HAPPY WITH THE H: The late Turanga Karauria (left) with friends Chris Shenton and Morvin Simon. PHOTO: Jacqui McGowan.

A WHANGANUI journalist is defending herself, after mayor Michael Laws targeted her in a letter directed at the local paper’s editor.

Wanganui Chronicle reporter Merania Karauria says the reason she petitioned the Geographic Board in favour of the “h” in Whanganui, was to speak on behalf of her late Father, Turanga Karauria.

The letter – posted on the Wanganui District Council website – accuses Ms Karauria and another reporter of political bias, as well as accusing new editor Ross Pringle of being the latest in a long line of “inconsequential ‘Chronicle’ editors”.

The letter says by directly petitioning the board the two went against the democratic wish of the community on the Wanganui spelling issue.

“My Dad is tuturu from the Whanganui River,” says Ms Karauria. “In the last few months of his life I could see his agitation with the things that the Chronicle was reporting on what Laws was saying.”

She says her father was an interpreter in the Maori Land Court. He was 13 before he got a handle on the English language, learned at boarding school.

“His grandparents who brought him up (up the Whanganui River at Jerusalem) did not speak English.”

Ms Karauria said her father explained to her that Maori in Whanganui had to teach the Pakeha how to pronounce Maori and Whanganui was one of the words.

“I wrote to the Geographic Board explaining this, for my Dad,” she says.

MICHAEL LAWS

She says her father was a very private man, but two days before he died on September 20 last year, he wanted to go and tell Mr Laws what he thought of him.

“That is why I wrote to the Geographic Board. Laws tramples on people’s mana and because my Dad was one of the few remaining full-blooded Maori on the Whanganui River, I had to speak for him.”

Ms Karauria gets a second mention in Mr Laws’ letter: “Karauria was reprimanded for misrepresenting a mayoral interview to her friends using Chronicle e-mail.”

Ms Karauria told NewsWire she was not reprimanded for the email she sent, although she says she should not have sent it from work. It was not a major transgression.

“The reason I sent an email from work, which a friend forwarded on (despite me saying I did not want the people I was emailing to do anything) was because in an interview with him, he (Mr Laws) told me I was a minority and he was the majority,” she says.

The interview was regarding his behaviour toward the children at Otaki School. She said she didn’t ask about the ‘h’.

“He pilloried me on his radio show and in his Sunday column.”

In the letter to the newly appointed Mr Pringle, Mr Laws says recent editorials in the paper were misrepresenting council policy and practice, saying the Chronicle had “hit a new low”.

The mayor says he is not happy with the new editor’s take on council debt, health issues and the spelling of the city’s name.

“I accept you’re new to the job and apparently lack formal journalistic training, according to reports in your own newspaper.”

TVNZ reported last week that Mr Laws threatened to cut advertising from the Wanganui Chronicle and use council funds to increase the circulation of a rival giveaway newspaper.

Mr Laws has denied this to NewsWire (via a message from his secretary).

PRESIDENT Terry Sampson on Spirit of Wellington, the Coastguard's newest rescue boat.

WELLINGTON Coastguard needs $180,000 for a new boat and is looking for donations.

The Coastguard’s rigid hull inflatable boat, Phoenix, is being replaced with a new $300,000 model, and 40 per cent of the funding has already been raised.

President, Terry Sampson says finding the money is one of his last major duties before stepping down this year.

Mr Sampson says Phoenix is 20 years old, and it’s time for the vessel to be replaced because it has only about five years life left in the role.

The money raised so far is a grant from the lotteries commission, but the local unit still needs to find the rest from donations, fund raising and further grants.

Phoenix and its sister Coastguard craft Spirit of Wellington have  been involved in 58 rescues in the past year, involving 112 people and $1.6m worth of craft.

Coastguard's Phoenix is being replaced.

Mr Sampson says that the reliability of engines and improved boating education has kept rescue numbers down from when he started 20 years ago, but there’s still a big need for the service.

“People are more aware that they need to carry lifejackets, radios, check their fuel levels, and know the weather forecasts,” he says.

Boaties are better equipped than they used to be, and a national TV advertising campaign has also helped.

