 39 Monday, August 1, 2016
Council keen to take action on South Dunedin
Yes, but, the issue is Should Money be Spent in/on South Dunedin?
Assumptive response from those who live and work in SD:
Yes.
Should this money come from Rates, or Central Govt?/
Whichever is the best deal.
This is not about the money the point is the locals need to put their views first – money comes later.
How much later? The spend is being talked about, sort of. Sorry, I haven’t viewed your news cut, but the point of the Council piece on tv news was whether or not infrastructural work at SD should be managed by Govt commission, like SDHB. Cr Mac says not, Cr B-P says yes. I am fairly certain that SD residents would welcome the funding, and the political interest being shown, from whichever party, whatever source (except the Divil,, speculators or oil prospectors).
However, it would be useful to put the question without ref to climate change, to ratepayers Dunedin wide: Should money be spent on South Dunedin for ‘flood related’ infrastructure, reliance on drains not being too flash, such as channeling in the Dutch manner, or should it not? WifD has rightly made this an election issue. The debate then, should be now.
We can debate here for what it’s worth – but the conversation must be had by South Dunedin people including but not limited to the South Dunedin Action Group via its community trust. The local body and general elections are other forums.
“Yes, but, the issue is Should Money be Spent in/on South Dunedin?”
No, the issue is, why was Money NOT Spent in/on South Dunedin?
It’s flat. It’s low-lying. Water flows downhill. Water falling as precipitation on surrounding higher areas flows downhill. Therefore South Dunedin is more vulnerable to flooding than other parts of town, though less vulnerable to slips.
What happened to prioritising?
Why were pet projects what ACTUALLY got prioritised?
It would be nice if central government paid up for local government FAIL. Likely? Gettagrip.
Yes, Hype O’Thermia, it would also be nice if central government enforced the LGA requirement for the DCC to meet the current and future needs of communities for good-quality local infrastructure, local public services, and performance of regulatory functions in a way that
is most cost-effective for households and businesses. The DCC has failed to achieve this standard of “good-quality local infrastructure” and with Dave Cull’s guidance has actively opposed trying to achieve this (ISC 26/4/16)
You mention the Water falling as precipitation on surrounding higher areas flows downhill. The thing about the stormwater from the hills and surrounding areas is that they have their own separate pipes and outlets into the sea. None of this is meant to go into South Dunedin. If none of it did, there would have been no flooding. All of the rain that fell on South Dunedin (142mm) was able to soak into the ground, which was able to store a total of 567mm. The deluge pouring in from the neighbouring catchments (stormwater + foul sewer) was a big factor in the severity of the flood. This deluge was because of systemic failures of the neighbouring stormwater systems. The DCC have not acknowledged that this was and continues to be a serious problem. Fixing the badly designed pump screen is desirable, but this will achieve very little without dealing with the other problems. The DCC has decided not to deal with the other problems. They need to have their minds changed or else find another job.
JimmyJones, “The deluge pouring in from the neighbouring catchments (stormwater + foul sewer) was a big factor in the severity of the flood.”
Did we ever get an official explanation of how the sewage got washed into people’s properties?
Nobody’s got long-drops or nightcart service in SD now. It goes down the dunny, piped, piped, piped to treatment station. But some of it escaped which suggests piped, break, piped, misalignment, piped.
Flood water got in the gaps and washed the effluent out other gaps?
If break and misalignment of pipes, what’s happening when there isn’t flood water? Is it draining gently into land below the breaks, polluting ground water?
Aliza Iris Published on Sep 18, 2015
twenty one pilots Be Concerned Lyrics
twenty one pilots “Be Concerned” featuring Jocef
[lyrics sample]
I don’t believe my errors,
And I’m scared of my own head,
I will deny you for years,
Then I’ll make you raise me from the dead,
And if I said that I would live for you,
For nothing in return,
Well I’m sorry Mr. Gullible,
But lying’s all I’ve learned,
So be concerned.
So be concerned.
