There were a couple more points, so thanks for the invitation.

Michael Campbell wrote:
> Rik said:
>
> "CD volunteer numbers are presently and dangerously in decline, increasing
risk to life." As Chair of CDEM at ECAN what have you instigated to change this
other than sign up yourself, Rik?
>

- Promoted CD voluntarism, here on this forum and through informal
meetings so far.

http://www.ccc.govt.nz/CDEM/Volunteers/IntroToCivilDefence.asp

My regional role is less of 'instigation' and more of listening though,
to date. Where I discern means for coordinated improvement, I will sound
them out with the relevant officials. It's a cooperative exercise, and
learning the ropes precedes constructive input. Early days, given how
consuming an LTCCP process is for any learner (now done). Getting on
with the tasks at hand.

I should explain that, using the example of the 2006 snow dump, the
regional role is to call in service support when territorial resources
become stretched. There is sensitivity there, with districts duly proud
of their ability to manage most situations, yet a delayed regional
response earns us criticism. The NZDF has the trucks and personnel to
deliver emergency diesel and other supplies to isolated farms, but a
central EM office is needed to initiate and coordinate such responses.
The speed with which the call comes in is influential, so working at
good relationships and regular communiation with all Canterbury
districts and cities is something the regional council works very hard
at, and I am an eager part of that ongoing process.

> Again Rik wrote "The vacuum at public CD leadership level is filled from two
directions:
> the army, who have to run CD operations and so have trained personnel
> ready in place; and the corporate council - executive directors.
>
> Same question, Rik
>

Well, taking up more active engagement really is it. Said that. Tried to
moderate the corporate business values that your Citizens' grouping
represents, by inviting your input to tsunami exercise timing, but beach
dwellers will obviously have to look somewhere else.. There is a tsunami
exercise planned by the Ministry of CDEM for around September 2010, and
eastern residents are encouraged to play an effective part:

http://www.civildefence.govt.nz/memwebsite.nsf/wpg_URL/For-the-CDEM-Sector-CDEM-Exercises-NEP-2010

But has Michael just indicated that seaside New Brighton residents are
not valued, in terms of help for them to plan and practise an evacuation
drill? Are the commercial interests saying 'let the old housing be
washed away, not leaving any inhabitants either' by not supporting an
evacuation drill? This can be logically derived from what's been said,
and omitted by Michael, to date: population losses are deemed acceptable
'redundancy' versus the costly inconvenience of a drill? Is it going to
be easier to later develop affected land, this way? Is this perspective
mere speculation? - Check the sudden changes in land use post Hurricane
Katrina in New Orleans, everybody. Civic defence had been run down there
too.

There is a strong emphasis upon business continuity, through
post-graduate research and within "resilience" projects, I am
discovering. This can be crucial, for maintaining essential supplies and
services. However, elected representatives can help keep watch for the
appropriate balance of effort within Civil[ian] Defence arrangements -
to safeguard persons too - as has just been done.

> You seem to think the business sector is some kind of bogey that is stopping
you from undertaking your role...it's your job to convince ordinary everyday
Cantabrians that they need to know this stuff, not just businesses but everyone
>
> Just remember that the key personnel we'll all depend on in the case of an
emergency aren't business people but police, fire, doctors, nurses, and so on -
medical and emergency personnel - and for them to do their jobs the rest of us
need to know what the plan is so we don't get in their way
>
> Do we know the plan?

Yes. It is: http://www.cdemcanterbury.govt.nz/cdem-group-plan-downloads.html

As Brian Sandle said, this plan is up for renewal next year.
Consultation will begin in a few months, so do "have your say" on the
emergency preparedness that the population needs.

Now, given that Michael is wishing the regional council out of any existence or
role, why make him wait? I can offer Michael immediate satisfaction, by not
being available to answer his questions any further. - To get to work, that is.

Kia ora, Rik

Kia ora Koutou M Douglas

You mentioned my name so please read my side.

Like you, I came into this world naked and unable to speak any language.  Like
you, I owned nothing but relied on the people around me to care for me.  I had
no choice but had to learn my parent's language, English, and at school I had
to learn Afrikaans and other European languages. I was taught no Black
languages. I learned history too.  I believed what I was taught was the truth.

As a twelve year old, my parents took me to the equivalent of McDonalds one
evening as a treat.   It was a drive in restaurant, so we sat in our cars while
we ate our food off trays brought to us.  Three men came out of the kitchen
building, two were White men and one was a Black waiter. He had done something
wrong, because to my horror, the two White men started punching him and he fell
to the ground.  They started kicking him repeatedly as he lay helpless on the
ground.  I shouted to my father to stop them and screaming "get the other
people in the car next to us to help".  My father and the adults in the other
cars did not move.  They let those White men beat up that Black man.   I
learned the reality of the racial injustice that was the apartheid system in
South Africa in one short minute.  I remember crying for a very long time.

