Letter to the Editor Thursday June 20, 2013

It's our problem

If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually believe it." Josef Goebbels, Nazi propaganda specialist.

While it would be taking things too far to say the propaganda being pushed for a unitary authority for Northland is untrue, it is fair to say that the complete facts relating to the pros and cons of various options have not been fairly placed before the electorate.

The editorial in the Northland Age of June 11 should be compulsory reading for everybody in Northland. Perhaps then by and large apathetic ratepayers may sit up and take note of what could happen by default.

Misinformation and half-truths are more dangerous than outright lies. They have the cancerous effect of casting doubt on even patently obvious truths. This is not someone else's problem. It is collectively ours, and for us alone to resolve.

There is a once in a generation chance to put in place a system of local government that will genuinely benefit both local communities and Northland as an entity. This needs careful consideration that can only come from fully-informed debate. That, to date, is something we collectively have not had.

The Mayor's claims that there is overwhelming support for his initiative, is now supported by, with respect, a survey that is not very far short of Goebbels' philosophy. This survey was conducted without fairly putting forward the worth of what options were available for consideration, with emphasis on a mythical bogeyman; "We don't want to be governed by Whangarei."

True! But with a predominantly rural council does anybody really believe that Whangarei councillors could dominate or direct a situation in which they were vastly outnumbered?

Individual communities have sought and deserve autonomy in much the same way that existed before the 1989 amalgamation, and if one unitary authority would give that with an overarching control of things that affect everybody it deserves proper and considered evaluation.

Elected initially on the promise of more power and autonomy to the community boards, Mayor Brown has had six years to implement that policy, and today the boards are by and large ineffectual and have less authority than they had at the beginning, reduced to mainly allocating community grants. Had this commitment been put into effect there would be no call for a unitary authority.

The Local Government Commission to the Mayor - "You loaded the gun, you fired the bullet, but you have no control as to where the bullet lands." An accurate assessment. It should set the alarm bells ringing as to what can befall the ratepayers of Northland if apathy is allowed to hold sway.

Just being curious, why didn't the Mayor propose strengthening or improving the present system? Or more to the point, why didn't council override his wishes and demand it be done?

S REILLY Kaikohe