[Jocef:]
No music,
And I could talk about anything,
Whether or not it’s worth while,
Is based on who’s listening,
Most of us listen if it’s,
Something we can relate to,
All of us relate,
If it’s something we’ve just been through,
Take it for granted,
Trust is damaged and now we panic,
Living empty-handed,
Living lives like we can’t manage, I can’t feel you,
But still know where home is feeling like Jonah did….
alanbec: it’s dangerous to assume that the DCC would spend any such money in a way that would benefit the citizens of South Dunedin. My guess is that whatever they want to do would be harmful. Keep in mind that the DCC caused the 2015 flood by sabotaging the design of the pump filter, failed to maintain the mudtanks, failed to upgrade the pipes to the standard recommended in the ICMP (2011). They took a gamble and South Dunedin lost. The flood became a marketing opportunity and so the DCC with the help of the ORC have turned a simple flood due to DCC incompetence into a permanent disaster – a poster child for their end-of-days apocalyptic visions.
The only spending needed is compensation to uninsured residents affected by the DCC’s negligence and something like $150 million spread over 10 years to catch-up with the pipe renewals and fix the low level of service (now 1 in 2 years, needs to be 1 in 10 years). This work should have started 10 years ago and would have if the DCC governance and management cared about South Dunedin more than their various expensive pet projects.
At present South Dunedin faces only two serious threats:
— the DCC’s refusal to provide a properly functioning stormwater system and so the continuing risk of another flood (2% probability per year)
— the campaign of misinformation from the ORC and DCC about South Dunedin sinking and dangerous sea level rise. This appears to be an attempt to wreck property prices and confidence in the area – evacuation by stealth.
If you live there, South Dunedin is not sinking, there is no evidence that the groundwater is rising, South Dunedin is above sea-level and sea-level rise is so slow that it can be ignored. Also, the groundwater level is above sea-level and so the South Dunedin groundwater drains into the sea and harbour (for those parts that are near the shore). The effect of the DCC’s leaky reticulated water pipes is to increase the groundwater levels of South Dunedin. The ORC Natural Hazards report is wrong about its main conclusions – read my comment at the ODT » South Dunedin Under Attack
Gurglars, “— the campaign of misinformation from the ORC and DCC about South Dunedin sinking and dangerous sea level rise. This appears to be an attempt to wreck property prices and confidence in the area – evacuation by stealth.”
It’s also a pre-emptive excuse/explanation for any future flood. “Not our fault. Dolly, I mean climate change, did it.” Get out of jail free. There’s a lot of it going around.
Story. Real stuff that needs fixing and compo for any deemed uninsurable, with a ballpark figure.
I like the cut of your gib. Fools and horses are calling for a ‘Venice Of The South’.
The sillyness of the dropkicks at Dunedin including the Labour mob who appear to hang on every word of the fully incompetent PCE (pariamentary commissioner for environment) for, ahem, general election votes both locally and further afield. These nutcrunchers are only good for the central Govt gravytrain they want to milk for themselves and their own power positions…. they do so with such Doubtful Ethics, round the neck baubles and dangly-earringed Coquetishness, frankly all that resembles what White man does to the natives. Colonials, Cargo Cult fucking pirates – their posturing is happening previous to full consultation of the property owners and community who are quite able to use the local market to achieve the same ends ….without a frigging govt subsidy to cost people out of their own homes never to return because the market will immediately convert to non affordable housing on the sunshine coast. Guard your turf from the prophets, South Dunedin.
Nutcrunchers are not from round here. They are at Nutbush City Limits.
Right on the money Hype. We are always right in retrospect, but never wrong in prospect- ( Old Sage DCC overpaid)
Hype O’Thermia: the flooding was even more hazardous for South Dunedin citizens because the flood waters had a big proportion of foul sewer from the hill-dwellers of the neighbouring catchments. During the flood we saw big sewer access points turned into geysers of sewage (the DCC prefers the term “wastewater” not “sewage”). The answer to your question is, no – the DCC has not explained how thousands of cubic meters of sewerage was distributed through the people’s homes and gardens.
The South Dunedin ICMP has details about unwanted connections allowing stormwater into the sewerage system. During the flood the defective stormwater system was overloaded (completely filled) and the unwanted connections meant that stormwater caused the sewerage system to also become overloaded and pressurized to the extent that man-hole covers were lifted into the air on top of a geyser of sewage.
One reason why stormwater goes into the sewer is because of illegal connections at people’s houses and undiscovered connections from the days when there was only one pipe for both. In the past the DCC has done inspections and required property owners to separate the stormwater from the sewer, but this seems to have only partly successful.
