Disco Puts More Food in Food Bank

Waikanae School Disco raises the roof – and food for the local Food Bank.

When Waikanae School students rocked to the sound of Zumba style music at the recent schools ‘Party Rock’ disco, they weren`t just enjoying themselves – they were helping local families eat better.

Their efforts resulted in four banana boxes filled with food for the local Food Bank.

The juniors enjoyed their disco first from: 5.30 – 6.15pm, and the senior students followed with their disco from 6.30 – 8.00pm.

The hall decoration and music selection was organised by a group of senior students. Glow-sticks and party food were on sale, to add to fun and entertainment.

Instead of buying tickets, the entry fee was by donation of a can of food.

Mary Griffiths of the Food Bank said that they have been very low on nearly all food stocks so they were absolutely delighted to receive the boxes of food.

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GREENS SLATE REGIONAL COUNCIL ON HELP FOR OTAKI’S PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Speaking before more talks on Otaki’s public transport, Green Party Otaki candidate Michael Gilchrist says the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) must do more for local people.

He says: “Suggested changes to bus timetables must be genuine improvements. Additional services in one area cannot come at the cost of reductions in another area.

“This has already caused major problems for the community when the addition of the Waikanae train service caused cuts in the 290 bus service to Paraparaumu.

“Even at the high estimate of $35m, the cost of the electrification of train lines to Otaki is small compared with the cost of motorways. Yet GWRC in their submission to NZTA have accepted NZTA’s proposal that electrification to Otaki be postponed for another ten years,” he says.

“We need GWRC to do better, with stronger advocacy for public transport and genuine improvements to bus services coming out of this  review.

Nicky Hager’s latest book, Other People’s Wars, should prompt a parliamentary review of our Defence and Intelligence relations with the United States, says Green Party Defence Spokesperson Keith Locke.

“’Other People’s Wars’ contains evidence that officials within Defence, Foreign Affairs, and Intelligence actively pushed for closer ties with the United States military,” he says.

“Mr Hager’s book reveals how New Zealand’s peacekeeping base at Bamiyan hosts a number of foreign policy has been subverted by Government officials.”

‘Foreign policy has been subverted’

“The book shows just how much our independent foreign policy has been subverted by Government officials.”

Mr Locke says Mr Hager tells a ‘shocking story’ of Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Affairs chiefs more loyal to the United States Government than their own people.

“They seem desperate to circumvent our nuclear-free policy so that once again New Zealand can become an obedient ally of the United States,” he says.

“A parliamentary inquiry could investigate allegations in Mr Hager’s book that Defence defied and deceived the former Clark government into giving support to the US-led war in Iraq.”

Mr Locke says Nicky Hager provides evidence that both the air force Orion and the frigate Te Mana, sent to the Gulf in mid-2003, were directly helping the American war effort, under the cover of an ‘anti-terror’ mission.

“Current Defence Minister Wayne Mapp must also tell the public how long we have been allowing US intelligence operatives to share our Bamiyan base, which makes it a more likely target for insurgents,” says Mr Locke.

‘New Zealand is assisting in electronic intelligence’

“It is alarming the extent to which New Zealand is assisting in electronic intelligence gathering in Afghanistan for United States airstrikes, often by drones, which cause so may civilian casualties.

Mr Locke concludes: “We need more openness from our officials, and make it more difficult for them to pursue their own secret agendas. Much of what Mr Hager discloses has been hidden from the public.”

Protesters want Govt. to come clean on trade deal

The Wellington TPP Action Group held another visual protest outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Lambton Quay today to join the international call for Governments to release the text of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) Trade Agreement in the lead up to the next round of negotiations in Chicago, which begin next week.

The United States is expected to propose what could be controversial patent provisions and could also table a chapter that would place disciplines on pharmaceutical pricing. Intellectual property rights will also be on the table.

“It is a complete abrogation of our sovereignty and our democracy, says Mary Ellen O’Conner, spokesperson for the TPP Action Group. “These negotiations happen in secret; no-one gets to see the text until it is signed. MFAT signs these deals off, not the New Zealand Parliament. Furthermore, the TPP would tie the hands of future parliaments for making – not just trade policy – but policy of all kinds.

“The TPP gives foreign companies more power than NZ citizens! And that’s not okay. We are a group of citizens terrified by what TPP could mean for the future, and determined to oppose it.

“The TPP would be enforceable in secret in international courts and tribunals. Foreign corporations would be able to sue the New Zealand government over legislation or court decisions they didn’t like, such as recently happened with Philip Morris in Australia over cigarette labelling.

“TPP could close down our Pharmac scheme for buying drugs and subsidies. This would mean a significant hike in the price of medicines. It also has implications for protection of intellectual property in digital media.

