Category: Community

What it’s like to be a solo mum searching for a rental

[This originally appeared in the Spinoff Ātea during their Rent Week series] It was reported in January that Tauranga now outranks Auckland as New Zealand’s most unaffordable city and in the city’s pressured rental market, landlords these days have their pick of tenants and of rental price. If those landlords track the national average, 80% of… Read More What it’s like to be a solo mum searching for a rental

grahamcameron

He toa takitini: if anything needs fixing, it’s our communities, not young people

Morocco Tai died on 9 October. He was 15 years old and driving a stolen car. He died when the car collided with a tree during a police pursuit. His two passengers are both in hospital, seriously injured. I do not know Morocco Tai, but I do know young people in my community of Merivale,… Read More He toa takitini: if anything needs fixing, it’s our communities, not young people

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The New Zealand left is a zoo, not a viable alternative in this election

I want change this election. I long for a left leaning government that dials back some of the damage to our communities after nine long years of National: more funding for desperate NGOs; a coherent climate change strategy; transport solutions beyond roads; housing and a safety net for the poor; a review of our settlement… Read More The New Zealand left is a zoo, not a viable alternative in this election

grahamcameron

Raging at Metiria is not about the fraud; it’s that she sided with the lepers

In case you missed it, at the Greens annual conference in mid-July, Metiria fronted the launch of an impressive welfare policy, Mending the Safety Net. During that launch, she used an anecdote from 25 years ago to personalise the policy; when she was solo mum she didn’t tell Work and Income that she had flatmates… Read More Raging at Metiria is not about the fraud; it’s that she sided with the lepers

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Local body elections; not the best elections, but the only one we’ve got for now

At the start of the run up to the local body elections here in Tauranga Moana, I had imagined providing a bit of a precis of all the candidates standing for the Tauranga City Council, for Tauranga mayor, the Regional Council and for the DHB. Then I started looking at Facebook pages and websites and… Read More Local body elections; not the best elections, but the only one we’ve got for now

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Fear of a brown planet: running screaming from the homeless in Greerton, Tauranga

At a Tauranga City Council Monitoring Committee meeting yesterday, the Bay of Plenty Times reported that the Greerton Village Community Association manager Sally Benning made particular note of “three or four gentlemen” who are homeless in the area and “two beggars” as causing “problems.” Apparently the problems include sleeping in the alcove of Greerton Hall… Read More Fear of a brown planet: running screaming from the homeless in Greerton, Tauranga

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A little Trump in Tauranga: ask advertisers to boycott The Weekend Sun

“…the PC-driven bureaucracy offers the flag referendum instructions not only in English and Maori [sic], but in 24 different languages… including a couple I’ve never heard of. Now I will apologise to my Burmese, Farsi and Tagalog friends, but if you can’t understand enough English to satisfactorily understand how to vote (pick a flag, tick… Read More A little Trump in Tauranga: ask advertisers to boycott The Weekend Sun

grahamcameron

Toi Oho Mai: 3 words too far for a racist Mayor hopeful in Tauranga

The Bay of Plenty Times has revealed the proposed name for the new institution that will come from merger of the Waiariki Institute of Technology and Bay of Plenty Polytechnic. It is likely to be Toi Oho Mai Institute of Technology. Having found out the proposed name, the Times was then presented with a quandry:… Read More Toi Oho Mai: 3 words too far for a racist Mayor hopeful in Tauranga

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