A big part of the problem is the DCC: The ICMP tells us that:
The primary cause of flooding from the wastewater [sewer] network is thought to be excessive inflow and infiltration (I&I) occurring outside of the South Dunedin catchment, with high volumes flowing through the MIS [main interceptor sewer] during wet weather. In the short term, this issue has been alleviated through the use of a diversion to the Green Island WWTP upstream of Surrey Street. Long term permanent solutions need to be assessed, and DCC requires further investigation into this issue before investing in a major capital works programme. The report was published in 2011 and provides details of locations and causes of infiltration. The report says:
The major wastewater [sewage] problems stem from large events. Issues in this area are currently subject to ad hoc operational measures that attempt to mitigate these problems.. And more:
Stormwater can enter through manhole joints and covers, broken pipes or dislodged joints.~~~ There are known constructed wastewater overflows which discharge wastewater to the stormwater system during wet weather, however none are known to exist in the South Dunedin catchment. DCC state in the 3 Waters Strategic Direction Statement that they want to limit the use of these overflows in the short term with the long term target being total removal.
Even though this report was published in 2011, you would be unwise to expect that any of the critical recommendations had been done. In fact it has become extreemly obvious that some have not.
Meanwhile back in South Dunedin I wonder what Mr and Mrs Joe Average, who do not follow politics in the ODT or on blog sites, think? Do they like where they live? Do they care about climate change, sea level rise? What do they think of their local MP and those local body politicians who speak on their behalf? Especially in election year. What do they want for their suburb? Anything major or are they happy with the way it is?
What do they make of a lot of new housing in the area? In a doomed suburb according to some. What do they make of the newish big box shops etc erected in the suburb? What do they make of recent attempts to revitalise the main street?
Does anyone know?
Well, um, yes. Why we care is two top performing High Schools are here, but mainly because every ‘Profitt’ and his missus been scaring the bejesus out of one of Dunedin’s better suburbs. It has to be said the Solidarnosc* being shown on this site is very helpful. *The drain’s got a bit of Pole in it.
Tue, 2 Aug 2016
ODT: Govt help sought for South Dunedin
The Dunedin City Council will call on the Government to help respond to the threat groundwater and sea level changes pose in South Dunedin. Councillors yesterday voted to “immediately engage” the Government over the threat the changes pose and support for urban renewal initiatives in the area.
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A better read…………
Paul Pope : Putting out the begging bowl
The Otago Daily Times report on the Council’s call for the Government to become involved in the South Dunedin flooding issues is very disappointing. Once again we see Councillors not prepared to engage with the community over this issue. I grant you that there are serious decisions to be made, but don’t those decisions need to be made by the community? The Otago Daily Times reports that “Councillors yesterday voted to “immediately engage” the Government…” I find it extraordinary that after the range of reports and recriminations over consultation, response and performance since the Jun 2015 floods that we are still seeing the City Council not willing to engage with the community over this issue. Putting out the begging bowl at this stage is tantamount to admitting defeat, but worse than that, its admitting that the City Council are no further to developing any type of plan for South Dunedin themselves. We have Councillors who are too busy wanting to make as the report maintains a “public stand” rather than doing the hard work for South Dunedin. I’ll give credit to Councillor MacTavish who said “we are very much in the early stage of the conversation with the community about what they would like to see”. Trouble is that conversation has not really hit the ground running and the unwillingness of Councillors to engage is very troubling indeed. I’ve made it very clear in my article The Fall and Rise of a Community what needs to be done to get that engagement started. {continues}
https://paul-pope.co.nz/2016/08/02/putting-out-the-begging-bowl/
This pre emptive move by those who voted for it on council is all about politics.
It is election year, let’s look proactive, and call for the government to step in and pay for any help there because we have already spent up large, we face mounting bills for failed projects and lawsuits involving fraud and we don’t know what to do.
Forget about that stuff on building a sustainable, resilient community because that doesn’t help us now.
BTW. Do any politicians actually live in SD? (Not the posh or leafy bits)
Another BTW. I notice houses that come up for sale on Victoria Rd …the road nearest the coast generally sell like hotcakes. What does this tell us?
The people are ignorant or don’t care? The DCC has failed to warn them of the climatic risks through LIM reports?
There seems to be mixed messages from The Community and the DCC.
