Yeah it’s not a race Luxon, it’s a genocide. Wtf dude.

FTR the @cityvision.bsky.social ward councillor candidates for the Albert-Eden Youth Board debate were on time. @jonturnernz.bsky.social & I were there at 1pm ready to go! Guess what time C&R candidates turned up? Others did not show at all. 101 for youth engagement = showing up!

Also, if keen on something more in depth - I wrote something earlier this week: open.substack.com/pub/drbex/p/...

Someone just hearted this skeet from March and it is ridiculously timely at this point in the local govt election campaign - let your local lady and nonbinary candidates know you love them cos its pretty brutal atm. Shoutout to @rebeccamatthews.bsky.social one of my all time faves 🫶

So much this.

I'm at Puketāpapa Local Board and C&R are voting against decreasing congestion by expanding T3 and bus lanes. Claiming that a small loss of on street carparking for a few businesses is more important that travel time improvements of 3 minutes plus per bus passenger. C&R did same at Albert-Eden.

Some numbers: 46% of New Zealanders think that gender equality has been achieved 33% of male respondents aged 18-34 believe that gender equality has gone too far 47% of men believe Gender Equality has been achieved for senior management 40% don’t believe that sexism is still a significant issue

The Aotearoa Gender Attitudes Survey results are out and they are... revealing. Nothing surprising though, if you've been paying attention to trends overseas. genderequal.nz/ga-survey/

Last night at a local govt election debate for a predominantly uni student crowd, organised by uni students, one of the older male candidates chose to insist that one of the young female candidates share how many children she was going to have. This is 2025.

In open workshop discussing plan changes & Cr Williamson is claiming yet again that no one can explain to him where 2 million capacity comes from, despite multiple past explanations, & then several more attempts to explain it to him now, & he just refuses to understand because he doesn't like it.

The rumours are true - @cityvision.bsky.social is endorsing Tara Iti, the Fairy Tern, for @forestandbird.bsky.social’s Bird of the Year! Vote Fairy Tern AND Fair(e)y Turn(er)! Thanks to the very talented @emmamcinnes.bsky.social for this great graphic 😍💚❤️

A reminder that Councillor Mike Lee fought hard to stop all improvements downtown as he does to this day everywhere. Fortunately he is also ineffective and was unable to stop these upgrades. He is stuck in last century and stuck in the role. Help him move on: Vote for a positive future

I got some anon queries about how much I'm doing on special character for my ward, cf to my ward colleague. I don't know how much they are doing, but I can tell you that it is taking up an enormous amount of my time, more than any other issue with these plan change proposals. So there's that.

Thursday Throwback to when David Seymour claimed shifting from plastic bags to cloth (and other options) would literally kill people, and was widely debunked. www.stuff.co.nz/science/1083...

My recovery is so sloooow but another step forward today (For those just joining us, my leg was broken in a crash in late June, car driver cut a corner while I was biking to work, and I later developed blood clots & a pulmonary embolism from it). I’m on the 25L into the city to attend a committee…

I’m doing a webinar on Mon 15th Sept 7pm to help folks understand the AKL planning changes. You can register through this form, indicate areas of interest & submit questions. I’ll talk through the process & regional principles, with egs & maps for Albert-Eden-Puketāpapa :) tr.ee/4WwbcB

Peters, Nash, Williamson, Chung... These disgusting men are causing very real harm to not only Doyle and myself, but those we represent. I would love to see other men in politics speak out against this behaviour in the strongest terms. I know Waititi has and it carried significant weight. #nzpol

Primary school teachers reject latest pay offer, will vote on strike action I stand with #teachers, #midwives, #nurses, carers, doctors & all who NZ Govt robbed of #PayEquity #nzpol

I was disappointed to miss this cos of my health stuff and stoked to read this update - yay!

Te reo is not just for one part of our community, or one part of our education system. It's a taonga for all. Even if you thought it should only be for tangata whenua kids and not also tangata tiriti, this move makes no sense because most Māori kids attend schools that aren't kura kaupapa.

Folks who watch AKL Council’s transport resilience & infra committee (TRIC) will kmow I’ve been trying to get AT to confirm the definition they use for Serious Injury in road safety stats. I asked in July, TRIC didnt meet in Aug, & I asked again today, but CEO wasnt sure…

Weird thing just happened in Transport Committee - Cr Fletcher mentioned Sir Dove Myer-Robinson in a speech about CRL completion, said his statue wasn't paid for by council but by a group of "us" who thought he should be recognised. But this says council did pay? www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/robbie-ba...

I’m doing an Ask Me Anything on Reddit, Wednesday 3rd Sept 7pm. I don’t entirely know it works yet but @jonturnernz.bsky.social is a great teacher & I’m a quick learner so hopefully any hilarity will be intentional not accidental 😂 Join me u/JulieFaireyAMA to find out! Cc @cityvision.bsky.social

Friday afternoon school run in my bike-enabled burb: a dad (with baby on the back) and two kids on bikes, trundling homeward down our recently rebuilt main street via the dedicated bike paths. A nice, normal, and neighbourly scene. It’s just so weird that this could be seen as in any way political.🤷

Guess where I am… Thought I might never be able to get up to the Seat of Love again, after breaking my leg, but with a patient driver and some encouraging junior associates here I am! #BusLife

It’s not ok to point your fingers at someone speaking at a public meeting and pretend to shoot them, and I don’t understand why media aren’t talking about this when they literally have photos.

