10 March 2023
Media: Local Democracy Reporter
Topic: Freedom of Speech Union letter to council re new submissions policy
Enquiry
I have been provided the letter [Freedom of Speech Union] lawyer sent to Geoff Williams and will be writing a story on it's being sent.
I was wondering if someone can please help me with a few questions and for a response?
I welcome any comment on the letter itself and any points council wishes to respond to in it.
The letter states FSU contacted council with its concerns on the policy but received no response. Is this accurate? Why did it/why did it not get a response?
Does council agree with its point under the section: The policy does not adequately define what Council intends to censor? Any comment on what it says about insufficient assurances submitter won't be unfairly denied opportunities or on discrimination?
Any comment on: This duty is not limited to considering only those views that are agreeable or palatable to Council, under the section Council is required to have regard to all views?
Any comment on: Finally, we note that the submission policy in place may be in breach of Section 19 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 if it is implemented as written?
Any comment on: In particular, our client would be much less apprehensive were the submissions policy be revised to make a clear distinction between the ideas that submitters put forward and how they are expressed.
Will a response be provided to FSU's lawyer?
Will council make any action or decision or provide a clarification having received the letter?
Does it agree/disagree with the letter's contents?
Does council wish to provide any other information, clarification or response?
Response
From DCE district leadership and democracy Oonagh Hopkins:
Council acknowledges that a letter has been received from the Free Speech Union’s lawyers. The letter seeks clarification on some issues. Council will be responding directly to the Free Speech Union, not via the media.
For clarification, we have been clear that this policy is not about suppressing or excluding any submissions.
Elected members will receive the full, unabridged submissions for their consideration but we will not be publishing on council channels content within submissions that does not meet ‘submission content conditions’ specified in the policy (link to the policy here). Such content would be redacted.
Council strives to be a responsible ‘publisher’ and that carries with it a duty of care, including with respect to the nature of content published, in any form.
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Media: Local Democracy Reporter
Topic: Council's pensioner flats
Enquiry
Reporter had questions re council’s pensioner housing (following yesterday’s enquiry re tenant complaint):
How many people are on council's waiting list for elderly housing?
When are the 20 flats likely to be refurbed?
What work needs to be done and what is the hold up?
How long have they been empty?
What is the longest time any of them have been empty?
One resident in a pensioner unit said he thought it was a priority to get the 20 livable again given how hard it is for people at the moment and how there are new builds going up to meet the housing need.
When did council stop adding to the waitlist?
Age Concern's Rotorua manager said he had been aware of a few flats empty but was disappointed to hear there were 20 when there were so many in the community needing them. He said council needed to get a wriggle on with refurbishing them, given people were living in vans and emergency housing. Having the 20 available would be a huge help, given the housing crisis for elderly was dire.
Response
From DCE Organisational Enablement Thomas Collé:
There are currently 45 people on the waiting list for council housing. Because turnover in our pensioner units is low, the wait for an available unit can be up to several years so we limit our waiting list to 40 and refer people to agencies like MSD so that they can get assistance with housing more quickly.
People who are placed on our waiting list are made aware that they may need to wait for several years for a unit to become available and are able to seek alternative options while on the waiting list.
Council has been progressively refurbishing its pensioner units for several years and 9 refurbishments have been undertaken/completed this financial year (2022/23) to Healthy Homes standards.
The 20 empty units currently awaiting refurbishment have been empty for between 6 and 9 months. They require full interior refurbishment as well as double glazing.
When these will be refurbished is dependent on annual budget allocations and priorities that are set through Council’s annual plans. Budgets for next financial year will be confirmed when the 2023/24 annual plan is adopted in June.
Council appreciates the need and growing demand for pensioner housing and continues to work with other organisations, agencies and iwi on a multi-pronged approach to address the shortage of all types of housing in Rotorua, including pensioner housing.