Thank you Botany!

Progress results show that I've been returned to the Howick Local Board as one of the two representatives for Botany. Thank you to locals for your vote of confidence in me.

Unfortunately I haven't been elected to Auckland Council. My congratulations to Maurice Williamson (who has been returned) and Bo Burns. Well done to them both and commiserations to the other unsuccessful candidates.

Thank you to everyone who voted for me, who helped my campaign - your support means a lot, regardless of the outcome.

I'm thrilled to be back on the Local Board - I've really enjoyed the past three years and we've achieved a lot. But there's more to do - we're opening a library in Ormiston in January, with more progress on the Flat Bush facilities underway. We need to tackle our gaps in playgrounds and sportsfields, while coping with massive budget shortfalls. We'll be taking on more responsibilities for transport, while housing intensification looms over the city.

It's great to see that the Howick Local Board will benefit from the experience of returning members, as well as from some fresh new faces. Congratulations to all the new and returning members.

Note:

• Progress results include votes received until the evening of Friday 10 October 2025. They do not include special votes or votes received on Saturday morning.

• Preliminary results include votes received on the morning of Saturday 11 October 2025. Special votes are still not included. Preliminary results will be announced on Monday 13 October 2025.

• Final results and official results include all votes, including special votes. They will be released by Friday 17 October 2025.
  
  Results can be found here: https://voteauckland.co.nz/en/2025-local-election-results.html

Thank you for an amazing three years!

With the election tomorrow, time is running out to vote. If you haven't had your say, make sure you get your vote into one of the orange boxes at your local library, supermarket or transport station before Midday.

Thank you you to everyone who has helped with my campaign. From volunteers who've delivered leaflets to residents who've allowed me to use their fence for my signs - thank you. As an independent I don't have a big political party behind me, just dedicated passionate locals who want to see positive change.

Special thank you to my friends and whānau who have helped and supported me throughout the campaign and last three years.

It's been a privilege serving on the Howick Local Board for the last 3 years, as one of the representatives for Botany/Flat Bush and as the Chairperson. Despite the significant challenges we've faced, like budget cuts and unpredictable government reform, we've managed to deliver for our communities.

In addition to our ongoing support for the incredible Howick Youth Council, we delivered a dedicated space for our rangatahi (youth) with Te Taiwhanga Taiohi East Auckland Youth Space, funded through our effort saving the early childhood education previously known as KauriKids. We successfully advocated for funding for the long-awaited Flat Bush facilities (Community Centre and Library, Pool and Leisure Centre), and secured a lease for a temporary Library at Ormiston in the meantime. We strengthened our partnership with mana whenua, finally making progress on the dual naming of parks with Te Kete Rukuruku. We've boosted social cohesion with investment into Neighbourhood Support while delivering the local emergency readiness and response plan with Auckland Emergency Management. Our environmental programmes have delivered significant improvements thanks to our partnerships with Otara Waterways and Lake Trust, Pest Free Howick Ward and local residents. And we increased transparency by opening our workshops to the public and improved local democracy by giving Flat Bush their own representatives.

All of this has been a team effort and whatever happens tomorrow I'm proud of what we've done together - as a Board and as a community.

‘Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini’ – our strength is not made from us alone but made from many.

Vote today!

Voting for Auckland Council elections closes at midday Saturday 11 October!

To ensure your vote is received in time, make sure you deliver to one of the orange voting boxes available in all council libraries and selected supermarkets, retailers and transport stations.

If you haven't received your voting papers, you can go to Botany Library and they will help you out.

It's vital that everyone has their say so please make sure you vote. If you've already voted, please encourage your friends and whānau to vote.

Find out more here: https://voteauckland.co.nz/en.html

Auckland East Chinese Society Alliance Election Forum

Thank you to the Auckland East Chinese Society Alliance for organising Monday’s election forum at the Pakūranga Community Hall.

With over 27% of our local 160k residents identified as Chinese in the last Census, we're fortunate to have several amazing local community groups supporting and celebrating their Chinese culture and heritage. This alliance of four local groups offered candidates for Howick Local Board, Auckland Council, and Mayor an opportunity to speak to locals about their vision and priorities. And the event was finished off with wonderful performances!

Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland is a wonderfully diverse city but we need to do more to embrace and empower our communities. Low voter turnout is a symptom of a wider problem. Too often language, terminology, and systems are a barrier to participation and engagement with council. Locally we've worked with groups to educate and empower them to be more involved in decisions that impact them, but we need to scale this up across the city.

Candidate event organised by Korean Positive Ageing Charitable Trust

Last week Korean Positive Ageing Charitable Trust hosted a community meeting, providing locals an opportunity to hear from those standing in the upcoming election.