He says that the success is also down to the Coastguard Boating Education Services (CBES), which organises training courses for the public.

The Wellington unit was formed in 1968 after 53 people lost their lives in the sinking of the ‘Wahine’ passenger ferry in Wellington Harbour.

This disaster highlighted the need for a life boat service, so the life saving group was formed in Seaview.

Since then the unit has moved to council given land in Evans Bay, where it has a base funded by donations and built by volunteers.

Operating with a full-time, on-call service the unit has two fast response dedicated rescue vessels, called Phoenix and Spirit of Wellington.

Volunteers provide a manned rescue service from the base every weekend and bank holidays throughout the year.

Coastguard called out for Tsunami

WELLINGTON Volunteer Coastguard crew were called in from all over Wellington at 5am, and were out at sea by 7am for last week’s tsunami warning.

The tsunami warning issued to New Zealand after the massive 8.8 earthquake near Chile had the Coastguard on full alert for most of the day.

“It has been the longest, and busiest watch I have done while at Coastguards,” said radio operator Alan Hartfield, from Newtown.

“We didn’t see an enormous wave as we thought we would, but during the day from about 9am the tidal level was surging up to half a metre every 20 minutes or so,” said Mr Hartfield, a veteran of 28 years service in the Coastguard.

RADIO operator Alan Hartfield.

Their job was to advise people in or on the ocean about the tsunami, and warn them to leave the sea for higher ground.

It turned out to be a mammoth duty for some who put in 11 hours straight, at sea.

Others manned the radio at the Evans Bay Base.

Most volunteers had heard of the tsunami on the radio, and decided to go to the base to offer help.

Stu Marshall, who was the crew skipper for the day said apart from the surges it wasn’t much different to normal. “But you never know what’s going to happen”.

Rescue numbers were as usual as for a normal day, but the unit received more calls than usual with people asking for information.

WELLINGTONIANS will get a reduction in their building consent fees – until June.

A blunder almost doubling some fees is likely to be rectified at the full Wellington city council meeting next week.

No-one has yet been charged the new, higher fees under the schedule which came into effect, in error, on March 1.

But the fee increases, mistakenly approved by the council and being revoked, will be put to the council again and are likely to be passed in the near future.

Group manager for consents and licensing, John Scott, says higher fees could come into effect in the next few months.

Correct schedule which should have been approved.

That leaves a small window of opportunity for people considering building a deck or extending the house to get consents at the reduced prices (see schedule right) before they increase again.

The council says it is trying to reflect more accurately the actual cost of background checks on consents.

Unfortunately, this will sting handymen wanting to make changes worth $25,000 to their properties. People with projects costing $500,000-plus will pay a lower fee than under the old schedule.

In a report on Sunday, NewsWire revealed the council had accidently upped the fees more than it intended, when voting to pass on PIMs information-gathering costs to applicants.

Meanwhile, the Wellington region’s councils had an 8% decline in the value of buildings consented in January compared with January 2009.

Building consents contributed $22 million to the region in January, compared with $24 million in January 2009, according to a Statistics New Zealand report.

Nationally, the value of residential building consents was $380 million in January 2010, 15% higher than in January 2009.

Seventy-nine of the 1042 consents issued for residential buildings, including apartments, were in the Wellington region, compared with 86 a year earlier.

Statistics NZ business statistics manager Louise Holmes-Oliver says: “The trend for new housing units has been increasing since early 2009 and is showing signs of easing in recent months.”

A Facebook “Save Radio NZ” group has more than 18,500 members – just 300-plus short of John Key’s fan group, which has 18,883.

National radio supporters are aiming to surpass the number of John Key’s fans, the group’s membership having grown to present levels in just over three weeks.

“Once we know we have more supporters on here than John Key can we call a snap election?” jokes member Terri Ste.

A NewsWire poll on the Government’s plans to freeze Radio NZ funding has drawn the biggest response ever, with 241 casting votes.

Some 89% (215) think a freeze would jeopardise the news service, while 26 think it is a good idea.

Save RNZ Facebook member Paul Klimstar says someone should remind the National-led Government that if it interferes with RNZ there will be consequences.

