Do they want to invest? Without a doubt, as otherwise they would not be marketing internationally.
As my memory serves me, did not Mayor Brown have a ratepayer-funded trip to China to establish a Sister City relationship? If that is correct, then why did he not use that relationship to promote, foster and grow the Chinese market for these international products? Or was it that perhaps that the Sister City relationship was used merely to establish connections for establishing a mining company? If not, then why does the New Zealand China Trade Association see the Far North as nothing but a "laughing" matter?
This raises, for me, another question; where was/is the deputy Mayor, Anne Court, in all of this? These people are ratepayers in the ward she was elected to represent. Has she not recently announced that she recognised the importance of treating her ratepayers and citizens with respect? If a ratepayer communicating with council is made to feel like a criminal, how you could possibly call that respect?
I for one would like to offer my unreserved and sincere apologies as a ratepayer and citizen to Andrea, Marzia and their sons Paolo and Stefano, for the unacceptable way they have been treated.
J DAVIS Kawakawa
