At last week’s Council meeting, our spokesperson Tanya stood up to raise serious concerns about the modelling used in the new flood maps. But she barely got the chance. The Mayor abruptly interrupted, demanding Tanya justify the relevance of her concerns to the Annual Plan and insisting on an exact reference—part way through her speech.

Without the full document in front of her, Tanya was momentarily stalled—until a member of Concerned Ratepayers Kapiti stepped in with a copy. But by then, the damage was done. A significant portion of the precious 5-minute speaking slot had been chewed up by the Mayor’s challenge.  Tanya was interrupted again to say her time was up so she requested more time to finish but he Mayor flatly refused.

This isn’t democracy in action. This is silencing.

We understand that CALM may be inconvenient for some around the Council table, but that does not give the Mayor the right to shut down public participation. We’ve seen others allowed extra time. Why not us?

You can read her full address here, and watch the Council recording here —Tanya speaks at the 54:45 mark. See for yourself.