Concerned Radio New Zealand fan

“They’re not just messing with New Zealanders, they’re messing with a worldwide audience.”

Another member, Fiona Robinson, felt last week’s tsunami coverage by RNZ was professional, informative and credible: “[It was] head and shoulders above every other radio station.”

RNZ fan Ian Auld says the reporting was informative and objective without being sensationalist.

RNZ receives $34 million a year in government funding and last year the station raised another $4 million.

WELLINGTON city councillors unwittingly rubber-stamped a massive increase to most building consent fees after staff gave them the wrong document at a meeting last month.

Some fees have more than doubled to $600-plus, on a schedule the council passed by mistake.

Councillors were approving a charge on all applicants for information-gathering costs – despite the Building Act being amended to make this voluntary.

Warrick Quinn, CEO of the Registered Master Builders Federation, is fuming about the compulsory nature of the charges but no-one noticed a new fee structure had been approved at the same time.

It was only when NewsWire asked about the substantial hikes in fees and inconsistencies in a February 24 report to the full Wellington City Council that group manager, building consents and licensing services, John Scott became aware of the error.

He says: “We have attached something that we want approved [further down the track] to something that has been approved.”

He is investigating how to rectify the blunder.

Project information memorandums (PIMs) have been required for all consent applications until changes to the Building Act 2004 made them voluntary in February. But the council says it must still go through all the PIM processes and doesn’t want to get caught with the bill.

Otherwise lost revenue would reach up to $550,000 a year, according to a report to the meeting. It refers to other councils also passing on the charges.

Mr Quinn says Parliament changed the law to lower costs for builders/homeowners and cut unnecessary red tape. For the council to apply any increase undermines the intent of the Building Act amendments, he says.

Registered Master Builders say PIMs aren’t always necessary: “By making it voluntary the builder/homeowner would save money and bring compliance costs down.

“If councils have increased building consent fees to recoup the income they have lost due to PIMs becoming optional, then that is unjustified and appalling behaviour.” 

John Scott says there is probably the perception that PIMs are pointless but the background information is still considered essential by the council.

The risk of not obtaining a PIM falls on the builder or home-owner rather than the council but, he says, the council doesn’t want people living in unsafe or unsanitary conditions.

Councillor Andy Foster is right behind recouping the costs. He says it’s up to builders to fund their own projects, not the ratepayer.

Information required for a PIM includes:

•  identifying special features of the land
• details of existing stormwater or wastewater systems on the site
•  the heritage status of buildings.

MAORI AFFAIRS Minister Pita Sharples is considering focusing the Maori Language Strategy more on encouraging active use of te reo in daily life.

Te Puni Kokiri and Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori have completed a joint review of the current strategy and findings were presented to the minister in January.

Danica Waiti, a senior analyst at Te Puni Kokiri, says affection for the language needs to translate into more people actually learning and speaking te reo.

“There are many opportunities, probably the most opportunities there have ever been for people to learn te reo Maori in the way that they want,” she says.

“Part of the new iteration of the strategy [could mean] the government focus’s its investments on encouraging use, and turning people from being passive to being active participants.”

Te Rautaki Reo Maori, the current strategy, is a 25-year plan with goals including making access to learning more easily available and ensuring the language has a high status with all New Zelanders.

It was published in 2003.

Since 2001 more than 100,000 people have enrolled in tertiary level Maori classes, with many more engaging in community based learning.

The 2006 census, however, showed only 21% of young Maori considered themselves fluent in the language.

Details of the review are expected to be released later this year.

CENTRAL JOHNSONVILLE: Residents say their town has a village feel. Photo: WCC

HUNDREDS of Johnsonville residents have told Wellington City Council not to allow high-rise homes in their suburb.

In more than 240 submissions, people from the northern suburb express their concern that changes to the district plan could create a ghetto.

District Plan Change 72 is aimed at increasing density housing by allowing land-owners to build multi-storey houses in central Johnsonville, currently mostly single-storey.

Pressure on the suburb’s infrastructure and the fear that a transient population may cause an increase in crime are the most common reasons for opposition.