“We are standing in solidarity with people in the other eight signatory countries who also stand to lose out economically, socially and environmentally. We have only to look at what happened to Mexico with NAFTA to get an idea of what’s in store for us. And the TPPA is N

GWRC must improve Otaki’s public transport — Greens

Speaking before more talks on Otaki’s public transport services, Green Party Otaki candidate Michael Gilchrist says the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) must do more for local people.

He says: “Suggested changes to bus timetables must be genuine improvements. Additional services in one area cannot come at the cost of reductions in another area.

“This has already caused major problems for the community when the addition of the Waikanae train service caused cuts in the 290 bus service to Paraparaumu.

“That service has only been partially restored, for the benefit of school children – it must be fully restored so all travellers from the north can stop at Waikanae or continue on the bus to Paraparaumu without having to switch to train services,” Mr Gilchrist says.

‘Unpalatable trade offs’

“Yet GWRC are offering only unpalatable trade offs – more bus trips to Waikanae or fewer bus trips to Waikanae but trips that go all the way to Paraparaumu. That is a lose-lose proposition, and users are evenly divided on the better option.

“There are many other issues that have been raised in the 117 submissions made in the first round of consultation that need genuine solutions. These include:

• Large, apparently inexplicable, gaps in bus services.
• The 12.25 PM bus leaving Waikanae before the Wellington train arrives means that passengers have to wait till 4.35 PM for the next bus.
• No connection to Otaki from the Weekday 2.14 or 2.44 PM train from Wellington which would allow Gold Card users free travel.
• No evening bus service – last bus leaves Waikanae at 5.40 PM.
• No Sunday bus service
• Lack of bus stop at the Otaki Railway Station.
• Poor advertising of the bus service.

“Much of the blame lies with the current  Government. They have reduced the Financial Assistance Rate for public transport by up to $4m in the region and sought to impose an increased level of cost recovery on public transport services,” Mr
Gilchrist says.

Money for motoreways but not public transport

“All this while increasing spending on motorways to $8 for every $1 spent on all forms of public transport.

“But too often we find GWRC reflecting the attitude of Government that public transport is the poor cousin to private transport. Too often it seems we are expected to be grateful for a reshuffling of existing services or improvements that are tiny in terms of the cost they impose compared to spending on motorways and private transport.

“Even at the high estimate of $35m, the cost of the electrification of train lines to Otaki is small compared with the cost of motorways. Yet GWRC in their submission to NZTA have accepted NZTA’s proposal that electrification to Otaki be postponed for another ten years.”

“We need GWRC to do better, with stronger advocacy for public transport and genuine improvements to bus services coming out of this  review,” Mr Gilchrist concludes.

A further round of consultation by GWRC on timetable options is planned for 26 Sept to 23 October.

A million Britons celebrate in Notting Hill spectacular

The 45th Notting Hill Carnival, the largest street festival in Europe, tookplace last weekend. Along with London Mayor Boris Johnson and about a

million others, including  6,500 police, plus security guards employed by the organisers, I was there.

Violent behaviour and damage to property during many previous carnivals provoked calls for cancellation or severe curtailment in the wake of the riots that hit London and other English cities just three weeks ago.

Boris Johnson argued stoutly that this would be a kind of capitulation, when what was needed was a celebration of London’s vibrant diversity (and, he

might have added, the ability of Londoners, most of the time, to cope comfortably with that vibrant diversity). With the Olympic Games less than a

year away, London had to show that it could face down such difficulties.

No doubt he pursed his lips thoughtfully after saying all this, but in the event it was just such a celebration that we all enjoyed. I haven’t seen so many silly grins in one place since I left Eden Park after the All Blacks beat the Springboks in 1956.

There was, however, one moment of serious, thoroughly nasty, apparently unmotivated and mysterious violence.

A 20-year-old student who had come in with friends from Hertfordshire, in

the country north of London, was knifed twice by a complete stranger. It must all have happened very quickly, since two nearby policemen were only

beginning to intervene as the assailant ran off.

According to what his father was later told, the victim had intervened to break up a fight. He is in a serious but stable condition in hospital. Five arrests have been made.

The unfortunate truth is that large gathering tend to include some trouble-makers. I left before six o¹clock, when the incident occurred, but while I was there the police and the stewards were getting on extremely well with the increasingly large crowd which was physically exuberant but socially relaxed. Many people had cans of beer, but I saw no signs of drunkenness.

Later, I understand, this changed somewhat, particularly among teenaged middle class girls.

Some businesses and householders had boarded up their properties for the weekend. Those who did not take this precaution do not appear to have suffered.

The number of arrests made, for generally minor offences, was noticeably lower than in previous years. It would be short sighted to ban occasions when the public gathers for a celebration because some violence occurs.

No one has yet banned football matches on the grounds that rival supporters

attack each other. Likewise, London¹s New Year¹s Eve gatherings in Trafalgar

Square and on the riverside continue, albeit with numbers of police in

attendance rising in proportion to the increasing size of the crowd.