With my eyes now open, I learned that much of what I was told about the history
of South Africa was untrue and that there was a complete history that we were
not taught - a history of discrimination and injustice based on the colour of a
person's skin and gender.  I made sure I learned about this history and am
still learning because many of the books that told the truth were suppressed.
You have to learn history from books and artefacts when the people to whom it
happened, are no longer alive.  The people around me were not reliable as they
had also only learned what the regime wanted them to know.

I also learned that all countries did this.  I know that many New Zealanders
believe what they have been taught without question while others find out to
their surprise that there are two sides to the story. I am now a New Zealand
citizen and have been living here for over thirteen years, longer than many
children.  I have done more than most people to learn Maori history and
language from Maori tutors and hear all sides.

I went to the marae in Pages Rd last Saturday to learn weaving.  I learned how
to make a Matariki star from a delightful young Maori woman called Tiara, who
did not know that her name came from a flower, a flower that is the national
flower of Tahiti and a Polynesian name.  She gave me her knowledge and I gave
her mine.  Should I have left her in ignorance about our shared Pacific
culture? Should I have not told her where her name came from, because I am an
immigrant and not a Maori?

New Zealand's history is now my history and I have every right to study it and
comment on it.  Through the Canterbury Museum, with whom I have been studying
another artefact from the Wairau Bar, I asked for permission to visit the dig
at the Wairau Bar like other members of the public including school children. I
wanted to see and learn from the people involved and hear their side of the
story.

I spoke to Associate Professor Richard Walter, who was in charge of the dig and
a partner of Rangitane.  He was extremely rude to me, screaming down the phone
and would not let me explain about my museum studies before slamming the phone
down on me.  I got the message that I was not welcome at the Wairau Bar. This
behaviour confirmed my suspicions that the truth about the ancient bones of the
Wairau Bar was being suppressed.  My research told me that only 44 had been dug
up, Otago Univesity studied 41 and the Canterbury museum were handing over 53.
In the end over 60 were buried.

We still don't know who or how many people, both ancient and modern, were
finally buried on the Wairau Bar and for the sake of the next generation this
knowledge should be out in the open.  The Wairau Bar is a special historical
and now sacred piece of ground and what happens in and to it, should be known
to all New Zealanders as part of their heritage.  I would like to have a
conversation with Rangitane people about the Wairau Bar but they won't talk to
me.

If I see injustice and untruth, however it is wrapped up, I will do my best to
expose it. If I see priceless historical artefacts being destroyed I will do my
best to stop it.  What happened at the Wairau Bar is the New Zealand equivalent
of the Taliban destroying the centuries old statues of Buddha in Bamyan.  The
Taliban were motivated by religion and politics when they destroyed those
statues.  Were the motivations of Rangitane any different?  Taking samples for
DNA testing is like keeping a piece of broken stone for the next generation.

You have a Rangitane partner and possibly children too.  You owe it to yourself
and your descendants to keep an open mind and learn from all sources what you
can about the early people of the Wairau Bar, New Zealand's first people, and
to question the accepted wisdom. You will very quickly realise that there are
several sides to this story and you need to make your own judgement.  You will
also have to risk the anger and prejudice of others but as I learned from the
great anti-apartheid fighter, Bishop Desmond Tutu, who risked his life for the
truth, it is better to see ugliness in the light than to pretend there is
beauty and goodness hidden in the dark ground.

Rosanne Hawarden

No I didn't mean descendant Tim but thanks for trying to correct me
tipuna/tupuna means ancestor, which in the dictionary I think you will find
means someone from whom you are descended.

I have never claimed to be an authority on this matter. My partner is
Rangitane and was involved in this and his uncles who were there at the time
the tipuna were dug up I think that they would know quite a bit about this
affair and the history surrounding it.

Their information has come from the museum and the archaeologists that were
working at the site before the tipuna were reburied.

Kai tahu have always claimed  land past the Clarence but haven't had enough
evidence for the tribunal to establish that yet.

I don't know if anyone truly knows how many bodies were dug up because there
were a lot sold off to private collectors. They didn't even have the records
of which part of the ground they were taken from. Where is Roseanne getting
here information from is it from the museum itself?  I don't know how many
bodies and I don't really bother with conspiracy theories you are better to
ask the people involved like Rangitane and the museum if you really want to
know the answer.

The thing that really got to me was the mocking of the tangihanga for the
reburial of the Tipuna because the people here have fought for this for a
long time now.  This was a sad and special time for them and making a joke
about it is very disrespectful.

