To a chorus of “Shame on you” from Waiheke locals, councillors voted seven to two to award the 10-year contract to TransPacific Industries (TPI) and to disqualify Clean Stream from the tender because of alleged canvassing of councillors.

At a meeting of the full council today, councillors voted 10 to four to ratify the decision of the city development committee.

Clean Stream director John Stansfield, accused last week of canvassing councillors, rejected the allegations.

“Our position as a company is there was no canvassing,” he told Te Waha Nui Online.

In a statement released by left-leaning City Vision-Labour councillors, councillor Richard Northey said: “I am profoundly disappointed that emails I received from the director of Clean Stream which raised questions about the growing mountain of refuse from the VISY plant on the coast of Onehunga where I live were used by Citizens and Ratepayers as the excuse to disqualify Clean Stream.”

Stansfield says the council’s decision was predetermined and it consequently lied about the performance of TPI’s Onehunga Visy plant.

He says when he received information that glass sent to the plant was not being remade into bottles he made formal inquiries with no success.

So activists went to look and found a mountain of un-recycled mixed rubbish at the plant.

The council, he says, denied the mountain existed and when that was no longer possible disassociated itself from its creation.

“We felt it was a duty of public advocacy to let the councillors know that they and the public were being misled.

“Had we not done that we may have had no votes in our favour.”

Commercial barrister John Walton recommended to councillors that there was no contractual obligation to disqualify Clean Stream but “important issues of principle” were at stake.

He said the council could lose credibility in future tender processes if Clean Stream was not banned.

Councillor Leila Boyle, one of the two councillors who voted against the TPI contract, says Waiheke people have only one course left to take.

“It’s what they said today [at the meeting]. They were very clear – civil disobedience. They will rise up against the council in a non-violent manner.”

At the hearing Boyle said Clean Stream became the best tenderer “by fulfilling the triple bottom line, of environmental, economic and cultural concerns”.

She said the difference in price of the tenders would be made up by value base and Waiheke was willing to pay extra to retain its local service.

Councillor Glenda Fryer said she had attended conferences where Auckland City Council had used Waiheke as an example of working toward an environmentally sustainable solution.

“Waiheke has an exemplar system with local jobs, money going back in the economy, research partnerships with the university, community engagement, product produced and recycling. The community has bought into the present system, they won’t [buy into] TPI.”

To applause from the public gallery she said the canvassing issue was a “witch-hunt looking for evidence to rule out Clean Stream”.

Sue Connor, from Waiheke Does It Better, says the process “was a litany of misinformation from the beginning”.

She said the council had predetermined the outcome of the tender process and provided an email sent in 2008 by a councillor who said: “What we are aiming to achieve is to use this report as a sound business case for our council to approve the change in services on the island. This will be controversial so the report needs to be tight and cover all basis from all parties that will be involved.”

Auckland City confirmed to Radio New Zealand yesterday that the sender of the email was a council member.

“The council has stomped on a community initiative. We believe there should be a full inquiry,” says Connor.

She says the final decision will need to be made by the Auckland Transition Agency, which will oversee the shift to the new super city.

She believes Clean Stream’s contract should have rolled over until the power of local boards under the new council could be determined.

Stansfield agrees, saying awarding a 10 year contract to TPI goes strongly against the Royal Commission for Auckland Governance’s recommendations for Waiheke.

Waiheke journalist Minka Firth says the council’s decision will mean a huge economic loss for the small community.

Clean Stream employs and upskills people in the community who may not get jobs elsewhere.

“It gives people pride in themselves and in their community. This has not been accounted for.”

Waiheke resident and former Gulf News editor Greg Treadwell says the issue is an environmental one.

“You can’t rely on this council to view the environment as a priority.

“It’s a heartbreaking loss of social capital that our community spent 10 years building. I suspect this is another sorry chapter in the very unhappy relationship between Waiheke and Auckland City.”

