![\"Robert](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/robert-lee-left-and-tania-tapsell-right-did-not-see-eye-to-e-3LYGBOPUFREONMEKJ6K4IN7D7U.png\")
<\/p>\nRotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell and councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait have hit back at accusations of a \u201ccoordinated\u201d attack on fellow elected member Robert Lee amid the fallout from a council workshop walk-out.<\/p>\n
By Mathew Nash, Local Democracy Reporting<\/p>\n
Lee stormed out of a Rotorua Lakes Council play, active recreation and sport strategy update workshop on Wednesday, following a clash with Raukawa-Tait.<\/p>\n
Following a workshop presentation from the council\u2019s parks and open spaces manager, Rob Pitkethley, Lee dubbed the work one of his areas of \u201cleast confidence\u201d, before asking Pitkethley to explain the difference between engagement and consultation.<\/p>\n
At this point, he received a one-minute-long dressing down from Raukawa-Tait over what she called his \u201cdisturbing\u201d and \u201cundermining\u201d questioning.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to sit here and listen to that,\u201d she said, telling her fellow councillors she was \u201ch\u014dh\u0101\u201d [annoyed] with Lee.<\/p>\n
She said the councillors were trying to \u201cbe positive\u201d and Lee did not have a \u201cmonopoly\u201d on community concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s low-level questioning, and my expectation as a councillor of many years is that you would get a grip and actually do what is required.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Robert Lee (left) and Tania Tapsell (right) did not see eye-to-eye during their respective mayoral campaigns last year. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n
Mayor Tapsell then interjected, reminding councillors to remain on task.<\/p>\n
Lee attempted to ask the question again, at which point Tapsell ruled the question irrelevant and moved on to another councillor.<\/p>\n
Lee stood up, packed up his briefcase and walked out of the chambers.<\/p>\n
\u201cDisgraceful,\u201d he said, as he made his early exit.<\/p>\n
Speaking later, Lee told Local Democracy Reporting the meeting had become \u201cdysfunctional\u201d, and said he left because he felt he was being prevented from asking a question relevant to the presentation and important to the public\u2019s understanding.<\/p>\n
He labelled it as \u201cnasty politics\u201d and believed it was a \u201cpre-planned and orchestrated attack\u201d from the pair, accusing the mayor of using Raukawa-Tait as her \u201cattack dog\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs an elected member, I have a right to speak,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a privilege given to me by virtue of being elected. Chairs ought to respect that right, even if they don\u2019t personally agree with what I say.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Rotorua](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/rotorua-lakes-council-councillor-merepeka-raukawa-tait-7SB5OXCKWFG2PD2T7J5G3VOQVY.png\")
<\/p>\n
Rotorua Lakes Council councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n
Lee said Raukawa-Tait had no right to interrupt him, as she had not called a point of order and accused her of a \u201cpersonal attack\u201d in her \u201cbreathless and rambling catharsis\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the councillor said, she is \u2018h\u014dh\u0101\u2019 with me,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what that means, but I\u2019m guessing she has a serious attitude problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also claimed the mayor had regularly \u201crun interference\u201d on his questioning over the past three years.<\/p>\n
Raukawa-Tait told Local Democracy Reporting that the idea that this was a pre-planned attack was \u201cabsolute rubbish\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow could you possibly pre-plan or orchestrate something because I don\u2019t know what his behaviour is going to be like at any given point,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s a silly comment to make and quite untrue.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said an experienced councillor should never leave a meeting early out of frustration, noting Lee also left last week\u2019s Te Arawa 2050 Vision Committee meeting early, following another tit-for-tat between the pair.<\/p>\n
The two councillors have clashed since Raukawa-Tait returned to the council at last year\u2019s local elections, winning a M\u0101ori ward seat after a term away from the chambers.<\/p>\n
In November, she labelled Lee\u2019s views on the Te Arawa Vision committee as \u201cquite ignorant\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"Rotorua](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/rotorua-lakes-councillor-robert-lee-at-a-june-2025-meeting-XMVWKCTMXJCQNHND6W76INZ3EE.png\")
<\/p>\n
Rotorua Lakes Councillor Robert Lee at a June 2025 meeting. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n
Regarding this week\u2019s incident, she said she was ready to work \u201cconstructively\u201d with Lee but wanted the councillors to focus on their responsibility to the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is so much work to be done, and I just can\u2019t afford to get down and dirty with Councillor Lee,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe work comes first, and that\u2019s my priority.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mayor Tapsell called it \u201ccrazy\u201d that Lee had left a \u201cpositive and important\u201d meeting about the city\u2019s parks and recreation spaces.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no excuse for getting angry and walking out because you\u2019re being called out for your behaviour,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She said Lee was not prevented from asking questions but asked to stay \u201crespectful and on topic\u201d.<\/p>\n
Tapsell strongly denied any suggestion of premeditation in her or Raukawa-Tait\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has never been, and never will be, a \u2018co-ordinated attack\u2019 on any councillor under my watch,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Tapsell said there was shared concern among some elected members about potentially \u201coffensive, irrelevant, or disruptive\u201d comments or questions from Lee in council meetings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is something we\u2019ve all tried to support him with improving, and he should seriously reflect on it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile he\u2019s wasting time making things up and throwing personal attacks, the rest of us are staying focused on what matters most, making Rotorua better.\u201d<\/p>\n
The council will meet again for an audit and risk committee meeting this afternoon. <\/p>\n
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n
The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including new rumours about Christopher Luxon facing a leadership challenge, and Victoria Beckham addresses her family feud. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell and councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait have hit back at accusations of a \u201ccoordinated\u201d attack on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,1756,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-383571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-tauranga-bay-of-plenty","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383571","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=383571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}