I wont be making anymore comments in regards to this matter I don't see any
point where you are basing your judgement more on fiction rather than facts
but if you believe in all these conspiracy theories that's your choice.  I
would rather get my information from the tangata whenua and the
archaeologist the work with the museum.

Thank you for your contribution, but I don't think you have "cleared up the
misinformation that has been printed on this site."

You have not answered Roseanne Hawarden's claim about how more samples were
re-buried than were dug up. No one has even come forward to dismiss this
claim.

As for claiming "direct descent" from the Moa hunters who were in the area.
Again, no direct scientific evidence exists that these particular people
were the "line" ancestors of Rangitane. While not denying Rangitane presence
in the northern SI for a long time, this does not prove lineal descent from
the early Moa Hunters of the Wairau Bar.

You claim you have been "told DNA testing has been done and that Rangitane
have been confirmed as ancestors of these people."  Accepting that you
probably mean descendants rather than ancestors, I have not seen any
reference to the direct link between the Moa Hunter and current Rangitane
who moved into the region.

The Moa Hunters were Polynesian, as you state, their DNA, ornaments, and
other factors indicate this. They were not a separate race as many
conspiracy theorists like to claim.

Visual reconstructions will of course resemble some of the Rangitane still
resident in the area. Both are Polynesian - and the reconstructors would
have to use current Polynesian elements in their reconstruction, so of
course there would be visual similarities - as there would be with Ngati
Toa.... or even some Ngai Tahu....

But bringing the issue back to Canterbury, what is the Ngai Tahu
relationship with Rangitane - and the Moa Hunter sites on the Wairau Bar?
Why I ask, is that the official Ngai Tahu rohe ends at the Clarence river,
yet I understand (but admit my ignorance of the issue) that the Ngai Tahu
treaty claims included areas north of the Clarence.

So, I still have a suspicion that Ngai Tahu are chipping away at history
laying ancestral claims where none seem to exist, and that Rangitane are
being drawn in as some sort of sub-group within the Ngai Tahu claims. By
proving a strong alliance with Rangitane, and Rangitane claiming direct or
lineal descent from the Moa Hunters, perhaps the Ngai Tahu hope to extend
their rohe north of the Clarence. I'm sorry if I seem a bit of a conspiracy
theorist on this one... but prove me wrong!

Tim Kerr

Kia ora Koutou I don't know where you people get your information about Māori
and their history!  The only person who seems to know anything about Māori and
their history and traditions is Blair Anderson because he learnt from Māori
about Māori. My partner is Rangitane from Blenheim and was involved in
bringing back the tipuna for reburial.

To clear up all the misinformation that has been printed on this site. Some of
the bones have had samples taken and we should find out next year where they
originate from.

Rangitane has been fighting to reclaim their ancestors from the time they were
dug up!! And they know that these people were from Polynesian because of the
artifacts and jewellery that they wore that was buried with them. And I was
told DNA testing has been done and that Rangitane have been confirmed as
ancestors of these people.

We have seen reconstructed pictures of some of these people and the resemblance
to some of the Rangitane people in the area is quite astounding.

The Canterbury Museum has been working very closely with the local Iwi and has
been very good at contacting them when new information is found.

So instead of listening to someone who is new to our country like the lovely
Rosanne who has got most her information from books and people who believe in
conspiracy theories, ask the people who have been here the longest and who know
about things Māori the Tangata Whenua.

Naku noa

Na Mel

Rik said:

"CD volunteer numbers are presently and dangerously in decline, increasing risk
to life." As Chair of CDEM at ECAN what have you instigated to change this
other than sign up yourself, Rik?

Again Rik wrote "The vacuum at public CD leadership level is filled from two
directions:
the army, who have to run CD operations and so have trained personnel
ready in place; and the corporate council - executive directors.

Same question, Rik

And finally Rik wraps up with "It is up to the Canterbury public to engage in
Civil Defence activities,
for their own well being. No one else can perform this care. This
includes the public securing and electing effective political leadership
for itself. And I repeat, a third time, Michael: which month does the
business sector recommend to test tsunami evacuation is east
Christchurch please? Or are civilians to be sacrificed to commercial
expediency yet again? Every day you delay providing this answer is a day
statistically closer to real disaster, for an unknown number of
Christchurch residents, and that kind of performance is indeed the most
"hopeless" of all. Please assist."

Rik - I've written plans for companies for exactly the kinds of emergencies you
refer to
What have you done to encourage people to get involved?

You seem to think the business sector is some kind of bogey that is stopping
you from undertaking your role...it's your job to convince ordinary everyday
Cantabrians that they need to know this stuff, not just businesses but everyone

Just remember that the key personnel we'll all depend on in the case of an
emergency aren't business people but police, fire, doctors, nurses, and so on -
medical and emergency personnel - and for them to do their jobs the rest of us
need to know what the plan is so we don't get in their way

Do we know the plan?

