Kāpiti mayor K Gurunathan. Photo / Jack Penman
Weekly column by Kāpiti mayor K Gurunathan.
Last week I bought four packets of Jaffas from The Warehouse. I used the $14 of orange-red globules to shape a heart with a message in the centre.
The message 'Kia Kaha Auckland' was meant for the 1.7 million people under lockdown. I sent the picture I snapped of the message to Auckland mayor Phil Goff and the people of his city. A city that includes an elder brother of mine and his family as well as some of our friends.
I know that, at every chance, the rest of the country enjoys giving Aucklanders some well deserved stick.
Calling them Jaffas being one of the rude ways to describe them. But at the moment, when the team of 5 million is split with Auckland's 1.7 million under a level 3 lockdown and the rest of the country in level 2, we need to remind ourselves that we are still a team of 5 million.
Auckland, as Prime Minister Ardern has pointed out, has been carrying the load for the rest of the country with 15 of the country's 31 MIQ facilities located there. The city is our global gateway managing the arrival of thousands of returning Kiwis fleeing the global pandemic.
Its essential workers are doing this in the face of greater risks to them, their families and neighbours. Let's not also forget the economic health of Auckland is important for the rest of the country. They generate 38 per cent of the nation's GDP. The closure of its businesses and the psychological pressures the city is under is not good for the country.
It's good to see the push to get everyone vaccinated. I note the Kāpiti News and New Zealand Herald campaign aiming to convince 90 per cent of our population to get vaccinated. A figure health experts say will help the country open itself to international travel and business.
I have a personal investment to support such a campaign as I have a son in Melbourne who is keen to move back to Aotearoa New Zealand. The sooner we reach this 90 per cent target the sooner we can open up to increase economic activity and reduce the psychological impacts of isolation.
The local government sector was praised in the last lockdown, by central government agencies, for having the grassroots community links to support people.
As far as I know councils have not been used extensively by government agencies to help in the campaign to get people vaccinated. Information has also been confusing.
In Kāpiti one confidential official avenue last week put the total numbers having had at least the first dose at 71 per cent.
Another authority, just a day later put the figure at just 64 per cent. I cannot see why, firstly, this data is considered confidential and secondly why the data is confusing and, lastly, why councils are not being used more to help with messaging to boost vaccination numbers?
Last week, councillor Martin Halliday and I had the pleasure of meeting with Wendy Huston the CEO of Sevenoaks and Midlands retirement villages.
They had knowledge to share on how to manage the problem of Canada geese. Over the last 10 years the numbers foraging and nesting in the grounds blessed with a number of lakes have dropped. They had previously worked with regional council pest control staff but shooting them proved too traumatic for those residents who found a shot bird floating in a lake.
The action also divided the residents as some found the geese droppings a nuisance and a health hazard. Others loved the beautiful birds.
Wendy used a method her mother had used successfully in her farm. During nesting season her mother used a knitting needle to puncture each egg barring one. It resulted in the birds fulfilling their natural instinct as mothers but resulting in much reduced number of chicks.
The retirement village staff have since honed their knowledge of these birds and the skilled use of this humane method has worked.