At the Auckland Town Hall meeting yesterday all seats were taken, mainly by vocal islanders desperate to keep their waste services in local hands.

Connor asked to speak at the meeting but the council banned any public forum.

“So much for democracy,” she says.

This did not stop Waiheke residents having their say. Councillors’ comments throughout the meeting were met with either heckling or standing ovations.

When a councillor said it was against the auditor’s rules that they award a contract to their “mates on Waiheke” he was met with: “You have no mates in Waiheke!”

When the final votes were counted the audience erupted into anger.

Screams of “There will be civil disobedience”, “We will not accept” and “It’s disgusting” filled the room.

Councillors were chased to the door and blocked from leaving by furious islanders yelling, “Shame on you”.

One councillor was smacked on the behind by an enraged resident.

“Never underestimate the power of a motivated passionate community,” said islander Charles Graves.

Watch highlights of the city development committee’s on April 4 here.

Click on the play button to hear a recording of today’s full council meeting. If it doesn’t start, it can also be heard here.

Bevan Chuang talks to a student journalist on the benefits and challenges of employing migrants and refugees

A seminar showing employers the benefits in employing migrants and refugees was held on May 20.

Bevan Chuang, settlement support coordinator for the Auckland Regional Migrant Services (ARMS), organised the seminar.

She says it is difficult to make more employers become aware of the benefits in employing migrants and refugees.

One of the problems is that the Government is saying yes and employers are saying no.

“The migrants have the qualifications that New Zealand needs but just because they don’t have the New Zealand experience they are not employed,” she says.

Chuang says big companies have a quota for overseas workers.

But the smaller companies do not know why they need to employ them.

She says employees needed to educate employers by persuading them with their skills which will contribute to New Zealand’s workforce and economy.

Mitchell Pham, director of Augen Software Group, told employers at the seminar how he runs business workshops aimed to help migrants find jobs.

But more importantly, Pham helps them to set up their own businesses in New Zealand, says Chuang.

Pham is a Vietnamese refugee who arrived in New Zealand when he was 13.

He went on to set up his own business, Augen Software Group, acting as its director for the past 15 years, and has been expanding his services into Asia.

He says Asian entrepreneurs can create more jobs for migrants here.

He employs migrants and says the cultural differences act as an advantage for setting up businesses.

More diverse workforce is creating business ideas and opportunities that ordinary Kiwi business people would not stumble upon.

For Pham this has led to an international company with global networks in Vietnam and New Zealand.

However Chuang acknowledges one of the challenges in employing migrants is that a lot of training is needed for them to be able to work in New Zealand.

She says migrants needed to change their attitude that they will get jobs easily.

However she believes more could be done for the skilled migrants who have come to fill in the gaps in the workforce.

One possibility is for the established migrant communities to advocate to the Government and also talk to the business people.

“Community people know but it is the commercial world that does not know,” says Chuang.

Skilled migrants turn to other countries if they cannot find jobs.

Chuang says this is a waste of resources for New Zealand as the services that she provides to educate migrants are not utilised here.

“The idea of employing migrants and refugees needs to be made more attractive to the employers within the New Zealand context and economy,” she says.

Auckland Regional Migrant Services is an NGO which has been funded by the Department of Labour since 2005.

Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey’s comments that a super-city will favour central Auckland are being backed by some of those in the urban development industry.

Director of Planning Consultants Jan Crawford says the proposed new structure will give power to those already in power.

“The way the Government reacted, it’s really concentrating power to the Auckland City Council. I think Bob is right in the short term, though maybe not in the long term.”

Crawford says Brisbane has a similar model to the Auckland proposal and the main focus has been speeding up large infrastructure projects.

She believes that this is part of the reason for creating a super city, especially with issues like public transport and waterfront development.

“Most of the funding will go into the electrifying of the railway lines which will increase the importance of the city centre’s [Britomart],” says Crawford.

While the railway lines will be electric, there won’t be any new railway lines, she adds.