Michael Campbell

Blair Anderson wrote:

"Very useful insight John."

Since I posted this information to the Internet Research Association
list I've had many supportive responses and the invitation to read a lot
of other research papers that point in the same direction. (I've printed
over 100 pages and I've yet to read much of it.)

In Canada, they have tried to do many of the things that NZ later
copied, like the NZ Digital Strategy. With similar poor results. The
erroneous ideas most of us have about what broadband will or will not do
could be corrected if more of us read the research already done.

Broadband suppliers working on the idea that "content is king" still
think there is money to be made supplying content.

Users on the other hand live on a different planet. They are very happy
if the email is "fast". In the particular paper in front of me now, in a
1996 broadband experiment in Canada, a whole community was offered
broadband (for 5 years) a very low cost. One of the features was a
community list on which everyone was subscribed. The experment was
abandoned after 2 years because the suppliers were not getting the
results they expected. The community listserv was the only service from
that supplier that continued after the trial.

"I love community email, incredible responses - the best feature for me. "
"E-mail helped to get the community together."
"The email list gives peole something to talk about, not just the weather."

Once users were connected to the Internet they found they were not
reliant on the service provider for "content", and this was "contrary to
the providers expectations".

Another study ot the Digital Divide, in Korea is interesting. The Korean
government is heavily invested in making the "information Society" a
reality in Korean society, and they've invested a LOT of cash to make it
happen. Especially they have made access to the computers and to high
quality broadband available to almost everyone. With some unexpected
results. Material access to the Internet, does not on it's own make the
information society possible. There are social barriers to Internet use
that pervent many people from developing knowledge and skill in using
their computers.

This problem appears to get worse over time, not better. To quote: "More
than half of the general public is computer illiterate". A study four
years later showed that there was "no improvement".  At least 32% of the
population are "want not's" who deny any need to use a computer.  There
is no motivation, and no inclination to understand the technology or to
practice it's use.

So look again at my data: the people who refused are all connected, but
they are likely to be very low end users and maybe a bit ashamed about
it. (With two possible exceptions.) Many of the people without any
computer in the house were elderly solo females. Who's a low level user?
Based on the actual data, if a bell curve is applied, on an A, B, C, D,
E scale we get something like this. (Email received per WEEK is the best
single measure.)
1500 to 280 Graded  A
279 to 70  Graded B
70 to 20 Graded  C  About 50% of the respondants.
19 to 5 Graded  D
4 to 0 Graded  E

Now you have think about which of the above groups are members of the
"information society". Prof Catherine Middleton, of Ryerston University,
Toronto, Canada, lectures on the development of broadband in Canada. She
pointedly asks the question: "Are Canadian users up to speed?"

There's a lesson here for us too. As Blair says: "There is much to do."

Very useful insight John.
Thirteen years ago I had a consultancy service to Canterbury and National
accounts (Netbenefits) that identified the greatest impediment to universal net
was the 'computers are not my thing' underpinned with some fear of not being
(or appearing) 'smart enough'.

That said, I have a honest respect for those for whom the computer plays a
small part in their otherwise rich lives. The balance, I think it could be
fairly said comprise the large gray area between these two states, with some
white users (addicts by any standard) and to extend the corollary, black users
for whom a computer is worthy of nothing more deserving than 'a descriptive
oath or two', and best left in the "OFF" position.

Yet.. the Government of the day has seen fit to takeaway funding for core
'access' courses (ACE) upon which the social networks and required basic
'capacity building' is empowered into the communities. To take that away and at
the same time pretend that some taxpayer subsidised  'government empowered
community ULTRA bandwidth' is universally a good thing is egregious (and
somewhat patronising).

It is a content delivery pipe.

It suggests we (as a nation) would be far better off if we had 10Mbit to
everyone at a cost that approaches 100% affordability, and the option of dark**
fiber access for aggregators, generators and consumers; those who want to pay
the marginal incremental cost. (ie HDTV delivery)

There is IMHO, no practical reason to do otherwise.
Your research seems to validate that there is much to do...

** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_fiber

I hope this will interest many of you.

It's been my claim since 2002 when we were debating the Digital Strategy
for New Zealand, that completely missing from that strategy was the need
for public training of Internet users.

Perhaps it's a good job we didn't get into that, because we would have
done it very badly. That was in a time before social networking, which
turns out to be a critical feature of the evolving Internet.

In the last six weeks I've interviewed 90 people in Bryndwr,
Christchurch, about how they used the Internet.  I insisted that rather
than give me vague statements about how good it was, that they offered
me some real numbers as applied to their own behaviour and to their own
machine.

