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Avant
ICT in New Zealand
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About Us This website has been set up to help get the Council Watch movement off the ground in New Zealand, following the excellent start made in the UK. We have minimal resources, and no profit motive, but have approval from the Colchester Council Watch site in the UK and an offer to use any material of theirs that we may wish to use, which is very supportive.After taking an interest in Local Body Politics, and noting that it does not work very well, we started looking at why ?? .. It didn't take too long to see that most people (like ourselves we have to admit), take little interest in what goes on after we cast our votes for people we really do not know much about. The viewing numbers on streamed and archived council websites of meetings, are so small they barely register, and voter turnout is very low. Further investigating shows that even though well intentioned elected people may be doing their best, some council Mayors and Staff CEO's are blocking information from them. Public submissions are heard, and in most cases totally ignored, so the public gives up, pays up, and tries to ignore the gross misdirected expenditure taking place. This past week has seen a number of rates increases agreed by councils, at up to 19.5% which is unaffordable in the extreme for many families. When this happened in Melbourne, the Victoria State Government got involved and put a Rates-Rises-Maximum-Cap in place. Its a no-way-out limiter for spendthrift councils that will not consider affordability as being of any importance. See: Cap on Melbourne Rates by Government |
Council Watch in the UK Groups around the UK are subjecting their local councils to intense scrutiny. We invite you to do the same, in New Zealand.Shine the Light on Your Local Council A selection of existing council watch channels in the UK, are listed here. Tips on engaging with Councils As readers of this paper know well, darkness is always vanquished by light. Here in Colchester we have been putting our council in the spotlight. A group of us has been going along and speaking at their meetings for just over a year. Bit by bit, we shine a light on the unlawful and incorrect assertions that have been passed down to them by central government. We are lucky with the councillors we have in Colchester. Whilst we disagree with a lot of what they say and do, its apparent that the majority are good people trying their best. But how can good people make good decisions if they don't get good information? They can't. So thats been our mission—educating them so they can. We have persistently and patiently shown them that the green agenda isn't remotely green. Wind, solar, EVs and lithium battery production are environmentally destructive and toxic, plus the end products are a potentially lethal fire hazard. They haven't wanted to listen and they haven't liked what we've said but little by little we have made headway. They've agreed in principle to a net zero debate and the head of scrutiny has promised to scrutinise the Council's decision to declare a climate emergency (if hes re-elected in May!). After nine months of watching their meetings and learning how the council operates, it became apparent that everyone locally should know what we have learned. So the Colchester Council Watch YouTube Channel was born. Every week we take it in turns to watch their meetings which are streamed online. We make notes and time stamp the important parts and then from those notes make a highlights video. We have accidentally ended up with a worldwide audience—people everywhere can relate to the attitudes and inane council procedures and policies the councillors both create and endure! It becomes strangely compelling viewing and of course the councillors themselves watch it as they are in it and want to know what we are saying about them. The video comments section is gold-councillors get direct feedback from the masses in no uncertain terms and it makes a difference. Every Council needs 'Council Watchers' to put every last one of them in the spotlight! To help people do this, we've created a resource folder with all our Council speeches, FOI, emails and research, as well as video tutorials on how to speak to the Council and start your own YouTube channel. If video isn't your thing then consider creating a website with written articles instead. A template has been created for this. Reasons to start a Council Watch in your local area: It keeps everyone up to date in your local area, so that any issues can be dealt with sooner rather than later It enables people to really see the personalities and viewpoints of the councillors they have voted for. It allows people to see how councils are run and aims to encourage other people to become councillors. Our current lack of knowledge is what got us into the state we are in and your own council watch helps to start to address this issue. Councils everywhere are either being amalgamated into bigger institutions or they are going bankrupt which means they are even less interested in working for local people. In order to turn this around peacefully, we must take action now; we need to get out of this political system and into a people-based system. We all need to play our part because, if we don't, every right and freedom will be further eroded. This needs to be done in a respectful manner; we cannot assume that everyone within your Council knows the full picture of what is happening. This is part of our collective education. Get going and get your council in the spotlight today. Local level is where our power is and it's time we all reclaimed it. Rachel Mathews Colchester Council Watch |