Property developer Robb Noble agrees public transport has to be the main focus for Auckland in the coming years.

“Over the last 30 years it hasn’t gone well. They spent most of the funding on motorways.”

Noble says one council could break up the factionalism that has hindered Auckland’s decision making.

Crawford says one major problem could be the planned local boards struggling to be heard by the dominant council.

She warns while big ideas will go ahead, simple projects like fixing a footpath in Henderson will be delayed.

“That’s where the public could get disillusioned and stop voting.”

South Korea is becoming a hot destination for New Zealanders wanting to teach English.

On the job section of the popular TradeMe website many of the teach-English-overseas opportunities are for South Korean schools.

Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency business manager Kelly Kim says while the agency has only been involved in recruitment for a year, it has received plenty of responses for advertised vacancies.

One recent University of Otago graduate who took up that opportunity is Nicholas Oakley.

He is now teaching primary school children.

Oakley says only minimal knowledge of the language is needed and the teaching is pretty simple.

He claims to be making $3400 a month while having his studio apartment paid for by the school that employs him.

“I should save $12,000 to 15,000 this year, even though I am still spending way too much,” says Oakley.

“Also it is cheap as anything. Video games and others electronics are so cheap.”

It is different across the Korean Strait however.

Aucklander Oliver Chan is teaching English in Japan and says the benefits are not as great.

He says his pay rate is similar to New Zealand teachers but that is cut by the fact Japan is extremely expensive.

“I would reckon Korea is definitely on the rise as a teaching destination, while I think Japan is on the decline,” says Chan.

“The news I get from Korea is that the benefits of various jobs, whether in schools or private classes, are better.”

Chan says his contract will expire at the end of this month and he will not be renewing it.

Oakley will continue teaching in South Korea for the near future but with one grudge.

“The tax on pay here is quite high.”

People Before Profit candidate Malcolm France.

Two Mt Albert by-election candidates from parties claiming to representi “the people” are demanding citizen-initiated referenda.

The People’s Choice Party candidate Rusty Kane is pushing for a citizen-initiated referendum on the controversial Waterview motorway.

Meamnwhile, People Before Profit candidate Malcolm France is promoting a citizen-initiated referendum calling for the minimum wage to be raised to $15 per hour.

Kane, a resident of New Plymouth, says his party is using the by-election not only to pursue a referendum on the Waterview issue but to promote the need to make citizen-initiated referendums binding on the Government.

“If the communities and the citizens of New Zealand don’t have the power of a majority say against a Government decision, we are no better than a dictatorship,” says Mr Kane.

He sees binding referenda “stopping nonsense” like the anti-smacking law and making the Government and politicians more accountable to the majority’s wishes.

France, who worked in the corporate world for 12 years, will be going door to door during the campaign seeking signatures for a minimum wage referendum.

“These are issues that the community should care about and get involved with,” he says.

“Thousands of people who live in my area are on low wages, many on the basic minimum wage.”

Promoting his campaign as “a punk rock campaign to get up the noses of the politrickers”,  France is also demanding action on the motorway issue but not via referendum.

He is calling for civil disobedience and human blockades against the planned motorway.

“I’ll be standing on a platform of direct action and civil disobedience against this motorway, and arguing that the billions spent on it would be better spent on free and frequent public transport,” he writes on his campaign blog.

While Kane is not demanding civil disobedience just yet, his party is blocking media from its in-house meetings with residents of the Mt Albert electorate.

He says it is to stay clear of the dirty campaigning and grandstanding by the major parties, an environment which the smaller parties would never get heard in.

Nearly all the candidates running in the Mt Albert by-election spoke at an AUT candidates meeting held in a rather empty Hikuwai Plaza on June 4.

Kiwi Party candidate Simonne Dyer says: “It is difficult. A lot of students just do not care about politics and maybe because it is only a by-election.”

Arguably the most well received speaker at the meeting was Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party candidate Dakta Green.

He agrees that the attendance and participation by students was not great.