The homes that were chosen for this exercise were chosen at random.
However, in each home I allowed the respondent to self select. My
request was for the person who was most active on the Internet to be the
respondent. This had the effect of giving me a very high response rate,
and for the people supplying the information to be very active in giving
me quality numbers.

Enough said, look at the results:
http://www.ate.co.nz/survey2009.html

Tim Kerr wrote:
> Dear Christine,
>
> I think that the CCC and its inhabitants need to be aware just what
> proportion of rates does go to non-essential maintenance and social
> services. As an example, I pointed out in one of my many diatribes on this
> forum, that the library soaked up 11% of our TOTAL RATES. Now, that is a
> lot - equal to what is spent on "roading and footpaths". But it gets
> worse... "Libraries" is no longer cited as a single cost. It is now
> "Libraries and learning" and the new title absorbs 13% of our rates - MORE
> than roading and footpaths.
>

Streets and transport 20%.
> I don't mind, because every time I phone up the library for information it
> costs you people money. It costs me next to nothing. So I love it. But what
> if you have a $2.5M property?
Libraries budget is part of "cultural and learning services".

The people in more expensiive properties may use more of the more
expensive library on-line databases and cultural services.

> Just how much would YOU pay to use the
> library? And how much someone from, say Bromley, pay to use the library? Who
> is getting the best value from the 13% of rates?
>
>
Computer savvy. The car manuals used to be very popular.

> As for Cuba.... I like to think "social values" are more important than
> facilities. Sadly, it is not true. The city campaigned and moaned and
> groaned about dog pooh on footpaths - and got dogs banned from the streets.
> Why? Because a little bit of doggy do on little Willie's shoes that is
> transplanted across the brand new living room carpet causes more fuss and
> trouble than, say a cut foot from all the glass littering the streets. Blood
> is visible, and sorted out before Willy hits the living-room rug. In Cuba,
> dogs can still poop on footpaths (or road-side verges)
>
>
Getting rid of pooh, human or animal may be an essential service. But I
think most people would find life more boring if cultural and learning
services weren't also considered to be essential.



> And in Cuba you can still smoke in the bars.
>
> A guest who stayed at our place many years ago had lead the first official
> USA cycle tour of Cuba. He loved the place. Here in Christchurch when we
> asked him what he would like to do for the day he asked us to take him out
> and show him the slums of Christchurch. Well.... we passed through Hampshire
> St and pointed out a house here and there. We could not find anything to
> satisfy him. Now, in Cuba... and in his own home city (and I cannot remember
> where he came from now) he could see lots of slums.
>
http://www.iammyownreporter.com/misconceptions.htm
3. */Cubans live in miserable slums./* Wrong! In fact, the only slum in
Cuba is Old Havana, foolishly (in my opinion) kept for the tourists.
Most Cubans who once lived in shanties now live in institutional
apartment buildings, just like most Spaniards. A substantial number live
in old houses considered substandard by the government and scheduled to
be replaced. But very few of those have dirt floors. Far more live in
50's era homes that are perfectly alright. More and more are living in
new apartments and casitas that put the Russian concept Cuba accepted
for too long to shame. The only dirt floored shanty towns (actually some
small clusters) I have seen in Cuba are the unnecessary, non-systemic
result of a minority of refuseniks who abandon good houses in their home
towns to come to Havana or Santiago to hustle dollars. One of their
scams is to show off their artificial poverty to foolish tourists for
donations. Most small cities in Cuba are nice to beautiful places where
there's nothing that looks like a slum.

> So, we seem to have civil and structural integrity - but a somewhat slumless
> and lifeless environment of petty rules.
>
> I don't know what CCC rates or Govt funds do to produce this somewhat
> sterile environment - but it seems to be an environment that people are
> happy with (except for boy-racers of course....)
>
> More street theatre may be a start.... IF you can get people out onto the
> streets to watch it!
>
Close down libraries and IT asnd more will be on the streets.

Dear Christine,

I think that the CCC and its inhabitants need to be aware just what
proportion of rates does go to non-essential maintenance and social
services. As an example, I pointed out in one of my many diatribes on this
forum, that the library soaked up 11% of our TOTAL RATES. Now, that is a
lot - equal to what is spent on "roading and footpaths". But it gets
worse... "Libraries" is no longer cited as a single cost. It is now
"Libraries and learning" and the new title absorbs 13% of our rates - MORE
than roading and footpaths.

I don't mind, because every time I phone up the library for information it
costs you people money. It costs me next to nothing. So I love it. But what
if you have a $2.5M property? Just how much would YOU pay to use the
library? And how much someone from, say Bromley, pay to use the library? Who
is getting the best value from the 13% of rates?

