Councillor reconsiders boycott

Wanganui District Council PHOTO/FILE

A Wanganui district councillor who boycotted a meeting last month when Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) opponents tried to get council support, is adopting a different tack this time around.

Councillor Rob Vinsen kept out of the chamber when a crowd of local people presented a petition to council opposing the agreement and sought council support with 12 resolutions it was promoting.

A petition presented to the council on June 19 asked it to adopt the resolutions opposing the deal but the bid failed because the meeting lacked a quorum.

Councillors Helen Craig and Philippa Baker-Hogan joined Mr Vinsen out of the meeting when the item was discussed.

A fourth councillor, Ray Stevens, remained for the discussion, but left when Mayor Annette Main tried to have the 12 resolutions included in the council recommendations.

Yesterday, Mr Vinsen told the Chronicle that while he had originally intended to continue his boycott at today's meeting of the audit, risk and finance committee, he had reconsidered.

"My protest has been about the inclusion of central government issues on a local authority agenda, but as others have determined that it be there, I'm going to be there so that an alternate view can be expressed," he said.

He is going to lodge a notice of motion, to be seconded by Mr Stevens.

His motion will ask the council to write to Prime Minister John Key, asking him to submit any agreement that New Zealand reaches in the TPPA negotiations to the scrutiny of Parliament through the usual democratic process, including consideration by a select committee, before a democratic decision is made on signing the agreement.

Mr Vinsen said this was essentially the condensed version of the 12 resolutions and which had been adopted by the Palmerston North City Council and Horizons Regional Council.

"Now that central government politics is to hit the agenda once more, I think that a balanced view should be presented."

Mr Vinsen said the agreement is "not as scary as some would have us believe".

He said the council should wait until the text of the negotiated agreement was released and then "if we still think the world is going to collapse" put in a submission.

"The 12-point resolution is meaningless at this stage, as it alleges consequences which only those involved in the negotiations actually know whether they are true or not."