“I’m happy to talk to any number of people but I felt the plaza was a bit empty,” says Green.

“We sit around like pussies.”

“In a participation democracy we should participate. I love heckling and getting heckled during meetings.”

Dakta Green speaks at Hikuwai Plaza

Human Rights Party spokesman Anthony Ravlich, who spoke on behalf of the Mt Albert candidate Anthony van den Heuvel, is concerned about the timid attitudes of young students today.

“I wish they were a bit more outspoken and stroppy,” says Ravlich.

“I would like to see young people acting like young people.”

But while the majority of the students were not participating, the student body got thumbs up for organisation of the event.

United Future candidate Judy Turner thought it was extremely well organised and managed by those at AUT.

Libertarianz candidate Julian Pistorius felt that it had been the fairest of all the candidates meetings so far because every candidate was given the chance to get their message across.

“Democracy is about having an opportunity to have your say,” says Pistorius.

He was disappointed some candidates, particularly National candidate Melissa Lee and ACT candidate John Boscawen, left before question time.

“I saw that as poor form by them.”

And while Pistorius felt that was poor form at least they turned up for their allocated speaking time unlike People before Profit candidate Malcolm France, who was late.

“I was a bit unprepared,” he admitted.

Dr Martin Hirst, associate professor at the School of Communication Studies, is questioning the use of shorthand in today’s media world.

An abbreviated symbolic written code that increases writing speed, shorthand has been used by generations of reporters.

In his blog Ethical Martini, Dr Hirst says he is not convinced shorthand is a “necessary skill for 21^st century journalists”.

“It is an antiquated technology that can easily be replaced with a variety of cheap, easy-to-use…digital recording devices”.

“How do you podcast shorthand?”

However, the New Zealand Journalist Training Organisation (NZJTO) makes shorthand a compulsory curriculum for student journalists.

Shorthand teacher Sarah McKenzie says it is best to rely on both digital recordings and shorthand when it comes to note-taking, because “sure as eggs anything mechanical will let you down”.

She says the future of shorthand is secure as long as it continues to be a standard requirement set by the NZJTO. Some states in Australia have already stopped using shorthand in journalism training.

“It is beneficial to learn shorthand. With shorthand, it will be a lot easier for you to search and find your quotes rather than having to listen to your entire recording. Imagine that,” says Mrs McKenzie.

She says she enjoys shorthand because it brings out her creative side, allowing her to create different outlines and looking at various ways of putting words down.

“Shorthand is a safety net. It is a skill for anyone and should be brought back to schools.”

Palm trees on Queen showcase the new urban design

The upgrade to Queen St has won a New Zealand Architecture Award for its new urban design, but still comes with mixed reviews.

The award, presented last week at the New Zealand Institute of Architects gala awards, recognises the redevelopment of Queen St after several years of work.

Group manager for urban design Ludo Campbell-Reid says in a press release the upgrade was about giving people a high quality and stylish urban environment to enjoy, while also supporting business.

When speaking at an East and Bays Community Board meeting he asked the question: “What is the first thing an infant wants to do and the last thing an older person wants to give up?

“Walk. It is hard to walk in Auckland,” he says.

“Auckland is competing with Sydney, Melbourne and London – not Wellington,” says Campbell-Reid.

“People were tired of car dominance in the city. Auckland has the highest car ownership in the world per population.”

Now within the CBD pedestrians come first with weekday pedestrians up by 31 per cent, says Campbell-Reid.

One retailer has seen this.

Body Shop manager Marinde Vermaat thinks the upgrade looks good.

“We have improved sales on last year. Tourism has gone up and we thrive off tourists,” she says.

Dymocks bookseller Tim Gentales says although it took a long time it was worth it as it looks better than before.

But he says the upgrade to Queen St has only made a marginal improvement and has not made a difference to retail.

“It hasn’t made a difference to get people back to the city to shop.”

Campbell-Reid says: “Awards are all about building confidence to show we are going in the right direction.