250,000 people watched the fireworks at the London Eye last New Year. They came from all over the world to do so.

Why then do some people want to stop the Carnival at Notting Hill?

The answer, I¹m sorry to say, is blindingly simple. Some people choose to regard the Carnival as an alien, non-British event. What they want is horses

pulling haywains somewhere in the countryside where black faces are fewer.

They ought to take notice of good sports like the elderly white woman I saw in Notting Hill late last Monday morning.

She was carrying a supermarket brown paper bag and pulling a small wheeled rucksack, both full of groceries. In her own way, she had recognised and

participated in the festival, by donning a colourful gauzy short dress, a colourful hat and pink and white shoes.

Overall then, my view is that Boris Johnson, an incorrigible optimist (not least in what he hopes he can get away with in his personal life), gambled

and won the jackpot.

So, what goes on at the Carnival?

Sunday was Children’s Day. Bank Holiday Monday was devoted to a huge procession, winding slowly through the streets for about three-quarters of a

mile. A large motor vehicle headed each participating group, bearing banners to identify them, supplies of water and food, and, de rigueur, massive

amplifiers.

On top of the vehicles and behind them are groups of astonishingly costumed dancers, singers, drummers, smilers and chatters-up. Most performers

combined all five activities.

People from all over the country and the world jostle on the pavements, all, seemingly, eager to have their photograph taken smooging with one or other

of the often scantily clad performers.

The ages of those performers ranged from 3-75. They visibly represent a great variety of races and cultures. But the astonishing thing is the colour, scale and ingenuity of the costumes

they wear. Some completely hide their wearers. They are triumphs, sometimesgarish and vulgar to be sure, of design and construction

They put you in a good mood from the off.

At one moment a truck rounded a corner near me, carrying a church-based steel band. In the general hubbub of what had passed, was passing, or to

come, I could not immediately identify what tune they were playing.

Behind me, a man of about twenty recognised it at the same time as I did. ‘Hey!’ he yelled, pounding his mate on the back. Then he started singing,

word-perfect, a song presumably not part of his everyday repertoire for thepast fifteen or sixteen years, concluding,

‘At six o¹clock their mummies and daddies will take them home to bed,

Because they¹re tired little teddy bears!’

Turning to more grown-up matters:

The Notting Hill Carnival was not intended to be, and never has been, merely a knees-up taking place in public for two (originally three) full days.

It was founded in the mid-nineteen-sixties as a community response to riots between whites and newly arrived West Indian immigrants, which had torn the

area apart in 1958. During the 1950s West Indians had been recruited in large numbers by the Conservative Government as cheap labour.

(One minister particularly responsible was, ironically, Mr Enoch Powell, whoseems to have had a sustained attack of amnesia when, in 1968 he delivered,

to a conservative meeting in Birmingham, his equivalent of a hellfiresermon. This is remembered as the ‘Rivers of \Blood’ speech, about the evils of unchecked immigration.)

Racial tension is not the only connection between Notting Hill back then andthe troubles of the past month. It was also at that time it was also a byword for poor, grossly overpriced housing. Under the overlordship of ‘property developer’ Peter Rachmann, its old buildings were turned into tenements in which West Indians, having encountered racial hostility in more pr4osperous areas, were mercilessly exploited.

It follows that this square mile or so of inner West London is the ancestral domain of the problems that lie behind the riots which began in nearby Tottenham three weeks ago.

This means, if we choose to see it that way, that the Notting Hill Carnival has the function of keeping us in touch with people who have endured and survived the ghastly conditions of past decades. It is also in itself evidence in large parts of society some aspects of life in London haveimproved greatly since 1958.

Sadly, they have not improved for everybody and they have not improved enough in key areas such as housing and education, especially primary education in literacy and numeracy.

To live in London is to be a citizen of no mean city. If this carnival were to be lost it would become a greyer, smaller place.

Meanwhile, I am glad that when I wrote, on August 12, that ‘it looks as if the midsummer madness that has gripped English cities for four nights has run its course’ I may not have been over-optimistic.

People who lost their businesses are being helped both by local authorities and by public donations.

A row over the length of the sentences imposed on some rioters and shoplifters continues to simmer. It turns on whether or not it is a more serious offence to take advantage of havoc wreaked by others in order to go into a wrecked shop and pilfer than it would be to snatch a bag in the street. Legal professionals and Justices of the Peace seem to differ.

Some people salute the fact that so many cases have been heard so quickly.\Would it not be better if all petty crime was dealt with within two weeks ofarrest?

More generally, people are rallying in defence of the proposition that Britain is not a broken, sick society. Some thousands of people may have behaved sickeningly badly; millions more did nothing of the sort.