Johnsonville Progressive Association spokesperson Graeme Sawyer says: “What the council will do is basically change the nature of our town centre – in another 10 years, Johnsonville will be a ghetto.”

He says the changes would affect all Johnsonville residents, regardless if they build higher houses or keep living in their single-storey homes.

“The council encourages builders to go in and replace the houses,” Mr Sawyer says.

He says the proposed changes will affect the quality of living in the suburb, as within a decade residents of single-storey houses will end up being surrounded by four to six-storey houses.

“The only value will be in your land. What will change are the people’s property rates. Explain to those people, how they are to have a 30 to 40 per cent reduction in their property values.”

ROOM TO GROW? Plan could allow more houses. Photo: unconditional.co.nz

Mr Sawyer says schools are already over-flowing and streets and infrastructure are beyond capacity.

Changes to the district plan could lead to a population increase of up to 3,000 more people living in Johnsonville, according to the council.

With a population of 6720, Johnsonville is Wellington’s largest town centre outside the inner city.

According to Statistics New Zealand, there are 2568 occupied dwellings in Johnsonville.

Wellington City Council policy adviser Jeremy Blake says proposal is to change the rules on what people can place on their property.

This will not necessarily lead to people making use of the new regulations straight away, he says.

“It may lead to having two or three-storey households in Johnsonville, but certainly not tower blocks or apartments or anything like that.”

He says if the Johnsonville mall is expanded, there will be an increase in traffic numbers, but the council is already working towards upgrading the Johnsonville road network.

The council will revisit the matter in May.

HUTT City Council is set to keep flushing human waste into Waiwhetu Stream during heavy rain

Two applications seeking to extend the council’s permits to discharge wastewater, including effluent, into the stream for a further 25 years were heard last month by Greater Wellington Regional Council.

A commission of the regional council heard the case for and against the discharges and will release a decision on March 17.

Discharges occur from outlets at Malone Rd and Hinemoa St, adjacent to Te Whiti Park and Riverside Drive.

Hutt City Council says the water to be released into the stream will be screened, and the overflow will be used only when pressure on the system is greatest, during severe storms and flooding.

Residents opposing the permits worried about the public health risk from residual waste left on Te Whiti Park, a popular play area for children and weekend sports.

Te Ati Awa iwi representative Teri Puketapu requested that the duration of the extension be reduced to 10 years, with a review after five.

He told the hearing that discharging into the stream was culturally offensive as human waste and other effluent affected the mauri (special nature) of fresh water.

“It’s not just human waste [in the overflow]. It’s everything that goes with human activity,” says Mr Puketapu.

“I always say it has a cumulative effect…Waiwhetu Stream has become, in effect, an open drain.”

Regional council resource adviser Malory Osmond, following the hearing, recommended a 15-year limit on the permit, with provision for review in five years.

Ms Osmond considered the city council had not made enough provision for disinfecting waste going into the stream.

She cited Wellington City Council’s proposed UV disinfection at Moa Point as an example of safe overflow management.

Jeremy Rusbatch, Greater Wellington Regional Council resource adviser, says the review will give the regional council a window to check up on situation if “something’s not going right”.

Ms Osmond also wants more accurate and rigorous reporting on the volume of waste passing through the over flow.

Hutt City Council offered to replace systems currently being used to monitor this with custom-made equipment which will provide more accurate figures.

The city council says permits to discharge into the stream are needed in the event that upgrades to holding tanks at Malone Rd cannot cope in severe weather.

Hutt City Council is spending $21million on flood proofing and decontaminating Waiwhetu Stream south of the overflow outlets from Bell Rd to the Hutt River.

HIGH KICK: Jai Manager Leong Su-Lin demonstrates Muay Thai technique with head trainer Wimbledon

The journalist-turned-kickboxer at the helm of Wellington’s newest boxing club credits her career transformation to a chance interview with one of CLEO magazine’s most eligible bachelors in Singapore 10 years ago.

Leong Su-Lin says she had never considered trying a sport like kickboxing before the fateful interview in 2000.

Su-Lin opened the doors of JAI Thai Boxing Gym in Victoria Street in November with the help of Thai professional boxer ‘Wimbledon’.

