Advocacy

Local and central government have an important role in creating and implementing policy that either supports or degrades our environment and well-being. Climate Action Tai Tokerau engages with local and central government and encourages people to engage in democratic processes.

Local government elections 2025

We are in the process of surveying local body candidates and will publish their responses here. Check back soon for more!

Alongside Electrify Te Tai Tokerau and the Bream Bay Guardians, we are also planning public meetings with local body candidates for the NRC and WDC.

Register here to attend the Online Hui for Māori Wards (details below).

Here are the dates and venues.

• Monday 1 September: Mangakahia (7pm to 9pm)
  Mangakahia Sport and Community Complex, 689 Mangakahia Road
  
• Saturday 6 September: Whangārei (2pm to 4pm)
  One One Six, 116 Bank Street
  
• Thursday 11 September: Ruakākā (7pm to 9pm)
  Ruakākā Recreation Centre, 3 Peter Snell Road
  
• Saturday 13 September: Ngunguru (9:30am to 11:30am)
  Ngunguru Memorial Hall, 1879 Ngunguru Road
  
• Monday 15 September: Online Hui for Māori Wards (7pm to 9pm)
  REGISTER BELOW

Candidate survey responses

All WDC candidates, NRC candidates in or near the Whangārei District, and NRC Māori Ward candidates were invited to complete a survey. Here are the responses.

Whangārei District Council

Mayoral candidates

• Brad Flower
• Fiona Green
• Ken Couper
• Vince Cocurullo

Bream Bay Ward candidates

• Simon Schuster
• Shilane Shirkey

Hikurangi – Coastal Ward

• Scott McKenzie

Mangakāhia Maungatapere

• Tim Robinson

Whangārei District Māori Ward

Whangārei Heads Ward

• Anthony Wild
• Jon Twyman

Whangārei Urban Ward

• Dr Carol Peters
• Gabriel Henry
• Jesse Card
• Tony Dingle
• Phillip Cullen

Northland Regional Council

Coastal Central

• Amy Macdonald

Coastal South

• Rick Stolwerk
• Robert Goodhue

Te Raki Māori constituency

• Tui Shortland

Whangārei Central

• Jack Craw

Citizen Assemblies

As central government becomes increasingly unreliable globally, community building and citizen assemblies become ever more important. We are exploring how citizen assemblies can work here.

In this episode of the Great Simplification, Nate Hagans interviews Audrey Tang, the Digital Ambassador for the Taiwan Government. She describes how Taiwan used citizen assemblies to build trust in the government and inject citizen voice into policy development.