With a large number of candidates standing for councillor and local board, everyone was provided a fair opportunity to speak. Each candidate was given a minute to introduce themselves and their vision, and answer questions on embracing diversity and ensuring a fair share of rates.

Well done to YongRahn for organising such a great event.

Voting underway!

I dropped off my voting papers at my local library this afternoon. It's full circle as Botany Library is the same place I dropped off my nomination forms.

Local government elections are still old school, relying on postal voting. I'd prefer we move to the same system we use for general (Parliamentary) elections but until then, postal it is.

For Auckland, voting closes at 12 noon Saturday 11 October 2025. If you haven't voted yet, please do! If you have voted, please encourage your whānau and friends to have their say.

You can return your vote by:
✉️ posting it in any NZ Post box before Tuesday 7 October 2025.
🟧 dropping it in one of the orange vote boxes before 12 noon on Saturday 11 October 2025. These are available in all council libraries and selected supermarkets, retailers and transport stations.

If you do not receive voting papers by 22 September, you can:
✅ cast a special vote at selected libraries (including Botany)
✅ visit the Electoral Office (167 Victoria Street West, Auckland Central) to drop off your vote or cast a special vote.
✅ visit a Vote-on-the-Go event, where you can enrol, vote and cast a special vote — all in one place.

Find out more: https://voteauckland.co.nz/en/information-for-voters/where-to-vote.html

New leaders for Flat Bush from October 2025

Flat Bush is a significant and growing community that deserves good representation. Until now, they've been represented by the Botany subdivision of the Howick Local Board which included 70,000 residents from Northpark to Clover Park.

As one of the representatives for Botany and Flat Bush, it was a privilege to serve this amazing community. Facing budget challenges, we’ve worked hard to address the gaps in services and facilities like Te Taiwhanga Taiohi Youth Space (opened April 2024), Barry Curtis destination playground (due later this year), and the Ormiston Pop Up Library (due January 2026). We’ve secured funding for the long-awaited Flat Bush facilities (Library\Community Centre, and Pool\Leisure Centre) while bringing the locals together with funding for Neighbourhood Support and community-led Celebrating Cultures.

But with such a large, diverse community it’s a big task for three representatives. I am proud to be involved in the decision-making that led to the creation of the Flat Bush subdivision. Backed by 86% of locals, the change means better representation for both Botany and Flat Bush.

Next Saturday there's a community-led public meeting for candidates standing for this new position, a great opportunity for locals to come along and learn more about their options for voting.

• Saturday 20 September 10:30am to 12noon

• Ormiston Senior College, 275 Ormiston Road

For more information on the elections, including candidates, check out the Auckland Council www.voteauckland.co.nz

A+ for climate justice

Thank you Generation Zero for the A+ rating for my positions on climate justice.

You can find out more including seeing how I stand up against the other candidates at: https://localelections.nz/

I’m standing for my community

I'm standing for both the Howick Local Board and Auckland Council.

I love the the work on the local board - we're responsible for parks, libraries, and community centres. We fund local organisations and provide local advice and support through the to Auckland Council.

It's challenging but also very rewarding.

However we keep running into problems that can only be solved by Auckland Council so I'm standing to change how our city is run. Councillors determine the budgets for local boards (and every part of council) and make regional decisions that effect the whole city. We need councillors who will work with our local boards, putting aside politics to deliver more for residents.

If I'm elected to the Howick Local Board AND Auckland Council, then I'll automatically vacate the local board position and the next highest candidate for Botany is elected in my place.

Voters papers are arriving in letter boxes now so look out for the orange letters! They also contain a booklet with candidates statements and return envelope. Get them into the post before Tuesday 7 October or in one of the orange boxes at your local library or supermarket.

To find out more about your candidates, check out: https://voteauckland.co.nz/en/information-for-voters/candidates.html

My nominations are in!

Exciting milestone this morning as I handed in my paperwork to become a candidate in the upcoming elections. Handing in my paperwork in my local library is always a special moment and keeps it truly local.

I've worked hard as the Chairperson of the Local Board, providing leadership through significant challenges leading to rewarding successes. But there's more to do, so I'm standing again for Botany where I live. The Chairperson is elected by the Board when we're sworn in (late October).

And Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland deserves a more ambitious, disciplined, and diverse council. We need representatives who understand their communities, investing time to listen and respond to residents. So I'm once again standing for Auckland Council, as a candidate for Howick (which includes Pakūranga, Botany and Flat Bush).

