Manawatū Conversations

Robin Coleman and Jackie Sayers, part 1 of 4.

Jackie came to NZ in 1958. Wanted a country without a class system.

Experience of system. Grammar school. Jackie’s and Robin’s wartime childhoods. Robin’s evacuation, father absence. After the war, mother continued working. Jackie coming to NZ as a service wife in 1958 on the Captain Cook with a baby, husband already in NZ. Information given about NZ. The journey out. Robin came on the Southern Cross in 1963.

Andy Asquith and Iola Haggarty Part 2. Centralising public sector organization. Centralising versus decentralising. Councillors versus chief executives, training for elected representatives. Lack of trust in local authorities. Few links between councils and academics. New land for housing, traffic congestion. Public consultation a farce. Which organization has responsibility? Lack of knowledge of civics.

Andy Asquith and Iola Haggarty Part 1. Comprehensive review of local government just announced. Problems with local government finance. Shared services. Low voter turnout. Lessons from the Covid pandemic. A constitution for NZ? Checks and balances. Power of the chief executive. Neoliberalism. Governance versus the representative role.

John Waldon pt 3 of 3

John Waldon Part 2. Involvement in the Public Health Association. Composition of membership. Scope of public health. Screening programmes. Vaccination. Changing behaviours. Covid-19 response. Hepatitis B. Identifying benefits from public health programmes. Screening and contact tracing. Diabetes. Compliance, registers.

John Waldon Part 1. Elected to Mid-Central District Health Board. Boards due to be abolished in a restructuring. Current Board objectives, limited scope. Purpose of reforms. Centralisation of specialist services. Family support for patients. International health labour market. Adjustment to restructuring. Loss of elected representatives, but more community advocacy. Handling people’s issues and complaints. Ageing primary health workforce. Separate Maori health delivery.

Grant Hadfield, Part 2 of 2.

2002 became Chief Executive Officer of FarmSafe. Developed educational safety programmes for farms. Impact of an on-farm injury. Consulting, then retired and went into local body politics, 2019. Learning to be a local body politician, having a mentor. Valuing democracy. Party politics in local government. The fourth estate and politics. Use of social media, Facebook. Relationship between elected officials and council staff. Impacts of political life on family.

Grant Hadfield, Part 1 of 2. Long family history in NZ, 1823 Henry Williams arrived, later translated the Treaty of Waitangi. Other prominent ancestors. Father developed Lindale Farm. Grant went farming, but hit by policies from 1984 as recently bought a farm with high debt. Impact of family background on perception of self. Letters by Bishop Octavius Hadfield. Moved to Manawatu in 1989. Experience as farmer with policy changes in the 1980s. Communication different now, so knew little about world events then. Job as rep for Reed Publishing, then A&P executive officer, 7 A&P shows at the Showgrounds (Arena) including 2 Royal Shows. Pigs at the Royal Show.

Darroch Ball, 2 of 2. Losing an election. Working for Sensible Sentencing Trust. Objectives of the organization. Issues with sentencing. Physical discipline. Prisons and reoffending. Remand and electronic bail. White collar crime. Family structure/policies affecting crime rates? Gangs and the army – similarities and differences. Value of LSV (Limited Service Volunteers). Compulsory community service.

Darroch Ball, Part 1 of 2. Grew up in Auckland, university then army officer for 7 years, logistics officer. Why left the army. Limited Services Volunteers. YMCA then diploma in teaching and became a high school teacher. Father and discipline. Joined NZ First, elected to parliament. Winston Peters. Operation of parliament and select committees.