“It’s wonderful to get recognition from peers and the community.”

Winstone, owner of the 15ha Three Kings quarry, has applied for resource consent to fill it in but many residents are concerned at the scale of the project and how it may affect them.

Three Kings United spokesperson Austen Bell says the community group is against the proposed infill project because it is concerned about dust pollution and traffic congestion.

“The operation is on a massive scale. It’s going to take millions of tonnes of rubble to fill the quarry, and it’ll be a massive upset to traffic,” he says.

“They themselves are estimating there’ll be almost a truck a minute going up and down Mt Eden Rd.”

By all accounts the project is set to be huge, with a predicted 80 to 100 trucks a day transporting infill to the quarry over 10 to 12 years.

Bell says residents are also worried the rubble used to fill the quarry will contain hazardous material.

“They say it’s ‘clean fill’ but it cannot be clean,” he says.

“Infill dust is very, very fine and it’ll go everywhere – into houses, round supermarkets – it’s a real environmental worry and it’s going to be a health hazard too.”

However Auckland councillor Grame Mulholland says Winstone have given expert evidence on where it intends to source the fill.

“You can get good clean natural fill from digging up SH20,” he says.

“The suggestion that it’ll be filled in willy-nilly with whatever comes through the gate is incorrect.”

It is not yet known what will become of the 15ha quarry area if and when it is filled.

Three Kings United hopes an alternative to filling the quarry, such as turning the area into a lake and park, will be considered.

“If they stop quarrying and allow water to build up to its natural level you could have a lake there. Contour the sides and you could turn the quarry into a park,” suggests Bell.

“The regional council and city council should consider it.”

The Auckland City Council has discussed seven different “end-use provisions” in the past, including a lake, recreational area and an industrial park.

“There’s tremendous interest in the whole area,” says Mulholland.

“It’s a huge project, part of the council’s future planning framework and identified as a key area for future development.”

In its application to the council, Winstone states that “the proposal does not involve any future building or development”.

“However the cleanfill works will be completed to a standard which will not prevent any future development.”

Submissions on the proposal closed on May 29, but a hearing date looks set to be some time away.

“There’s a lot of work still to be done,” says Mulholland. “I don’t expect a hearing date will be set until the end of the year.

“The commissioners need to consider all submissions plus all the information the applicant, Winstone, has made.”

Wave combines email, live chat and social networking updates into one, while maintaining a live collaboration platform that enables users to be more efficient and versatile.

Editor of the Tumeke blog Tim Selwyn says Wave will cut down time for bloggers and help drive people toward their blog.

“It has great potential for anyone in communications, it will make it easier to communicate through a range of platforms and that will help drive traffic to create more advertising money.

“You can have an author without the need of staff, so I could be sitting in my spare room and have the power to update at any time.”

According to industry supporters Wave will change the face of the worldwide web when it is launched publicly at the end of the year.

Developers Jens and Lars Rasmussen, the masterminds behind Google Maps, said on the official Google blog that the application is currently in its final stages of development.

Lars describes Wave as “equal parts conversation and document, where people can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more”.

Wave’s groundbreaking features include FriendFeed where collaborators can add text and photos and slide shows in real time.

Other features include Spelly – which intuitively corrects spelling errors (for example ‘Icland is an Icland’ becomes ‘Iceland is an island’) and Rosy which translates a live conversation into nearly any language.

Jeff Jarvis, associate professor and director of the interactive journalism programme at the City University of New York said on his blog Buzzmachine.com: “Wave will change the way people collaborate and create content.

“Imagine a team of reporters – together with witnesses on the scene – able to contribute photos and news to the same Wave(formerly known as a story or a page). One can write up what is known; a witness can add facts from the scene and photos; an editor or reader can ask questions. And it is all contained under a single address – a permalink for the story – that is constantly updated from a collaborative team,” says Jarvis.

Wave will be available for free on Google’s site by the end of the year although an official date has not yet been set.