There's a bit of paperwork involved. Nominations require a deposit of $200 per role, which is refunded if you get enough votes. You also need two locals to nominate you, confirming your connection to the place you want to represent. Each candidate can provide up to 150 words and a photo thay goes into the booklet sent out with voting papers.

Election day is Saturday 11 October, with voting papers delivered (in the mail) from 9 September.

You can find out more about the elections, including key dates at www.voteauckland.co.nz

Fixing funding of local boards

We need $216.5M to maintain our assets over the next 10 years, but we’ve only been allocated $114.1M.

At our workshop last week, the Howick Local Board received an update about our asset portfolio and it was pretty confronting. Over the next 9 years, we need $216.5M to maintain our existing assets (like playgrounds, libraries, and leisure centres). But Auckland Council has only allocated us $114.1M, leaving a 47% gap!

We've got enough funding to cover our priority renewals (those in the worst shape), but if we don't maintain all assets they will degrade, reducing their ability to serve the community. Deferring maintenance leads to higher costs in the future as parts break.

We're looking at all options to help close this gap, including changing how we deliver services to rely less on physical assets, optimising the assets we do have, and working with partners to deliver outcomes. But the scale of the challenge means none of this will be easy.

Council have two main funding sources for our assets:
🛠 operational expenses (like day-to-day maintenance, utilities) are covered by rates ($3B), fees ($1.9B) and other revenue ($1.3B).
🏗 capital expenses (like major renewals, new assets) are funded through operating revenue ($1.1B), subsidies ($0.9B), and debt ($1.7B) which is paid off over the lifetime of the asset (like you would a mortgage). To keep the interest manageable, council tries to keep the debt below 250% of revenue (270% absolute max).

New assets can also get funding from development contributions ($0.2B) which is a charge that properly developers pay to help fund assets in the area they're building. These funds cannot be used for anything other than the asset they were collected for.

The good news for Howick Local Board is that our venues for hire (valued at $4.5M) are generating enough revenue from hirage to cover their own day-to-day expenses. But as these buildings need more significant renewal, we need capital funding. And our libraries (valued at $32M), pool and leisure centres (valued at $15.6M) need upgrading so they can keep pace with our growing, changing population as well as shifts in technology and demands. And we know our playgrounds aren’t delivering what our communities need, with gaps especially in Flat Bush.

It’s important to note that Local Boards don't determine what our budget is, we only get (some) control over where our allocated budget goes. How much money each Local Board gets is decided by the Governing Body made up of the Mayor and 20 Councillors. Funding used to be based on what assets we had plus some discretionary funding, but this year we’ve moved to a different formula (known as fairer funding) which is based on population (80%), deprivation (15%), and land area (5%). For example, Howick has the largest population (160k), but lower deprivation (11%) and land area (69.7km2).

The Governing Body decides how much money they want Local Boards to have, then staff allocate it using this formula. Local Boards get less than 10minutes every year to present our feedback and beg for the resources we need to serve our communities. And not all the Councillors even bother to turn up to listen.

Auckland Council group OPEX from Long Term Plan 2024-2034

While the 21 local boards have a huge impact on their communities, they represent a small part of a large complex organisation. To put this into context:
🛠 Auckland Council operating budget for this year is $5,133M – all local boards are $491M (5%) and Howick is $37M (0.7%, 3rd highest).
🏗 Auckland Council’s capital budget for this year is $4,274M while all local boards are $212M (5%) and Howick is $10M (0.2%, 6th highest)

The cause of these issues go back before the creation of Auckland Council, with legacy councils building assets that they couldn’t afford to maintain. But even since the amalgamation, decisions have compounded the issues – like not fully funding depreciation until now so debt has ballooned. And in 2020, Auckland Council passed an emergency budget which slashed the capital spending. For Howick Local Board, the capital funding for 2021 went from a planned $20M to $1.5M. While it’s slowly increased over time, it’s never come back to the previous levels and never enough to compensate for the deferred maintenance.

Some budget pressure can be helpful - it makes us challenge decisions and focus on prioritising what’s important. The Howick Local Board has achieved significant savings over the past few years AND managed to deliver more value for our communities. But the growing gap is leaving our assets in a poor state and forcing us to make short-term decisions to balance our budgets.

This is a challenge across Auckland so there's a regionwide portfolio review underway to provide quality advice to local boards. We're expecting staff to come back to us in November and December with more information for the newly elected Board, with the intention of putting in place a plan by July 2026. This will be a major challenge for the new Howick Local Board to tackle.