As for Cuba.... I like to think "social values" are more important than
facilities. Sadly, it is not true. The city campaigned and moaned and
groaned about dog pooh on footpaths - and got dogs banned from the streets.
Why? Because a little bit of doggy do on little Willie's shoes that is
transplanted across the brand new living room carpet causes more fuss and
trouble than, say a cut foot from all the glass littering the streets. Blood
is visible, and sorted out before Willy hits the living-room rug. In Cuba,
dogs can still poop on footpaths (or road-side verges)

And in Cuba you can still smoke in the bars.

A guest who stayed at our place many years ago had lead the first official
USA cycle tour of Cuba. He loved the place. Here in Christchurch when we
asked him what he would like to do for the day he asked us to take him out
and show him the slums of Christchurch. Well.... we passed through Hampshire
St and pointed out a house here and there. We could not find anything to
satisfy him. Now, in Cuba... and in his own home city (and I cannot remember
where he came from now) he could see lots of slums.

So, we seem to have civil and structural integrity - but a somewhat slumless
and lifeless environment of petty rules.

I don't know what CCC rates or Govt funds do to produce this somewhat
sterile environment - but it seems to be an environment that people are
happy with (except for boy-racers of course....)

More street theatre may be a start.... IF you can get people out onto the
streets to watch it!

Good luck!

Tim Kerr

Morning David,

I just read your suits vs sandals piece from earlier and I found it very
amusing - thank you. In the (more serious) light of CCC cuts to much needed
injections of capital for struggling Not for profit essential services - an
injection of humor can at least bolster our spirits.

I mean please - making cuts to Volunteering Canterbury?? For heavens sake -
this service keeps many people who are out of work and seeking to retain
their connections with both the working world and the community in general -
sane.

With all the talk of sustainability - Social Sustainability is routinely
neglected, relegated to collecting crumbs and is always the poor relation to
the highly esteemed Economic and Environmental Sustainability because the
latter two are easy to quantify ( jobs, fancy street upgrades etc..) with
the social aspect concerning the messy annoying business of PEOPLE and all
the unquantifiable intangibles of social well-being - being treated with
contempt. In Cuba the streets are full of potholes and public buildings are
crumbling - but everyone is fed with education and community involvement a
priority. In hard times the social infrastructure is the most important
aspect to support.

Also the National Government just cut funds to the Conductive Education Unit
at Addington School which provides for children with special needs - it is a
vibrant and essential part of the school and whole community. They have been
going for years.

Getting back to the CCC cuts . I don't believe ratepayers were asked if they
minded that some of their rates went to libraries, Volunteering Canterbury
etc...the threat that rates would increase if such funding cuts were not
make is mere propaganda. They would have increased anyway. And they will.


Perhaps there may now be a return to street theatre to express some of the
absurdities present in the current system.


Christine Blance

Michael Campbell wrote:
> Who is in charge of Emergency Management in Canterbury?
>

Answer = "Not you".

As in, not the elector-resident public. Not those most at risk. Which is
a great and problematic surprise.

Whereas my previous, shorter answers observed the territorial and
operational continuity of Civil Defence and Emergency Management,
Michael's question was of the political framework. Fair enough. More
detail is required, to satisfy a most revealing question. So the
following is how CDEM works at the regional representative level (for
the benefit of prospective candidates too, and for helping to fill the
gaps).

The first task of 2007's elected Canterbury Regional Council was to
decide leadership and then allocate work areas:

"Environment Canterbury Council Committees" -
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0711/S00094.htm

It happened that no councillors had expressed any interest in CDEM
except me, so I was offered that chair. My interest stemmed from the
increasing risk from storm and flood events that climate change implies
- my prior main concern. So that's an accidental leadership, stepping
into a vacuum, to be perfectly frank.

But fear not, the CDEM experience teaches us much about this council's
nature, as any portfolio would. This is the council with the greatest
area of responsibility of all the regions, with thrice the number of
consents to manage as the next biggest consenting authority number. It
works very hard and is unavoidably stretched very thin in places. The
portfolio committee system functions for budgeting rounds, and that is
all, unfortunately. Chairs work alone, to make of their portfolio duty
whatever they can. There is room to make a constructive difference.

With CDEM events though, operations looks to the ECan Chair for any
public message required. In the absence of the ECan Chair the Deputy
Chair would fill this media role, as happened last August-September
rains. The EM Office manager will also handle media work, in some
situations. So the CDEM portfolio chair is really 'spare capacity',
along the lines described previously, and given media training too.
Patience is a pre-requisite here, with the council leaders having
greater daily priorities than CDEM, ordinarily. Additionally, the City
Council have assumed Civil Defence responsibility for Christchurch,
which is the point Michael is making - is ECan 'useless' in town? I must
make the case why not.

