Here are the results of the Gisborne East Coast Council of Social Services – Questions for DHB & GDC Candidates…
1. Do you think Gisborne District Council should continue to facilitate the process for desired community-wide social, economic, environmental and cultural outcomes even if it was not a requirement in legislation?
| Name of Candidate | Response |
| Andy Cranston | Yes – Definitely. Though we may be in partnerships or collaborations for this purpose. |
| Clive Bibby | Yes |
| Allan Hall | Yes |
| Anne Pardoe | Yes |
| Brian Wilson | Yes |
| Manu Caddie | Yes – it’s a no-brainer… GDC is the only district-wide, public institution that can coordinate these aspirations, if GDC does not do this then no other organisation is going to and we will have a much more fragmented community as a result. |
| Murray Palmer | Yes |
| Owen Lloyd | Yes |
| Rehette Stoltz | Yes |
| Steve Scragg | Yes – so long as it was only to facilitate and coordinate |
| Tina Karaitiana | Yes – it seems a shame that a Council would require legislation being the Local Government Act to do so. Communities work best when we consider all of the things that impact on people’s lives, and not just rubbish, roads and rates. All of these areas do not stand alone, they are all inter-related and are each in their own right critically important to our identity and our ability to create a community that is progressive. In a nutshell, we will never meet the needs and do our job as councillors’ justice if we don’t know what outcomes the community want us to achieve. |
| Don Blakeney | No comment |
| Larry Foster | Yes |
| Nona Aston | Yes Definately |
2. Which Community Organisations have you had active involvement with in the past five years?
| Name of Candidate | Response |
| Andy Cranston |
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| Clive Bibby |
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| Allan Hall |
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Anne Pardoe |
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| Brian Wilson |
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| Manu Caddie |
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| Murray Palmer |
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| Owen Lloyd |
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| Rehette Stoltz |
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| Steve Scragg |
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| Tina Karaitiana |
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| Don Blakeney |
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| Larry Foster |
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| Nona Aston |
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3. Do you support the idea of a bylaw requiring a Warrant of Fitness (to ensure basic health and safety requirements are met) before any property is rented in the District?
| Name of Candidate | Response |
| Andy Cranston | Yes – I am often horrified by the standard of many rental properties. Renting property is a partnership with responsibilities sides and often a higher standard by the landlord will be met with a higher standard of upkeep by the tenant. Unfortunately many landlords do not seriously assess and meet their responsibility and are coming up well short. It is a shame that a bylaw would be a requirement but a sad reality that sometimes the right thing needs to be enforced. |
| Clive Bibby | Yes |
| Allan Hall | No |
| Anne Pardoe | Yes – This is a residential tenancies act |
| Brian Wilson | Yes – In principal but would need to see the ramifications first of doing so |
| Manu Caddie | Yes – I have been promoting the idea through the Tairawhiti Housing Advisory Group |
| Murray Palmer | Yes – but note possibilities for work in lieu of rent where house safe etc |
| Owen Lloyd | Yes |
| Rehette Stoltz | Yes |
| Steve Scragg | No – I see this as a role of the Department of Building and Housing and the Health Department. |
| Tina Karaitiana | Yes – on the basis that the proposal is not beaucracy gone bad and not another strategy to generate huge amounts of revenue from landlords. My support is on the basis that healthy housing is a basic fundamental of good health and that we need to support standards that could increase the living conditions for the most vulnerable in our community. We lead many of the worst health statistics in the country and we need to think wider about how we can work collaboratively to address this. These are not good statistics that boost the image of our community. Those landlords who rent out safe, clean and healthy homes will have nothing to worry about. |
| Don Blakeney | No comment |
| Larry Foster | No |
| Nona Aston | Yes I would the problem would be the practical vetting of it |
4. Would you support a proposal to require a permit to consume alcohol consumption in public places?
| Names of Candidates | Responses |
| Andy Cranston | Yes – It is generally not necessary or desirable to consume alcohol in public places. It would be fantastic if alcohol consumption was partaken in a responsible and considerate manner, but that is very often not the case. Should an event or initiative be planned where consumption of alcohol was deemed to be appropriate then I believe the controls around meeting permit conditions would offer an appropriate enforcement tool. |
| Clive Bibby | Yes |
| Allan Hall | Yes |
| Anne Pardoe | Yes |
| Brian Wilson | Yes – again I would support some extra controls on alcohol consumption but would need to see the pros and cons of doing so |
| Manu Caddie | Yes – especially around parks, reserves and beaches |
| Murray Palmer | Yes – if that was the consensus of health providers etc |
| Owen Lloyd | Yes |
| Rehette Stoltz | Yes |
| Steve Scragg | No – not with out further information on its implementation |
|
Tina Karaitiana |
No – when we think about what we are trying to address when we put restrictions on drinking in public places it is to generally address drunkenness, violence, damage to property and harm to people, even perceived feelings of being unsafe. The people that are likely to get a permit are unlikely to be offenders in any of these categories and the offenders unlikely to get a permit, so a waste of time and paper. There are already laws available to the police to address this type of behaviour and drinking in public places is currently under Sale of Liquor Act review so direction on this issue would be lead nationally and not at a local level. However liquor bans can be used at a local level to address problem areas or to protect areas that alcohol shouldn’t be publicly consumed at, ie children’s playgrounds. |
| Don Blakeney | No Comment |
| Larry Foster | No |
| Nona Aston | Yes definitely again it is the practical vetting. I would rather see a by law saying which places it was allowed. |