There will be no attempt at engagement from Council or councillors until the staff and the A-team of mayor and councillors have produced a proposal and have finished their marketing campaign to help the softening-up process. Their purpose is to sacrifice South Dunedin as a way of proving that South Dunedin really was vulnerable to their imaginary apocalyptic visions. I doubt that they will release any proposals until after the election. Team leader, Dave Cull denies that there is an intention to abandon South Dunedin, but we know for a fact that staff are working on plans to do just that (“non-protection options”). Jinty and Cull are talking about “engagement” and a “conversation”, but it would be unusual for the DCC to listen. Why would you need to listen when you have a well funded spin-doctoring department ($5 million/yr) and a very supportive Allied Press to help support even the most stupid of projects.
The other thing is that there is no difficult decision to be made. The citizens of the Flat just need to be careful who they vote for – to make sure that who they choose, cares about them and pledges to fight for a stormwater system that works. The end result of the last DCC Annual Plan is that: No money is currently budgeted to upgrade the capacity of the South Dunedin stormwater system, which happens to be the reason for the worsening performance of the stormwater system since the bigger rain of 1968 which didn’t cause a flood. This decision indicates that Dave Cull and his team do not give a rats arse about the well-being of the people of South Dunedin.
Remember that:
— South Dunedin is not sinking – there is no credible evidence of this
— there is no evidence that the South Dunedin groundwater is rizing
— there is no proof that the groundwater is dependent on sea-level, except near the shoreline (beach and harbour)
— the rate of sea-level rize is so slow that it can be ignored
— there was no abnormally high groundwater before the flood
— the flood was caused by a substandard stormwater system, mostly from the result of several years of DCC underfunding for pipe renewals and upgrades
— South Dunedin is not the only area with a substandard stormwater system, other areas were flooded last year
— All the main findings of the ORC’s natural hazards report are wrong and reckless and the report should be withdrawn
— South Dunedin is a great place to live and will continue to be for several centuries as long as DCC fixes the defective stormwater system
— the citizens of South Dunedin need to tell the DCC politicians and election candidates with a very loud voice that the stormwater pipes need to be fixed to achieve a normal standard (1 in 10 year rain capability). Nothing will happen otherwize.
SD will always exist irrespective of careless comments to the contrary. As Clare Curran points out it is too big an area to abandon. It would take a spectacular calamity for this to happen. […]
Spending ratepayer money on basic infrastructure is so boring and uncool for most people elected to council when you can have fun spending it on pet projects that help get you re-elected. The trick is to sponsor a few of them that cut across various sector groups.
As John Bezett says council used to be fun…and it still is, John. You had your turn with the stadium, John, and now it is the turn of the other guys.
Really, JimmyJones, let your hair down and come up with your own ideas to make this great little city a Greater Dunedin. So successful so far, Dave’s team see no reason to exist any longer.
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{Moderated. -Eds}
Well said Jimmy. Protection of the Southern Coastline and upgrading the stormwater infrastructure of South Dunedin are the main issues of the 2016 DCC elections. My vote will go to those candidates who have carefully thought out policies on these issues and are not afraid to take back the governance role to implementing their policy on these very high priority issues.
A scenario:
The DCC so concerned about the ODT revealing the true extent of the city’s problems pays the salary of the new CEO at least until the election and maybe onwards.
Get that question in a LGOIMA request!
Gurglars, gosh. That’s quite a concession to the wall of positivity being maintained. Stranger things have happened.
Any government spending in a Labour city will be subject to minute scrutiny of not only chapters from the CC-faith holy writ, but also any factors that can (cf insurance companies) give them a good reason to keep the money for their own pet projects. They’ve got their own election coming up, and marginal electorates to massage.
Info such as that supplied here by JimmyJones https://dunedinstadium.wordpress.com/2016/07/26/labour-messing-with-south-dunedin-like-cull-unbidden/#comment-75517
on the report on wastewater a.k.a sewage mingling and overflowing with floodwater, is likely to find its way to their attention. And that’s just one of the non-CC factors that make flooding a BIG FAIL Council responsibility.
The CC Faith? Isn’t Michael RC? Ca ne fait rien. Govt money is taxpayer money. We expect funding to be monitored. When it comes to The Fix of SD, political allegiance is irrelevant.
alanbec : “political allegiance is irrelevant” you are all over the place, stop and think or you or your landlord will end up like the original landowners at Noble. Seriously, the rain has got to vous.
S ‘alright. Only ‘alanbec’ gets the big tellings off for unsound opinion;
this is the case, it has always been the case, since, oh, the end of last century. I realise that the allegiance of politicos offering to help SD is relevant to some. I hope SD votes for whoever’s offering the best outcome, for South Dunedin. .You dont like Labour’s involvement. Should we vote Tory for South Dunedin in the General Election, jeunesse? West Side Tory.