Fixing the underlying issues will take longer but is essential for a thriving city. In my opinion:
💰 our budgeting process needs more focus on the outcomes – what do we need, not just what we’ve always done
👥 local boards need more opportunities for genuine involvement in regional decisions – we know our communities, help us serve them better
🏘 council needs to be more agile and responsive – we’re too slow and cumbersome, weighed down by complex structures
📑 staff need to provide more quality advice to elected members so we’re making the right decisions – 15 years to develop asset management plans is too slow
🏛 government needs to provide councils more funding sources so they’re not relying on debt and rates – portion of GST would be a good start

Because our workshop are open to the public, the materials are published online: https://infocouncil.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/Open/2025/07/20250724_HLBWC_ATT_13171_WEB.htm

Pre-Election Report released

“By 2034 we are projected to see an additional 200,000 Aucklanders joining our diverse community. That is slightly more than Hamilton being added, in only nine years. This rapid growth brings increased demand for services and infrastructure, such as transport, water services, parks and community facilities,” says Auckland Council chief executive Phil Wilson.

“To accommodate this growth, we must confront the challenges our region faces, while ensuring long-term financial sustainability. These include addressing Auckland’s relatively low productivity and lifting the region’s economic growth to support development.”

As part of the build up towards the elections, Auckland Council has released it's pre-election report.

There are six key issues for the incoming council to tackle:
📈addressing productivity and growth challenges
🏗infrastructure investment to support population growth
🏢protecting and enhancing our assets
🌏climate resilience and environmental sustainability
👥community services
💰funding for Aucklanders' needs.

Essential reading for anyone considering standing for council and helpful for voters as they elect their representatives to tacke these challenges (and more).

https://voteauckland.co.nz/en/information-for-voters/pre-election-report-2025.html

I'm standing for our community

I'm pleased to announce that I intend to stand for the Howick Local Board and Auckland Council in the elections this October. 

I'm proud of the work we've done on the Howick Local Board over the past three years.  I've enjoyed the privilege of being the Chairperson, leading the Board through some significant challenges and rewarding successes. 

Faced with budget cuts and growing population, we've made robust financial decisions, leading to less reliance on rates and enabling us to do more with less. We asked the public what they wanted us to focus on and then we delivered. We're more transparent and accountable with increased communication, visibility, and opening our workshops to the public.

It's been a privilege to serve as one of the Members for Botany (including Flat Bush) over the past three years. We've worked hard to address the gaps, especially where the infrastructure hasn't kept pace with the population growth. By working with community partners we've done more and built a strong foundation for the future. 

We opened Te Taiwhanga Taiohi East Auckland Youth Space, delivered safety improvements focused around schools, and have made real progress on the long awaited Community Centre and Library. The recently announced temporary library will provide space for our communities to connect and grow, as we work on the permanent facilities. 

And Flat Bush residents will now get the representation they deserve with three Members on the Howick Local Board.

But the work isn't finished and I intend to stand again for the Howick Local Board as a candidate for Botany where I live, in the heart of East Auckland.

 It’s been a privilege to serve the diverse communities of Howick, Pakūranga, Botany, and Flat Bush. I've seen local government at its best, empowering communities and embracing the incredible diversity of the people who call this city home.

I love this mahi (work), its localism at its finest. Acknowledging the importance of local communities and their involvement in decisions that affect them. Supporting local businesses, strengthening community bonds, and fostering a sense of place and belonging. Local Boards can achieve all of this and more but they've been held back by poor policy and execution across council.

After 15 years we're still struggling with the basics like financial transparency and effective communication. It's symptomatic of a council that isn't living up to the promise of the super city. While it's been great to see Auckland push back to Government on unfunded mandates and unreasonable consultation timeframes, too often local boards suffer the same under council.

At a local level we see the impact of an organisation not structured to respond to local needs with outdated leases, poor enforcement, and even small issues requiring endless follow up.

At a regional level we're facing significant challenges of housing intensification, climate change, and an uncertain economic outlook.

The last few years have proven to me yet again that the systemic issues at council are holding this city and its people back. 

Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland deserves a more ambitious, disciplined, and diverse council. We need representatives who understand their communities and invest the time to listen to their residents, not just at election time.  

I know our city has the potential to be incredible as I've seen glimpses of it. With the right people around the council table, we can achieve it. That's why I'm standing again for one of the two Councillors for the Howick Ward (which includes Howick, Pakūranga, Botany and Flat Bush).

I have proven that I will work tirelessly for my community. I want to use my skills and experience to help our city. I’m grateful for the support I received when I stood in 2018, 2019, and 2022. It would be an honour and a privilege to serve as East Auckland's representative on council.

I will continue to be highly visible, results driven, and truly independent. I will utilise my passion for community, my experience in governance, and my knowledge of council to deliver for every resident of East Auckland.