CD volunteer numbers are presently and dangerously in decline,
increasing risk to life. I have signed up, as a private citizen, with
the City Council's CD training course - to learn the drill and to
experience what every other volunteer does. Once useful, if I can
contribute any ideas for improvement - to increase the level of
preparedness by helping enthuse more people for Civil Defence training -
then all the better. At minimum, I will be learning better how the
system works, and assisting my appointed role. It is a negative that
public engagement in CD matters is waning, because with that goes our
own best protection. Civil Defence volunteers are needed now please.

The vacuum at public CD leadership level is filled from two directions:
the army, who have to run CD operations and so have trained personnel
ready in place; and the corporate council - executive directors. Neither
of these groups is the public though, which identifies the core problem:
public interests are not protected without special vigilance. The fact
of the twentieth century was that civilian populations became casualties
of aggressive industrialism, and both armies and corporates have
purposes other than protecting them. Steady democratic slippage accounts
for the loss of public control over its own welfare, rather than any
real accident.

Take for example what just happened at Canterbury Regional Council
monthly meeting of 25 June 2009. An internal response to the "pandemic"
backdrop brought a sudden decision to table, about how Council would
operate under elevated absences through sickness. Services and
management would reduce to a tight core (and excluding buses shut down
as contagion vectors, Brian will be pleased to know). Council could
convene by telephone or a reduced number. But none of the usual, legally
required recommendations report with five working days' notice took
place, under this fomented 'emergency', sparking immediate division. If
Council had thought of or prepared emergency provisions at any time
earlier than last Thursday, there was no indication of that at all; I
agree, that is an absolutely "hopeless" performance for such a
significant organisation. From directorate there was not the slightest
sign of comprehension of the value or of the mechanisms of democracy:
this was policy on the hoof. Labour and National confederates voted for
this sudden abrogation of democratic process, and Save Our Water voted
against. This was corporate seizure of decision-making as an 'emergency'
provision. Neither the ECan Chair nor Chief Executive even knew it was
coming to table, or resisted. I asked - just two staff have been ill so
far, and both swabs tested negative for swine flu. This is what I mean
by "stretched very thin" and "vacuum" at a political level - without
effective councillors, corporate decision-making is taking over every
council portfolio area and role. "How do you want to be managed?" is the
question elected regional representatives are hearing right now.

It is up to the Canterbury public to engage in Civil Defence activities,
for their own well being. No one else can perform this care. This
includes the public securing and electing effective political leadership
for itself. And I repeat, a third time, Michael: which month does the
business sector recommend to test tsunami evacuation is east
Christchurch please? Or are civilians to be sacrificed to commercial
expediency yet again? Every day you delay providing this answer is a day
statistically closer to real disaster, for an unknown number of
Christchurch residents, and that kind of performance is indeed the most
"hopeless" of all. Please assist.

Kia ora,
Rik Tindall
Environment Canterbury
Civil Defence and Emergency Management portfolio chair

Oh David - you did not offend me. In fact, I owe you an apology. I failed to
notice my poor spelling in the very item you criticised!

My allusion to "not reading much" was more in terms of wide-ranging
reading... not editing or proofing... And if you have edited or proofed as
much as you claim, then that reinforces my view. My weak drivel is still far
and away from "the worst bit of writing" as you stated!

Cheers,
Tim Kerr

Carbon credits can be gained by planting trees (if you haven't cleared
them off first)

Social capital credits, I propose, could be gained by doing activities
which promote trust and generally keep the "wheels' of society better oiled.

CCC's flu website statement, compared to Waimak and Selwyn DC's, seemed
to me to be focussed less on wider community interests, more just on
liability  for their own buildings. So maybe CCC should be given fewer
'social capital credits' to trade.

 From the Local Government Act:
*“Subpart 1—Purpose of local government
1 0 P u r p o s e o f l o c a l g o v e r n m e n t
The purpose of local government is—
(a) to enable democratic local decision making
and action
by, and on behalf of, communities; and
(b) to promote the social, economic, environmental, and
cultural wellbeing
of communities, in the present and
for the future.
Part 2 s 15 L o c a l G o v e r n m e n t A c t 2 0 0 2
Reprinted as at
1 November 2008
(g) a local authority should ensure prudent stewardship and
the efficient and effective use of its resources in the
interests of its district or region; and
(h) in taking a sustainable development approach, a local
authority should take into account—
(i) the social, economic, and cultural wellbeing
of
people and communities; and
(ii) the need to maintain and enhance the quality of
the environment; and
(iii) the reasonably foreseeable needs of future generations.”
Even for council-controlled organisations:
“5 9 P r i n c i p a l o b j e c t i v e o f c o u n c i l c o n t r o l
l e d
o r g a n i s a t i o n
(1) The principal objective of a council controlled
organisation is
to—
(a) achieve the objectives of its shareholders, both commercial
and noncommercial,
as specified in the statement
of intent; and
(b) be a good employer; and
(c) exhibit a sense of social and environmental responsibility
by having regard to the interests of the community in
which it operates and by endeavouring to accommodate
or encourage these when able to do so;”*

I look for an accounting system which can recognise the social
responsibilities.