The argument continues and solutions are not yet in sight. But having been to Notting Hill and enjoyed its Carnival I feel marginally more optimistic.=

Raumati South School pupils got limb deep in the Wharemauku Stream last Friday, as part of Keep New Zealand Beautiful Week.

Sixteen children from Rooms 1 and 16 spread out from Coastlands near State Highway 1 through to Stream 6A, behind Ihakara Street, collecting six bags of general waste and two of recyclable waste in just one and a half hours.

“Every month, New Zealanders throw away enough rubbish to cover a rugby field thirty storeys high,” commented

Elliot Carver, L, and Josephine Rodgers with plastic rubbish

11-year old Josephine Rodgers. While most of that ends up in landfills or recycling transfer stations, she added, “we’re doing our bit for the Wharemauku Stream.”

Zane Ainslie and Sophie Neal, both 10 years, tackled the stretch of gorse just west of Rimu Road. “We found heaps of stuff: lolly packets, lots of beer cans, water bottles and wine bottles, raisin packets and really old picnic bread”, they said. When asked if they had a message to the public, Zane exclaimed, “To be honest, don’t litter! If you want New Zealand to be good to you, you have to be great to nature.”

A group of girls from Years 5 and 6, along with staff Diane Turner and Lynley Bolland, began their clean up at the Rimu Road culvert, quickly pulling up one of the morning’s more unusual objects: a computer screen. Other unusual items included four trolleys, an old oven tray, three buckets, PVC piping, a five dollar note and lots of clothing.

“I think that people should put rubbish in the bins and not pollute the environment. You should see what it’s like for yourselves”, said ten-year old, Emily Wakelin. Her friend, Olivia Neal added, “People should buy recycled things, not packaged stuff, and put their trolleys in the trolley park. Come down to the stream and pick rubbish up.”

Zane Ainslie L., and Sophie Neal collect beer can

Beer and wine cans and bottles were the most plentiful type of waste, leading Zane and Sophie to comment, “It’s like teenagers and adults were having a drink on the way, and chucking their empties into the gorse and stream. They shouldn’t be so lazy; they should stop littering.”

Kapiti Coast District Council Green Team staff had already cleared the nearby streets and stream of 70kgs of rubbish on Wednesday. Even so, the school children still took out about 20kgs from their area, according to teacher, Michael Stewart.

Friday’s clean up is an annual effort, and contributes to the school’s ongoing Year 5 and 6 ecological inquiry and restoration programme of the Wharemauku Stream catchment. Their commitment to taking action on waste issues is also a part of their Enviroschools programme.

Meanwhile, back at school, Room 5 pupils ‘wombled’ around the school grounds picking up rubbish, and then sorted it into recyclable and non-recyclable categories. Room 7 children joined the school’s efforts, picking up rubbish during their lunch hour.

Following earlier protests (see pic),the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) Action Group is holding another protest outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Lambton Quay at lunchtime tomorrow.

It’s protesting against  the next round (Chicago 6-15 September) of TPP talks, which it says could threaten Pharmac and NZ digital media rights.

The United States is expected to propose what could be controversial patent provisions and could also table a chapter that would place disciplines on pharmaceutical pricing. Intellectual property rights will also be on the table.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is an agreement to further ‘liberalise’ economies in the Asia-Pacific region. The original agreement between Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore was  signed in 2005. And now other countries, including Australia, and the US, are involved .

‘This a complete abrogation of our sovereignty and our democracy,” says Mary Ellen O’Connor, spokesperson for the TPP Action Group.

 “These negotiations happen in secret, no-one gets to see the text until it is signed. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs signs off these deals, not the elected New Zealand Parliament. Furthermore, the TPP would tie the hands of future parliaments for making – not just trade policy – but policy of all kinds. 

“The TPP gives foreign companies more power than NZ citizens!  And that’s not okay.  We are a group of citizens terrified by what TPP could mean for the future, and determined to oppose it.”

Ms O’Connor says the TPP would be enforceable in secret in international courts and tribunals. Foreign corporations would be able to sue the New Zealand government over legislation or court decisions they didn’t like — as happened recently with Philip Morris in Australia over cigarette labelling.

She says:“TPP could close down our Pharmac scheme for buying drugs and subsidies. This would mean a significant hike in the price of medicines. It also has implications for protection of intellectual property in digital media.

“We will be standing in solidarity with people in the other eight signatory countries who also stand to lose out economically, socially and environmentally.

“We have only to look at what happened to Mexico with NAFTA to get an idea of what’s in store for us. And the TPPA is NAFTA on steroids!”

FROM LEFT: Moana Parata, Paul Johnston (holding 'Te Rangi'), Aunty Rihia Kenny, Piripi Higgott, Frank Higgott (holding 'Haeata'), Sue Caldwell (with Heeni Higgott)

Iwi farewell two  rare Takahë on journey from Mana Island to new sanctuary