Tepania said it was \u201cdisheartening\u201d the controversy erupted while the council was dealing with the aftermath of the March storm and preparing for Cyclone Vaianu.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does feel like we\u2019ve been unfairly targeted out of the councils in this country that are doing the same and it does honestly feel like race-baiting. It\u2019s very h\u014dh\u0101 [annoying] and we\u2019ve got too much mahi to do for all of the people of the Far North to have to put time and energy into this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tepania was, however, concerned by Smolders\u2019 statement that she felt \u201cthreatened, bullied and intimidated\u201d, including at the council table.<\/p>\n
Far North Mayor Moko Tepania. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n
All members had to abide by a code of conduct – which included how they behaved towards each other – and if any councillor believed that had been breached, he urged them to make use of the processes in place \u201cto keep everyone safe\u201d.<\/p>\n
Tepania said the upcoming general election was a good chance for the Far North<\/a> to make itself heard by central government<\/a>, but it could also ramp up divisions and he expected to see a lot more opinions presented as fact.<\/p>\n He urged people to \u201cdo their homework\u201d and seek information from \u201creputable sources\u201d.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Tepania said he apologised to Garner, and the people of the Far North, for responding to an interview request with a two-word email stating \u201cf*** off\u201d.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t the kind of response people expected from their mayor, or that he expected from others in his position.<\/p>\n \u201cIf circumstances were different, I wouldn\u2019t have reacted in that way. It was just the initial reaction to something that was blowing up, causing me concern, and at the end of the day, I guess we\u2019re all human,\u201d Tepania said.<\/p>\n Smolders rejected Tepania\u2019s characterisation of the podcast as misinformation.<\/p>\n She conceded Garner was incorrect when he claimed having appointees on a council committee was illegal but maintained – and said she had been advised by her lawyer – that it went against the intent of the law.<\/p>\n She said the Te Kuaka committee already had four M\u0101ori Ward councillors, so the extra hap\u016b and iwi appointees were an unnecessary double-up.<\/p>\n If the podcast failed to mention that the committee in question was the M\u0101ori liaison committee, that context had likely been lost in the editing process when the 48-minute interview had been cut down to 30.<\/p>\n Smolders said she had made 13 complaints to police about threats against her, but none related to incidents in the council chambers.<\/p>\n Eleven related to threats made via social media.<\/p>\n She said police had been \u201cincredibly proactive and reassuring\u201d, in one case even identifying a Facebook user who went by a false name.<\/p>\n Smolders said she expected some of her supporters to attend Wednesday morning\u2019s meeting, as well as supporters of the council\u2019s current direction.<\/p>\n \u201cI respect the democratic right of Ng\u0101puhi, and all citizens, to peacefully protest and make their voices heard,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a direct result of the fundamental breakdown in trust and effective governance at the Far North District Council. We can\u2019t continue with the status quo. The cracks in this council\u2019s democratic foundation are now on public display, and I\u2019m once again urging Local Government Minister Simon Watts to step in and appoint a Crown observer.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Watts confirmed to RNZ he would not be appointing an observer to the Far North District Council.<\/p>\n He said he was aware of concerns about tensions within the council.<\/p>\n \u201cThe local council and its members are locally elected, it\u2019s not for Wellington to go intervene every time they do something I don\u2019t personally agree with. Given the high statutory threshold required for such powers, I am advised that the council\u2019s current actions do not constitute formal ministerial intervention at this time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI have, however, asked officials to engage with the council and report back to me if they identify any concerns or issues that warrant further investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n Watts\u2019 office confirmed the council was not being investigated, despite news reports to that effect.<\/p>\n The minister\u2019s letter to the council stated he was \u201csatisfied that the council is conducting its governance appropriately and any disagreements between council members can be managed through its governance processes\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The committee\u2019s make-up will be decided at a council meeting on Wednesday morning but alongside the six councillors…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5205,528,60157,10934,43770,111,43,139,529,69,5413,312,1458,57918,118529],"class_list":{"0":"post-379842","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-council","9":"tag-far","10":"tag-graaf","11":"tag-mayor","12":"tag-moko","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-north","17":"tag-nz","18":"tag-peter","19":"tag-says","20":"tag-targeted","21":"tag-tepania","22":"tag-unfairly"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Far North District Council Bay of Islands-Whangaroa General Ward councillor Davina Smolders. <\/p>\n
Local Government Minister Simon Watts. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n