A proposal to give iwi first right of refusal on surplus council property sales in Horowhenua is being labelled unfair and divisive.
The policy amendment —brought by a group of councillors— would effectively see iwi offered council property at market value before it's listed publicly.
Horowhenua district councillor Sam Jennings told Mike Hosking he's against it and doesn't like that it's been kept behind closed doors until now.
He doesn't like the idea of inserting privilege into council policy.
The proposal will be voted on tomorrow.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We've got more race based trouble at council level, this
(00:02):
time in horror Fenua. A couple of councils are calling
out a proposal that would give E we first write
a refusal at market rate when the council sells certain properties.
Now the council votes on this tomorrow. Claim is it
only got this far because the public were locked out
of a meeting last year. A similar first of its
current policy for council land was adopted apparently by Towering
back in twenty twenty one. Anyway, Local Council of Sam
(00:23):
Jennings is with a Sam very good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Morning Mike how I a.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Very well thank you any land or certain land No.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
So this is a default policy that would see all
of council's land that is suitless land that's deemed non
core to be offered first to EWE.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Why were the public locked out of the meeting?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
So this is a proposal that was first cooked up
by a couple of councilors back in two wenty twenty three.
It was a sort of piggybacked off another another decision
and it's taken almost two years for it to navigate
its way through the through the council machine. But it's yeah,
it's ultimately just a really ill thought out policy that
(01:05):
that you know that that two years sort of indicates
how how much trouble there has been in trying to
get something ready to put in front of counsel.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Has the public had any say on this at all?
Would the public be widely aware of what's going on
locally or not?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Not at all? This? Look, this the first direction to
the CEO to go away and think about this was
was done in public? Excluded? And yes there's been a
couple of workshops that have happened since, but no, look,
this is on the on the public agenda tomorrow. I'm
certain that the vast majority of our population would have
(01:42):
absolutely no awareness of this at all.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Of those who think this is a good idea, what's
their argument?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
I think I think the argument sort of stems from
this idea that in some ways it's a it's a
form of redress, or or it's it's you know that
we get this this phrase it's the right thing to do,
and you know that that's problematic from from my perspective
and from some of my colleagues perspectives, where we say
this is about betting privilege or a right into council policy.
(02:12):
And that's contrary to this whole obligation of stenness, transparency
and that whole.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yeah, and the financial if it's any land, I mean,
if you were arguing with me that, look, this was
land they once held and there's a claim in the
tribunal and there's been a dispute over this particular piece
of land, I might have some sympathy. But if you're
telling me it's literally any chunk of land that you
go to sell and Mari get firsts, that's just straight
up and down racism.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Correct. And we and we have a property portfolio that
has small, sort of weird slivers of land through to
large pieces of land that have significant development potential. And
I'm with you if the better approach would be to
simply understand what the level of interest is across various
pieces of land, if there's some that have courts of
(02:57):
significance or something like that, But that doesn't take away
from our obligation to ratepayers to.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Getting the best price for the land and put it
out to tender and whoever pays the most as bad.
So how do you think the vote will go tomorrow?
Because he's the Democratic. Then do you think you'll win
or lose?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Well, look, I think it's a pretty finally, finally balanced
decision and so that's that's going to be my message,
is that hoping that our ratepayers come out and request
speaking rights and tell us what they think, because this
is the only opportunity to do that.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Where's the mayor on this, Look.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Don't know, I don't don't know. He wasn't there for
the original it was the one, one and only meeting.
I think he's had to be absent for and he
missed the vote on whether they go and sending the
CEO away to do some work on this. But as
I say that, that was a surprise to many of
(03:50):
us at the time.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
On related matters, do you have Marie wards or seats?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yes, we do, we have two mightywards.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
And you're putting those to what a referendum, the local
body election or you abscraping them.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
So yeah, no, it's going to a referendum.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
And do you reckon it'll win or lose?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Look again, I think the vote will be pretty finely
balanced here in if you yeah, it's I think it's
going to be closer than people might think.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
That's interesting. Well good luck with it. I mean, I
don't know. See, here's the thing. We had to old
Simon brown on earlier, and he's busy telling councils to
get back to the basics and get on with being
a council and stop you know, dabbling in these sort
of areas. It doesn't seem to be landing. Do you
guys listen to central government at all or you don't
really care.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Or well yeah, this is the thing is that I
feel certainly our council at times gets very distracted with
some of the very soft, fluffy identity politics and not
on the the you know, the big important stuff, the
strategic infrastructure decisions. So yeah, look, I think it is
a council wide problem.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Right, Well go old Marat. I wish you're the best.