5. Do you support the proposal for Tairawhiti Youth Voice to have a non-voting seat on Gisborne District Council?
| Name of Candidate | Response |
| Andy Cranston | Undecided – As a member of Youth Voice committee I absolutely want to say yes but there are some very practical issues to be worked through first. This of course would set a precedent to dozens of other organisations to have a seat and the council process could very quickly become compromised and unwieldy. This initiative is a great tool for our Youth though with regards to learning and mentoring and it is definitely worth further consideration. As a start point I would be trialling a non voting seat on the Community Development Committee. |
| Clive Bibby | No |
| Allan Hall | Yes |
| Anne Pardoe | No |
| Brian Wilson | Yes – as I am one of the ones promoting this idea |
| Manu Caddie | Yes – this is an excellent proposal and would require some ongoing support from GDC staff and local youth workers |
| Murray Palmer | Yes |
| Owen Lloyd | Yes |
| Rehette Stoltz | Yes |
| Steve Scragg | Yes – but would rather see a Tairawhiti youth council, we need to grow, develop our future community leaders |
| Tina Karaitiana | Yes – I believe that youth voice is critically important for our district. However I’m unsure whether a non-voting seat is the most effective way or only way to achieve this. What I do know is that we have a high youth population, they are our districts future and we need to get it right. I would need to speak with TYV to see how they think the relationship between Council and TYV could work best but I am in support of TYV and the young people who give their time to make our community a better place. We definitely need to utilise their skills more and the fresh perspective that they can bring not just to youth issues but to community issues in general. |
| Don Blakeney | Yes |
| Larry Foster | Yes |
| Nona Aston | Yes definitely |
6. Overall do you think GDC is effective in involving people affected in decisions that affect them?
| Name of Candidate | Response |
| Andy Cranston | Yes – GDC has been putting a lot of effort into consultation and really trying to find a way. There are frequent community meetings which are strategically placed throughout the region to enable high level participation. Management have continued to work with staff to enhance their customer service levels. I believe as councillors we have huge responsibilities in this area and should be available and participate at every opportunity. Our vote is on behalf and it is absolutely appropriate that we understand the community views on all manner of issues. We must be available and participate with all affected persons to have the ability to make any decisions on their behalf. |
| Clive Bibby | Yes |
| Allan Hall | Yes |
| Anne Pardoe | Yes |
| Brian Wilson | Yes – Council has got a lot better at doing this in the last couple of years but still needs to work on clever ways to more involve the community. |
| Manu Caddie | No – but there have been some real improvements since the new CEO has been in the job and new managers for Engineering & Works and Community Planning & Development. |
| Murray Palmer | No – not always – but very variable |
| Owen Lloyd | No |
| Rehette Stoltz | Yes |
| Steve Scragg | No |
| Tina Karaitiana | No – but I appreciate that often council is stuck in a hard place, with very limited resources, limited room for negotiations and many competing priorities however we can do better and we need to acknowledge the skills, ideas and local knowledge that our communities and subsectors of the community have. And to be honest, Council is more likely to get it right when we fully understand how these decisions that we make will affect people in our community. It’s far easier to consult properly and make well informed decisions than to be going back to redress poorly informed decisions, not to mention the cost of doing a job more than once. |
| Don Blakeney | No |
| Larry Foster | Yes |
| Nona Aston | Yes I think it is now on the right track . There is still a lot of work to be done but the staff have been really good and need support to get it better. |
7. How confident are you that GDC has effectively implemented the Disability Strategy?
| Name of Candidate | Response |
| Andy Cranston | Confident – The strategy has been ratified and is a work in progress. I believe awareness is growing and there is a lot more appreciation of the purpose and need for such a strategy. |
| Clive Bibby | Confident |
| Allan Hall | Confident |
| Anne Pardoe | Confident |
| Brian Wilson | Confident – at least that is what feedback I am getting from this sector. However the area that has not been dealt with sufficiently so far is the access of people with mobility scooters and other disabled people crossing roads especially at intersections and round a bouts. |
| Manu Caddie | Confident – there have been a number of practical actions taking such as installing ramps and fixing the crossings near roundabouts, kneeling buses, larger more obvious mobility parking spaces in the CBD, etc. but much more work needs to be done including a pedestrian crossing on Childers Rd near the CBD, responding to the needs of residents with disabilities in rural areas and an audit of Council facilities in relation to the needs of children and young people with disabilities |
| Murray Palmer | Not Sure |
| Owen Lloyd | Not Confident |
| Rehette Stoltz | Not Sure |
| Steve Scragg | Confident/ Not Sure |
| Tina Karaitiana | As a new prospect I am unable to answer this question, the best people to answer it are the disabled community, their families and workers in the sector, they would see daily the differences that this strategy may have made to their lives and if I was elected, I would be sure to involve this sector of the community in all stages of the strategy, making changes as we need to along the way so that they are able to participate as fully as possible in our community |
| Don Blakeney | Not Confident |
| Larry Foster | Confident |
| Nona Aston | Confident we can keep it up together |
Sunshine Sermons 