Redbus is a CCO. To get more recognition for social and environmental
responsibility, perhaps tradeable social captial credits could be
allotted to any bus company which educates for better public responses,
for example in such as the current flu crisis.

The objectives of CCC overlap with those of district health boards and
central government. In 'efficientising' the gaining of the objectives, I
believe Rik's message about having alternative CD managers if some are
lost or failing needs to be well-considered for many
social/environmental matters.

The first thought in efficientising could be  not to have to
organisations doing the same things at all. Further thougth gives that
in some areas overlapping will be sensible and maybe in others not so
useful. If we had just one car manufacturer in the world then economies
of scale and reduced duplication might mean cheaper cars could be
possible but maybe not probable? Cheaper on the environment?

Morning Tim

Tim Kerr wrote:

>Thank you Brian.
>
>I was dismayed that my snide comments (and yes, they were a bit snide)  were
>claimed by David Lloyd as being "one of the most ridiculous and poorly
>written pieces of writing I have ever read"
>
>My response to such a comment is "Well, David, you obviously haven't read
>much!"
>
>
On the contrary, I believe I read more during my time as a printers'
apprenticeship, than most read in a lifetime. During that time I worked
with copy and proofs from illiterate car salesmen, er... persons to dull
trade magazines. I have read and edited much in the decades since.

Nevertheless, I am sorry that my comments caused offence.

Michael Campbell wrote:
> Who is in charge of Emergency Management in Canterbury?
>

This made me think.

It isn't only about hierarchical authority or individual lead
management, but distributed risk and capacity too.

That is, the object of governance in the CDEM area is to maximise the
organisational ability to respond once "the big one" hits: who will
still be available and where they are needed isn't entirely predictable.
So the approach is to build enough ready capacity into several local
systems, around a strengthened base.

Redundancy by design is the same principle that keeps the internet
running smoothly, with alternate routes for packet exchange. Backup
comms lines and power feature too.

All districts and cities have stations to activate, and can help each
other out where necessary. Agency support is similarly primed, with
autonomous command structures.

CDEM Group is hosted by ECan, and oversees coordination through the
Emergency Management Office, its Manager Jon 'Mitch' Mitchel, and the
Coordinating Executive Group. The Group member organisations are listed
on http://www.cdemcanterbury.govt.nz

HTH, Rik

> Michael poses some worthy questions..
>
>
>> As to having the grunt to do the job, when you hear that ECAN served notice
on hundreds of farmers for non-compliance of permits and yet never fined one,
you have to ask why they exist?
>>
> Fines are a last resort.. Cut farmers and regulators a break..

I wish to retract that.

Please do keep the pressure up on both parties, for improved environmental
outcomes via collaborative undertakings, as Michael has.

Cheers, Rik

Thanks for the comments Mark. I wasn't aware that noise can sort of go up,
over the bund then drop back down to household level.

I am certainly aware that sound can travel upwards for surprisingly long
distances. We used to have a little log cabin in the bush - no one could
hear us as we chopped our way though numerous native beech trees - but we
could hear noises from the suburb below us quite easliy.

Tim Kerr

Tim proposes that an earthen bund be built around the Ruapuna Raceway to solve
the motorsport noise problem.

Unfortunately the advice I've had to date and probably the advice the Chch City
Council has received is that an earthen bund around the tracks would not solve
the problem.

A reasonably sized bund would have a noise shadow of about 100 metres beyond
that the noise problem would still occur. Bunds aren't particularly effective
at resolving noise problems over longer distances.

IMHO the City Council has reached the only reasonable solution which is to
purchase the properties of those most affected by the noise. Some of these
residents have been in the area for a long time and have had to suffer as the
use of the motorsport facilities have increased. Calls to relocate the
motorsport facilities are unrealistic.

Those residents further away, particularly those who have recently built or
purchased in the area should take responsibility for their own actions.

Mr Dale - in his post above - shows a very reasonable attitude which people
should take when moving into a new area. It is a different situation with a new
noise source or a much increased noise source.

I hope the City Council and affected residents can quickly reach agreement on
purchase/sale of these properties so everyone can move on.

Mark Alexander
RD 7, Chch 7677