John Funnell for Mayor
August 2025
As I talk to people around Taupo one of the most frequent comments is about the stalled agreement between the council & Joint Management Agreement with Iwi. People are worried that the agreement will mean Iwi will be able to act undemocratically and change the will of the voters. They are also worried that their councillors are signing voters up for something that has not be properly scrutinised by voters.
If elected Mayor I will address these concerns head on. I will seek to release every document relating to the Joint Management Agreement as well as the agreement itself on the Council Web Site.
If the proposed agreement is fair & reasonable there should be no objection to sharing it with all those it will affect. Politicians endlessly claim to support transparency, so I suggest all the candidates for Mayor & Council prove their support for transparency by making the same pledge I am making.
I will also seek a vote on council to put the proposed agreement out to a district wide referendum. Agreements that change constitutional settings should not be decided by a few sitting around a council table in a room with only a small number of voters in the public gallery.
Like many in Taupo I do not feel I am able to make an informed decision about the agreement because it has been negotiated in secret with almost no public scrutiny. As Mayor I will immediately seek to change this, so all residents can see what they are being signed up for. I will ask councillors to vote for or against a referendum on the agreement, not the agreement itself because I believe constitutional matters should be decided by the electorate, not the elected.
