Mayor Bob Harvey
What I've been thinking
A Tribute to Mahinarangi Tocker
Waitakere Arts Laureate, singer-songwriter and Glendene
resident, Mahinarangi Tocker died on Tuesday April 15
following a severe asthma attack. Mahinarangi' death at the
age of 52 is a tragic loss to her family, friends, fans and
this city. She began recording her original compositions in
1982 (Clothesline Conversation) and her subsequent albums
included I'm Going Home, Te Rip, Hei Ha and The Mongrel in
Me. She performed in almost every town and city in New
Zealand and her last performance was at the Titirangi Music
Festival just a few weeks before her sad passing. Earlier in
the year she was the main attraction at Waitakere's first
Hero Festival event, Heroes out West.
Various council colleagues and I visited Mahinarangi at her
home before she was taken to her marae in Taumarunui. We all
felt incredible sadness and she will be sorely missed. I
told her family we would pay tribute to Mahinarangi and her
contribution to this city and New Zealand in an appropriate
fashion and that may be a plaque or a tree at Falls.
We also paid tribute to Mahinarangi and her work at the
Laureates event in the council chamber on Friday, April 18.
Everyone was still in shock really and it was very sad
however there was cause to celebrate - our four new
Waitakere Arts Laureates. They are soprano Patricia Wright,
artist Fatu Feu'u, painter Peter Siddell and Mau director
Lemi Ponifasio.
The 2008 laureates join the inaugural 12 who had laureate
status conferred in 2006 - painter Don Binney, filmmaker
Niki Caro, potter Len Castle, sculptor John Edgar, artist
Graeme Gash, painter Lois McIvor, photographer Geoff Moon,
glass artist Ann Robinson, writer Dick Scott, weaver
Matafetu Smith, writer C.K. Stead and Mahinarangi.
Waitakere Arts Laureates have a connection with the city and
their work reflects the vision, values and cultural
diversity of Waitakere. I was absolutely delighted and
honoured to announce the new laureates who, like this city,
display a unique verve and panache. These four outstanding
people will now join an incredible talent bank.
A Wake Up Call for the Future
Waitakere's Mayoral Taskforce against Family Violence has
launched another billboard campaign. Again we feature high
profile westies - actor and Waiatarua resident Annie
Whittle, former All Black great and wonderful community
contributor Michael Jones of Titirangi, actor and television
personality Pio Terei from Henderson Valley and Outrageous
Fortune star Tammy Davis, all of whom were quick to lend
their support to the cause.
Michael Jones says as a proud westie and father of two he
wanted to stand up and say family violence is not OK. "Too
many people in our community are affected by domestic
violence and we all need to take a stand and take
responsibility to collectively shape a future for our
children and families where domestic violence is addressed,
once and for all," he says. Annie, who attended the launch
event as part of a taskforce information day says she is
totally committed to the idea children be raised without
fear of physical discipline. "We must all accept
responsibility for the violence in our society and must
therefore all pull together to find solutions to this
complex problem."
We simply must consolidate and increase our efforts. It was
with horror I listened to police district commander Mark
O'Connor tell the taskforce members about the latest police
statistics. The situation is dire. It's fair to say our
violence rate has doubled in two years as has sexual
offending. Before anyone says this is because we are
reporting more, I can tell you that is not the case.
Reporting is high in North Shore but as that city's Sergeant
in Charge of Family Violence Caroline Anderson said,
reporting is very difficult. It is extremely hard for women
to come forward. Questioned, it was clear there is not a
floodgate of people responding to the information campaign
at this stage. Yes there are people who walk past the
women's refuge centres and other social facilities and then
finally summon the courage to actually go in and turn their
life around, but there are no queues.
It's also concerning that in the Quality of Life report too
many people in Waitakere feel unsafe and report they do not
know who to get help from. I think council and our officers
need to seriously take this on board. This fact I find
surprising but if we invest in research we should at least
give heed to what it reveals. One third of people in
trouble, unable to get help other than through the 111
system, is simply unacceptable to me and I'm sure to you.
As community worker June Mariu said at our workshop we have
to start picking up families. June talked of the old way of
dealing with the perpetrators of domestic violence - the
days when Maori social workers could go into houses and deal
with and resolve the issues. Because it's the kids she said
that are suffering. She's not wrong. In 1993 this city
declared itself First Call for Children, the United Nations
agenda to help children. We felt, and I still believe it was
appropriate, to work for a better city and a better society
we needed to focus on our children. But last year 34
children were brutally murdered in this country. And it was
done by caregivers or family members.
