Thames-Coromandel Mayor Sandra Goudie does not want to sign the Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) Climate Change Declaration. On Wednesday she told RNZ the declaration was “politically charged”. But Dave Cull, president of LGNZ, says the declaration is purely aspirational and no one is being pressured into signing up. “It’s not a binding contract; there Read more
Tony Kokshoorn, mayor of the Grey District since 2004 credits his success as a businessman and politician to family, his community and lessons learnt in his Catholic upbringing. “I went to a Marist Brothers school. I was Catholic, I had good morals instilled by my parents and my school and they have stuck with me.” Read more
Proposed law changes to allow councils to determine whether shops can trade on Easter Sunday are unnecessarily complicated, Local Government New Zealand says. The bill, which is being considered by Parliament’s commerce committee, would allow councils to pass a by-law to allow shops to open. But Local Government president Lawrence Yule said by-laws were time Read more
Hostility towards religion has grown to unprecedented levels in the United States, according to a national survey that describes more than 600 examples in the last decade. Examples include local government zoning laws discriminating against churches and city officials telling senior citizens that praying over government-funded food violated the “separation of church and state” and Read more