20171010

10th of October 2017 : An urgent message from Bruce Rogan, Chairman of Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents Association Incorporated-whose recent success in the High Court to force their council(s) to comply with the law, is to be challenged by those Councils in the Court of Appeal in Wellington on the 23rd of November 2017. The outcome of this case will affect ALL ratepayers in New Zealand.

Dear fellow Ratepayer Groups,

A NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF RATEPAYER GROUPS is urgently needed to assess our position and formulate some policy.

For years now we have all been divided and ruled. By Local Government New Zealand, the Local Government Commission, a succession of hopeless ministers of Local Government and the government bureaucrats themselves.

Nothing terrifies the Department of Internal Affairs and the conservative establishment more than a concerted voice from any section of the New Zealand community.

Up here in the North ( in Mangawhai ) we have uncovered the true nature of the vice that ratepayers are in.

When we tried to draw attention to council illegality the government stepped in and legislated the illegality away.

When we persisted and took our arguments to the courts, the judiciary stepped in, right up to the Supreme Court, and legislated from the bench to protect vested interests.

As a result we have wound the clock back to the days of the Rating Powers Act, where the ratepayers had no rights whatsoever.

We don’t advocate the indiscriminate or vexatious use of the powers that lie with the ratepayer, but we passionately believe that they should be there when needed.

Councils screw up, sometimes quite deliberately. They MUST be accountable for their failures.

Thanks to Parliament and the courts, our rights to question ANYTHING a council does have been extinguished.

Can we live with this? Should we continue uncomplainingly to accept the overbearing, bullying authority of the bureaucratic establishment that is supposed (by law!!) to be working in our best interests? Changes are needed to Local Government Law, and WE should be dictating those changes, not the bureaucrats and vested interests.

We urgently need A NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF RATEPAYER GROUPS to assess our position and formulate some policy. We will organise it, at a venue near the middle of the country. If you want to participate please let us know as soon as possible.

If you are willing to consider participating, get in touch with

Bruce Rogan, email : mangawhairatepayers@gmail.com

Mobile/Text : 02108180162

Landline : (09)4315413

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Bruce and Heather Rogan have decided to defend their win at the Court of Appeal in Wellington on the 22nd of November 2017 and the outcome of this case will affect not only other ratepayers in Northland but also every ratepayer and rent-paying resident in New Zealand.

They are going to need all the help they can get - and judging from Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents' previous experience it is likely to cost in the region of NZ$100,000 in legal fees to defend this case.

At the time of writing ( 20171010 ) the MRRA had received NZ$13,000 in donations from members and people in other areas.

You can contribute to The Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents' Association by making a donation through Give A Little or by

internet banking @ 38 9012 0318164 00

Direct donations to MRRA’s account are preferred because we don’t have to pay commission on your contribution.

Please put your phone number in the reference, or send us an e-mail @ mangawhairatepayers@gmail.com

or post a cheque to Box 225 Mangawhai 0540.

Every contribution will be acknowledged and we are committed to returning as much of your contributions as possible - if we are successful.

Please, please forward this message through your networks as it’s a fight that needs to be underwritten by every ratepayer in the country.

Kind regards,

Bruce Rogan, Chair, MRRA. 10th of October 2017

( for more detail on what's been happening in Kaipara District, please go to : https://www.kaiparaconcerns.co.nz/ )