In Waitakere there is totally unacceptable violence in
schools and bullying in the playground which is creating a
vortex of violence and this society will not succeed or
achieve anything unless the women and children are healthy
and safe. In this city by the age of three, 30 percent of
all children are being minded not by a caregiver but by the
television. And by the age of 10 they will have seen 200,000
violent acts of murder, shooting, stabbings and mutilations.
This is in the crucial years of the brain growing and
absorbing and capturing the reality of life. Where does this
lead us?
I am very concerned we are slipping behind. I wonder if we
are really thinking smart or if we are really thinking at
all about what is needed. There is so much pontificating and
postulating about some of the pointless and meaningless
small agendas that the bigger issues get lost. We have to be
able to think smartly and prioritise. And believe me in
cheering on the Mayoral Taskforce against Family Violence
I've learned that early prevention works. So it's about
funding at the top of the cliff.
At John Tamihere's education summit I took the strong
mayoral message that it's in the formative years we need to
be frontloading this community. We have to get our kids
wanting and needing to learn. And to do that they must have
parental help. Mother or father, someone has to nurture
their formative years. If we don't acknowledge this we are
going to brow beat ourselves through this century.
It was good to see so many people at the summit and there
was very good korero and outcomes.
Compartmentalisation of public policy and I think it has
destroyed the future of New Zealand. We have become so
politically correct knowledge is not shared, transmitted or
acted on. PC nonsense is taking over and because of the
compartmentalisation of our lives we are seeing silos of
help being frozen in what they have set out to do. Like the
United Nations peace keepers that stand on armoured vehicles
while the locals slaughter each other. This is a system that
needs overhauling now. I don't know which government might
do it but unless there is an absolute revolt in health and
safety we are going to continue on the downward slide.
Compartmentalisation has separated young from old, men from
women and urban dwellers from country folk. It's like our
lives have been taken over by town planners and strategists
with some bizarre futuristic dream on how we might live in
the year 3000 while we struggle in 2008.
This is seen in the increase in violence, in young people
feeling isolated, unwanted and unnoticed. It's seen in the
roots of graffiti, vandalism and mindless violence. It was
interesting to note the police still fill in 10 forms when
reporting violence. And that information is not linking it
to a computer so it can be shared with the aid agencies who
act also in their own compartment. Bizarre you say? It's the
reality and we are allowing it to happen.
What we need is a declaration, not of independence but of
interdependency. I'd rate such a declaration up with the
Treaty of Waitangi as the founding document of a new
society. And put it on every council wall. A declaration of
true partnerships with our communities, not communities of
interest but communities of crisis. Because that's what
we've got and that's why the never ending cycle of anguish
is continuing. It seems a council as good as this, despite
so much energy, passion and vision, still needs more to
succeed.
I am becoming a fan of Lesley Max, someone I've always
respected. Her Home Interaction Programme for Parents and
Youngsters (HIPPY) programme in Kelston has been an
outstanding success. She works with Polynesian kids in the
main and she is making a difference. And I applaud her. But
she goes further and so do I. Her new initiative, and I'm
supporting it, is that every child born in New Zealand will
be registered and followed up by supporting agencies. Maybe
these agencies will actually talk to each other - share
information. And just maybe they will save some pain and
some lives. Max's detractors, and there are a few, consider
such a scheme draconian and dictatorial. Really? Tell me
about the Kahui twins and the hundreds of others thrashed
and beaten across New Zealand and yes, in this city. I do
believe all children should be accounted for, followed
through, nurtured and if necessary taken to safety before
their small lives are ruined by family members or
caregivers. Because that's who does it. It isn't strangers
walking past the door. It's in the house, it's in the
family. Think of what Max is saying and try and disagree
with it. Whatever political reason you might come up with
will not stack up and it never will until we take
responsibility for our children and the silo groups of
support agencies start talking to each other. Believe me, we
will sit and watch through plate glass, double glazed
windows, the tragedy and despair of suburban slaughter of
children.
I feel with this issue of family violence we are drifting
out to sea. I have only huge respect for the police but they
are in the same boat. Their figures were a real jolt. A jolt
to hear there are a thousand extra cases sinking the police
and social services. A jolt that there are 400 women in this
city who need refuge, hospital or medical treatment a month
because they've been thrashed and beaten, many within an
inch of their lives. And a jolt too for the generations of
children who have witnessed this horror and are traumatised,
possibly for life, and will start the same cycle of their
own.
I'm not without hope in what I put to you today and I want
this council to support more resources and funding to the
mayoral taskforce. The funding I wish to demand from central
government. I want to go beyond asking for money for
billboards. I want to have a total council buy in to what
I've been working on for the past nine months. The people
are there. The agencies are more than willing to share and
to start a new process which involves and is involving. I
can't thank them enough but I need to beef it up and I need
this council's help.