The point is the politicos are not consulting the people invested in South Dunedin (with their lives) in a democratic manner.
Yes, and I think they are represented by Ray and Lyndsey, who were remonstrated with for associating with the ‘South Dunedin Walkabout’. The politicos are making ‘calls’ on behalf of SD’s future, which is not entirely democratic, but what to do?
Labour offers something? No, we don’t like Labour. Metiria calls for assistance for SD? No, we don’t trust Greens. Michael W, our last hope by selective standards, hasn’t said anything.
They are making calls on Votes for next year’s general elections. Michael Woodhouse (National list MP) is a wowser.
Consumer issue August #571 included the following under its By The Numbers section on page 5:
2700
South Dunedin homes lie less than 50cm above sea level. The suburb, which is built on a former tidal wetland, could develop permanent surface ponding as sea levels rise – Otago Regional Council.
Someone needs to sue both councils in a class action. BS of the highest order.
Consumer..Don’t consume.
Wowser (n) (colonial NZ): censorious, teetotal, not entirely supportive of The Hokonui Hills.
Many, listening to the wooses and “journalists” in New Zealand on Pauline Hanson and One Nation should look to such articles as this
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/aug/04/one-nations-malcolm-roberts-vows-to-halt-ridiculous-lies-on-climate-change
First politician that makes sense. Identifies the UN as the problem.
It is noticeable that the CSIRO, the government-owned scientific operation in Australia is sacking its climate scientists. It will be a long haul but the loonies, greenies and agenda 21ers just might be losing the bullshit fight.
Mick Field also mentioned the sackings at CSIRO, see this post (23.4.16) Eric Worrall on Flannery.
Labour and Greens – the TOXIC combination for South Dunedin people already harmed by the DCC infrastructure fail (June 2015 floods) and everything that has followed since in patronising and distorting fashion —as every do-gooder (note, minus a Govt cheque book) talks down the Community’s existing property values on false and legally challengeable claims of manmade Climate Change (AGW). To that lot, add the electioneering, weak and despicable Benson-Pope, Hawkins, Cull and MacTavish and their highly dubious hangers on.
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Thu, 4 Aug 2016
ODT: Call for Govt to help with South Dunedin
The Government must stop ignoring the “very real” threats facing South Dunedin and act on the Dunedin City Council’s request for help, Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei says. Dunedin list MP Ms Turei made the comments after the council this week voted to seek Government help over the threat groundwater and sea level changes pose in South Dunedin. Ms Turei called on the Government to help the council assess the risk posed by climate change in South Dunedin and help with any infrastructure needed to mitigate those risks.
Following SDHB pattern:
Make a show of pretending to assist with problems such as leaky theatre etc etc resulting from shortage of money, thanks to Swann and years of underfunding.
[BTW police had to quit at the half-assed level of finding where “Swann’s assets” were, a funding issue. Serious Fraud Office has to stick within its devalued budget too, and there wasn’t enough “outstanding” to continue investigation. So underfunding left assets in the garages, basements, implement sheds and/or containers of friends, an insult to justice plus funding loss to SDHB which of course wasn’t made up by the government that underfunds our investigative and appeal and oversight bodies.]
Next, declare that the problems are of the troubled organisation’s own making (in DCC and Council case, can’t argue with that) so they won’t bail them out from taxpayers’ funds. No mention of inaction by SFO, nor the need, JimmyJones pointed out, for central government to enforce “LGA requirement for the DCC to meet the current and future needs of communities for good-quality local infrastructure, local public services, and performance of regulatory functions in a way that is most cost-effective for households and businesses.” No taking responsibility for Central government spending years ignoring requests from Dunedin people to send a pointer to indicate arseholes and an arse-kicker to realign attitudes to duties and responsibilities.
So, it’s all about incompetent elected representatives. Brilliant, just what the doctor ordered – install another Commissioner because it’s so much more convenient than democracy + checks and balances.
Is there ever an end-date to Commissioners’ tenure? I know they can as individuals quit, doubtless they can die – but is the role ever disestablished?
Is Commissioneritis the organisational hydatids cyst, killing democracy but not before it has spread to new carriers, innocuous hosts like Ms Turei and old slappers like Bunion-Pope?
You don’t know he’s got a Bunion?
Or is it a B-Onion he’s got.