Tautoko Charlie. There's absolutely no reason to split collectives, especially when there's so much overlap in the work being done, it's literally only a divide-and-conquer move

Yep I'm online yet again for Governing Body today. Nine weeks yesterday since a driver's mistake broke my leg when I was biking to work, and four weeks since I had a pulmonary embolism as a result and spent another week in hospital. I'd hoped to be in person today but...

There was a fellow bus passenger on the 25L just now who had the most GLORIOUS raincoat, with big blousy pink and yellow and orange flowers like a 1970s bedspread and 😍 #BusLife

AT board papers for tomorrow have an item on addressing community concerns about the blanket speed limit increases. The one forced by Simeon Brown specifically targeting 30km/h limits outside of schools... that AT dutifully complied with out of step to any other city in NZ. 🧵 #nzpol

Accurate. It’s frustrating when councillors who have been at the table for years and years do everything they can to stop progress, including misrepresenting and scaremongering. Hated the unitary plan, until PC78 came along, then they loved it. Called for PC78 to be scrapped, now acting like this. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Watch Auckland Council Policy & Planning Committee meeting debate and vote on putting a massive rezoning plan through to the next round of consultation (very limited by central govt) - livestream is here: councillive.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/live-stream/ I'm online again (health, am getting better!)

It's eight weeks today since a car hit my bike while I rode to work. My broken leg is healing well and I'm able to walk and drive. I can't use it normally yet, but physio is confident that will come. Recovery from the pulmonary embolism is now my main restriction, 3 weeks after hospitalisation.

Trans people are worth protecting. Not because we are amazing people (although we are) or because we offer a great deal to society (although we do) or because we are fine as hell (we are). We are worth protecting because we are HUMAN BEINGS, and it’s amazing how often that simple fact is forgotten.

Oh look an Auckland Transport study that reveals that not only does better Road Safety ya know, SAVE LIVES, its also good economically by avoiding costly disruptions and delays???? Who could of eeeeeeevvvvvverr predicted that at.govt.nz/media/4q4dcj...

Some wholesome Sunday content for you - while I’ve been housebound and spending a lot of time on the couch I’ve been painting rocks for hiding in parks and today I got a chance to release some into the world for others to find & rehide.

#nzpol #sexism #patriachy #leadership I appreciate David Fisher's reporting on this - but the sub ed needs to be told there's no question mark needed in this headline. Fisher gives us multiple clear cut eg's of how sexism & patriarchal culture actually works 🧵 www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-...

Worth also noting these are former ministers who have had serious threats to their safety, to their families, from some of those involved in this inquiry and their fellow travellers. They are still participating and cooperating, in a way that keeps them safe and doesn't escalate conflict.

If a public inquiry has been turned into a political circus, then participation risks legitimising that circus. In that context, former ministers refusing to appear publicly is not about evading accountability: it’s about refusing to be props in a staged performance designed for partisan gain.

Auckland Council just voted for the Deed of Acknowledgement for the Waitākere Ranges Heritage Area, confirming a joint advisory committee will be created with reps from local iwi (Te Kawerau ā Maki), council and DOC. It was widely supported by locals, iwi, and most elected reps for the area. But...

Hard to to take a minister seriously who pretends this is what’s going on, rather than decades of underinvestment putting our nationwide infrastructure in crisis.

I'm onlinef or our committee of the whole today - Auckland Council's Policy & Planning Committee - I'm at home again, recovering from broken leg and subsequent complication that sent me back to hospital with deep vein thrombosis. I can't count for quorum until electronic attendance is approved.

Slightly diminish a band: Queen Mother

It’s like when they renamed all those NRL clubs to be “Sydney”

Bit of a health update from me, your friendly local Albert-Eden-Puketāpapa ward councillor who has been pretty absent from the socials over the last wee while. You may recall my leg was broken when I got hit by a car while biking to work, in late June. Unfortunately two weeks ago I developed…

Little known local government fact - the amazing @richardhills.bsky.social does all his social media himself, organises his own election campaign, and is out there today putting his signs up himself today with his husband. Give them a friendly toot if you see them around the Shore. He’s a legend.

Happy hoardings day to all who celebrate. I am unable to participate for Reasons but cheering on the progressive local government teams and candidates from a couch. #NZPol

Happy hoardings day to all who celebrate. I am unable to participate for Reasons but cheering on the progressive local government teams and candidates from a couch. #NZPol

Colleague claims they remember working on the Auckland Unitary Plan (AUP) when they were a local board member. They were first elected in 2018 (by-election); council processes on AUP ended in 2016... www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/plans-projec... In election season always check receipts, sigh.

After over a week of quite serious illness (complication from the broken leg) I'm starting to get my brain back fully which is rather nice. In five words or less, what did I miss?