This closes down mid afternoon for our youth. The gyms,
halls and other facilities close at 3pm. So when people say
the young ones have got nothing to do they are actually
correct. They don't. If they don't swim or use the stadium
facilities or skateboard what do they do? This could be one
of the answers or at least one of the solutions. It's not my
idea. Both the UK and the USA use school facilities after
school hours and they are reporting a drop in crime rates.
But then both are instituted around councils. Why can't we
do that?
I think we are not working hard enough with creative ideas
and I hope this is a wake up call. That's why I needed a
council resolution to commit to the mayoral taskforce
against family violence with the appropriate level of
funding and resource. My sincere thanks to all of you for
your support on this last month during our draft annual plan
deliberations. I am grateful we are now in a better position
however it's going to be long and it's going to be hard.
 What
I've been reading
Single Fin by Aaron Topp
Published by Random House New Zealand 2006
No. of pages:206
Rights of passage are difficult processes to understand
unless it happens to you. New Zealand's coming of age tales
are often so far off the mark they are almost unreadable.
They are often written by people that have clearly never
been there.
Topp unlocks the complexity about growing into manhood in a
rural beach community. This is a beautifully observed tale
of mates surfing and growing. It glows with rare insight and
the richness of life and death. Topp writes with a fine ear
for young dialogue and his characters are real and raw.
Single Fin would make a fine film but right now it's a great
read.
Its more than a surfing journey - it's up there with the
best of recent fiction.
An Artist's Life - Rita Angua by Jill Trevelyan
 |
No. of pages:420
I've always been a fan of Rita Angus so it was with sheer
pleasure I picked up this book by Jill Trevelyan who has
certainly done her research.
Angus is one of New Zealand's greatest painters but little
has been published about her life. That's why Trevelyan's
biography is such a gem. She fleshes out the bare story of
Angus' life and gives us insight into her political leanings
as well as her relationships.
The publication by Te Papa Press, and they've certainly done
a great job on the production, is beautifully illustrated
with photographs and reproductions and includes some work
which has rarely been seen. In this fascinating book
Trevelyan paints a clear picture of Rita Angus the person
and it really is a magnificent piece of work.
Rita Angus - An Artists' Life has been produced in the
centenary year of her life and will be followed up later in
the year with a major touring exhibition originated at Te
Papa, Rita Angus: Life and Vision accompanied by a large
multi-author catalogue.
Poems by Sam Sampson
Geographic Tongue
A beginning
Conversation hijacks inaction; take your pick
River falls wet stone...raised along latitude lines
South, trace the bay state's first pinnacle
Configure the string's celestial thread
(black towers over the sylvan knoll, fili-
Grees dwarf john's iceberg love
Pines) align sjywards
The hawk rose so to speak
dangerous at the edge of insight
...circles, inlets of serpentine towns
Winter washed through this cordial drift
An eastern scene took flight over butterfly ridge
Where else to avoid the plain language loop
The country fair refrain:
Must cut lead-light brain from monsoon town
Supplant old alibis over ridge
Summer scent of highway circuitry
Erased at a cross-sectional mean
Longitude: east of the door, coordinates pinpoint a depot
Built in clear light rapids reconnect height
A sudden state of inclusion
Maps unlock timber towns: the road (you wrote) began
Anywhere: now, where might that begin?
...interlace a kind of kindred spirit, ad-
Just, then just like nothing else
Attend to the point: I realise
Insights pin a blinkered light
Silent in the greyness of morning
Seams require nominal landscapes
See how faraway scent will wrest the body
(sample tremulous bardic timbres
Banquets : bastions of activated ghazal...
Furtive ekstasis: least liquidity attack mementoes
Heaven ropes haloes, or...so someone sang)
...ledgers lampoon the blistered saint
John saunters, stumbles forward
Ash buries the procession
Deciduous woodlands, southward tropical rain forests
Meadows patch life-size deltas
Kingdom come includes Hollywood wiz-
Ardry; eastof the long lakes
Trace the deep western sash
North, around-a-bout...boats of
Human car go: go wade over : watch over, artifice
Refresh centres...infer taste as destination
...winch clear : debris from underneath
Once clear, one way recognises another
Whole contours wind down
Black and dark, dark and black...well
Nothing but circumference, south the liquid surface
Southern Cross, mass of summer stars: fricative
Highlights...relief maps mix and match
Unstitched historical markers
Cobbled together: how to step down from wall to wall?
Gathering images to focus the eyes...combination at eye-level
Fixed to gaze on habitation: where to dwell?
Ideation of light, of flesh, of insight...
Was all...all or nothing, a resting place?