She says: “I was a journalist for 10 years, and started out working in Singapore for CLEO magazine where I did the ‘CLEO’s Most Eligible Bachelor’ story”.

“One of the guys I interviewed happened to be a Muay Thai fighter, and he convinced me to take up the sport for fitness,” she recalls.

It didn’t take long for Su-Lin to become hooked. Four years later, when she left CLEO to work on The Straits Times newspaper in Singapore, she continued to train seriously.

“Because I was in journalism I worked quite long hours, and as a result I was able to accumulate a lot of leave. So three times a year I would go off to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand to train.”

WIMBLEDON JAI: Veteran of over 200 professional Muay Thai fights

It was during her training in Thailand under the tutelage of Wimbledon – a professional kick boxer since the age of seven with 200 professional fights to his name – that Su-Lin, a former Wellingtonian, thought of setting up a club in New Zealand.

“I wanted to move back to New Zealand and spend more time doing Thai boxing, but in New Zealand there was nowhere that  I would feel comfortable or happy training,” she says.

“I wanted Thai-style training – not necessarily for fighting as such – but fight level training, as in with proper technique and so on.”

Wimbledon agreed to move to New Zealand, arriving four months ago to take up the position of head trainer at the gym. Finally Su-Lin’s dream has been realised, but the process wasn’t without its setbacks, she adds.

“It was difficult getting Wimbledon over due to immigration regulations. They wanted to see paper credentials, and what kind of qualifications he had, and it was difficult conveying his fighting pedigree in those terms,” she says.

“I was initially forced to advertise locally and nationally to see if there was anyone here [in New Zealand] that would be suitable as a trainer. But while I had quite a few applicants, not one was at a standard suitable to be a head trainer – I set very, very high standards here, because that’s how they train in Thailand.”

Su-Lin says that one of Wimbledon’s strengths as a trainer is that he has already had a lot of experience in training foreigners.

“While he was in Thailand he trained a lot of foreigners like me who wanted to learn to fight. I also asked him to come and work in Hong Kong for three months, but the people over there really train for cardio as opposed to fighting – it’s more of a vanity thing.”

New Zealanders also have a unique style and approach to training, she says.

“People in New Zealand may or may not be training to actually fight necessarily, but they train with a lot of heart, or ‘jai’. Jai is Thai for strength of heart, mind and body – and that’s what we try and symbolise here.”

TEAM JAI: Leong Su-Lin and Wimbledon

FEW people seem to know Wellington City Council is spending $3.5 million planting pohutukawa trees along Taranaki St.

And if they did, it’s likely they would be against the idea, if a quick street poll of 10 people conducted by NewsWire is any indication.

Six said they thought it was a waste of money.

The council will be planting the trees along footpaths from Taranaki St to the National War Memorial as part of the Capital City Initiative.

The project compares with $3.3 million the council spent on planting pohutukawa along Jervois Quay three years ago.

Although none of the people NewsWire spoke to knew about the initiative, most opposed it.

For example, Aquiles Burgos (left) thought the money should be spent on other priorities: “We have enough trees. I think it’s too much money.”

John Rangi (right)  agreed: “Why don’t they spend $3.5 million on something else?” 

However, Bobbly Walmsley (left) supported the idea: “It’s a small price to pay, I think it’s good. Make [the city] green rather than a concrete jungle.”

Robert Heinrich (below right): “It is a lot of money, but I don’t mind how much they cost. Money is only money. I think the council wastes a whole lot of money on other things. It’s quite a boring street.”

Council spokesperson Richard Maclean says the council plans to plant the trees in 2012/13 and it will take about six months.

He says they will plant between 30 and 35 “teenage” sized trees and they will require infrastructure such as kerbing and watering.

Councillor Rob Goulden said pohutukawa trees were nice, but it was a lot of money to spend on trees and he would like to see the price come down.

Pohutukawa trees at Miramar nursery California Home and Garden cost between $16 and $50.

The biggest trees at Gus Evans Nurseries in Waikanae cost $25. However, staff said large trees – that take four people to lift – can cost up to $500 each.