Sam Jennings, who is one of the councilors in Horror Fenway,
I know what you do. See it goes back to
the government swimming swimming, and can say that till he's
blue in the face. But if people ignore him, you
look like a weak government, don't you. For more from
the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to news Talks. It
be from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on
(05:13):
iHeartRadio
We've got more race based trouble at council level, this
(00:02):
time in horror Fenua. A couple of councils are calling
out a proposal that would give E we first write
a refusal at market rate when the council sells certain properties.
Now the council votes on this tomorrow. Claim is it
only got this far because the public were locked out
of a meeting last year. A similar first of its
current policy for council land was adopted apparently by Towering
back in twenty twenty one. Anyway, Local Council of Sam
(00:23):
Jennings is with a Sam very good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Morning Mike how I a.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Very well thank you any land or certain land No.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
So this is a default policy that would see all
of council's land that is suitless land that's deemed non
core to be offered first to EWE.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Why were the public locked out of the meeting?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
So this is a proposal that was first cooked up
by a couple of councilors back in two wenty twenty three.
It was a sort of piggybacked off another another decision
and it's taken almost two years for it to navigate
its way through the through the council machine. But it's yeah,
it's ultimately just a really ill thought out policy that
(01:05):
that you know that that two years sort of indicates
how how much trouble there has been in trying to
get something ready to put in front of counsel.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Has the public had any say on this at all?
Would the public be widely aware of what's going on
locally or not?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Not at all? This? Look, this the first direction to
the CEO to go away and think about this was
was done in public? Excluded? And yes there's been a
couple of workshops that have happened since, but no, look,
this is on the on the public agenda tomorrow. I'm
certain that the vast majority of our population would have
(01:42):
absolutely no awareness of this at all.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Of those who think this is a good idea, what's
their argument?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
I think I think the argument sort of stems from
this idea that in some ways it's a it's a
form of redress, or or it's it's you know that
we get this this phrase it's the right thing to do,
and you know that that's problematic from from my perspective
and from some of my colleagues perspectives, where we say
this is about betting privilege or a right into council policy.
(02:12):
And that's contrary to this whole obligation of stenness, transparency
and that whole.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yeah, and the financial if it's any land, I mean,
if you were arguing with me that, look, this was
land they once held and there's a claim in the
tribunal and there's been a dispute over this particular piece
of land, I might have some sympathy. But if you're
telling me it's literally any chunk of land that you
go to sell and Mari get firsts, that's just straight
up and down racism.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Correct. And we and we have a property portfolio that
has small, sort of weird slivers of land through to
large pieces of land that have significant development potential. And
I'm with you if the better approach would be to
simply understand what the level of interest is across various
pieces of land, if there's some that have courts of
(02:57):
significance or something like that, But that doesn't take away
from our obligation to ratepayers to.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Getting the best price for the land and put it
out to tender and whoever pays the most as bad.
So how do you think the vote will go tomorrow?
Because he's the Democratic. Then do you think you'll win
or lose?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Well, look, I think it's a pretty finally, finally balanced
decision and so that's that's going to be my message,
is that hoping that our ratepayers come out and request
speaking rights and tell us what they think, because this
is the only opportunity to do that.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Where's the mayor on this, Look.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Don't know, I don't don't know. He wasn't there for
the original it was the one, one and only meeting.
I think he's had to be absent for and he
missed the vote on whether they go and sending the
CEO away to do some work on this. But as
I say that, that was a surprise to many of
(03:50):
us at the time.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
On related matters, do you have Marie wards or seats?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yes, we do, we have two mightywards.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
And you're putting those to what a referendum, the local
body election or you abscraping them.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
So yeah, no, it's going to a referendum.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
And do you reckon it'll win or lose?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Look again, I think the vote will be pretty finely
balanced here in if you yeah, it's I think it's
going to be closer than people might think.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
That's interesting. Well good luck with it. I mean, I
don't know. See, here's the thing. We had to old
Simon brown on earlier, and he's busy telling councils to
get back to the basics and get on with being
a council and stop you know, dabbling in these sort
of areas. It doesn't seem to be landing. Do you
guys listen to central government at all or you don't
really care.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Or well yeah, this is the thing is that I
feel certainly our council at times gets very distracted with
some of the very soft, fluffy identity politics and not
on the the you know, the big important stuff, the
strategic infrastructure decisions. So yeah, look, I think it is
a council wide problem.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Right, Well go old Marat. I wish you're the best.
Sam Jennings, who is one of the councilors in Horror Fenway,
I know what you do. See it goes back to
the government swimming swimming, and can say that till he's
blue in the face. But if people ignore him, you
look like a weak government, don't you. For more from
the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to news Talks. It
be from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on
(05:13):
iHeartRadio
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