Describe this place: all compartments, doors, windows
Imagined in the way of O, some opening out of
O...all you can see, the sea and sky
I John (he said), if I could put myself out of
Mind...that would be the end of it; my
To shut myself up, it would be a mine
It could be black dark, I could be motionless and fixed.
Therefore, I listen to the echo...
Therefore, I find a way to explain it...
Therefore, I listen to the ocean...
Therefore, I get to remember it...
Therefore, I listen to the ocean...
Therefore...I inch to clear of it.
Where I've been eating
Fuze
It's always great to note somewhere local is not only good
but excellent. And Fuze is one of those places you should
beat a path too. Let no-one talk you out of going to Te
Atatu Peninsula. This dazzling little eatery is opposite
that mausoleum to the 60s, the hideous community house.
Believe me, you'll do yourself a favour with their
extraordinary exotic menu. This is a family restaurant that
is so far from toasted sandwiches you'll believe it's five
star cuisine - and it is. Fuze's delicious chicken or fish
pies are a treat and its layered potato, kumara and mushroom
'pave' is stunning.
The accompanying rocket salad and chutney is first class and
the coffee's damn good too. Some of the tables wobble but
don't be put off - just enjoy. I managed to resist the curly
fries on the menu but they were certainly tempting.
What I've been viewing
The War on Democracy
John Pilger
Running Time 94 minutes
It's hard to get past Pilger's take on things. He really is
a brilliant observer of treachery and corruption,
particularly when wars and the United States are involved. A
fatal combination to us all and Pilger is unrelenting in his
investigation and findings.
The War on Democracy which focuses on the Chilean and
South American catastrophe is a case in point. We know they
were manipulated and we know they were villains but to see
it and hear it on a big screen is nothing short of a
chilling experience that isn't forgotten easily or quickly.
I'm pleased that its been given a good run at Auckland's
Academy because this movie needs to be seen in light of
Bush's ever increasing Iraq nightmare. The brutality of the
regime is beyond belief and we sat on the other side of the
world on our hands while it happened.
While praising Pilger I found his manner a little too
patronising and he's not aging well as a television
presenter. His material is great but the delivery is
slightly off putting. A man of such intellect doesn't need
those Hollywood teeth but that's a small price to pay for a
gem of a film.
El Topo
Alejandro Jodorowsky (Director)
Running time 125 minutes
 |
I've been waiting nearly 40 years to see this film and I
have to say I wasn't disappointed like the rest of the
audience. Made in 1970 El Topo probably one of the most
bizarre films ever made and if you think you like films and
know anything about how they are made and crafted then if El
Topo isn't on your must see list you are mad.
In fact you leave the movie feeling a little crazed. But
believe me it's worth it. Everyone seems to know about the
plot about a lone gunslinger and child who open the movie on
a mission to kill the four wizards in the desert. A movie
where they actually do seem to kill the animals is something
really not PC these days.
But the cast of deformed, deranged and crazed people somehow
is a cathartic, Catholic experience that has remained as
powerful as it ever was. Bootleg copies have somehow drifted
out from Japan but it has not gone to video or DVD until
recently and this restored version which is touring the
international film circuits gives you a sense there was some
real amazing stuff being pulled out to fight television way
back in the 70s.
For anyone who cares about making an amateur film, go to it.
Alejandro Jodorowsky wrote, directed and starred in it. He's
in his 80s now talking about a sequel. Bring it on.
What I've been listening to
Te Papa Sings Songs of the River
A collection of waiata composed by Professor Morvin
Simon
Musical arrangements and accompaniment by Joe Haami
I always felt strong about the magnificent Wanganui River
and still intend to canoe its mighty flow, stopping at all
the old marae sites.
This beautiful CD would make a great soundtrack to my
adventure. We came close to this river in River Queen. Now
we can hear its music – old and recent – from the small
settlements, missions and churches headlands to the deep and
damp mysteries of the Maori over 17 wonderful tracks. It's a
rich and moving collection easy to access by all New
Zealanders. Go try its charm. I've been playing it since
December and I'm still not tired of it. Now that's saying
something!
What I've been saying
Mayor Bob Harvey's Memorable Quotes
- Often the people who slip on banana skins are the
ones who peeled the bananas in the first place.
- It's not hard for roosters to quickly become feather
dusters.
- You can fill a hall with people who are against
something and only a phone box with people trying to
cheer something on.
- Westies will do anything if you ask them and nothing
if you tell them.
- In politics it's wrong to be right too soon.
- Never mark the spot where you have buried the hatchet.
- My Councillors do all the heavy lifting, I just do
leadership.
- The Council propose and the voters dispose.
- If you get a lemon, make lemonade.
|
HOME
