MUNICIPAL DEMOCRACY

For the first time in my life, I was a voter in Local Body Elections.

This means that I participated in the democratic process of electing the members and leaders of my local municipal body. My right to vote is part of Human Rights, guaranteed to me by the United Nations. No one ANYWHERE, has any right to take Mine away.

 

There are many many things that local councils take care of. Here in Auckland New Zealand where we have a Supercity council, which in recent years meant that there was the amalgamation of 4+ councils in to 1 council.

 

The [new] Auckland council is responsible for Our Parks, Our Community centres, Some Gyms, Pools, Playgrounds, Roads, Public Transport, Sewerage, Water, Carparks, Resource consents for building etc etc.

 

The powers of council, and all subsidiary organisations are wide.

 

And thus the idea that we, the voters of this municipality CAN and do vote… is indeed an idea that is founded in the very essence of democracy. All voters value their rights to vote. In some countries, people DIE for this right. It is crucial to our society.

 

Especially for New Zealand’s central economic hub, and being home to 25% of the nation’s population, it brings on even MORE Importance.

 

Again, Our right to vote in our municipal elections is crucial to the running of our democratic society.

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I OPENLY Challenge anybody who wishes to usurp my rights!!!!

 

Anyone who wishes to disrupt my rights, by thinking they can replace/depose a Mayor who was DULY Elected….. Without the full, informed consent of ALL AUCKLAND VOTERS [Yes… hundreds of thousands of people in the nation’s LARGEST City] MUST Expect THEMSELVES to punished either by the Law or the fury of people hungry to hold on to their human right to democracy.

 

BRING IT!!!!!!!!

OUR Education System

These are my own public thoughts about Education in New Zealand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_Index

On that Index, we Remain one of the top Education systems internationally.. Number 1, alongside Finland, Denmark, Australia and Cuba.

We still have 99% Literacy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate

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We have 2539 Schools http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/schooling/july_school_roll_returns/school-type

And many of our kids go to school, EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!
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Last time I checked, The countries Teacher Education providers produce in excess of 3000 New teachers a year.
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In all the world, We are the only country I know, that have 3 national curricula, as well as effective, tailored National Standards to measure the efficacy of the delivery of 2 of those curricula.

We have Te Whariki, the world's first bilingual ECE Curriculum. We have an English medium curriculum And a Maori-medium Curriculum.

These curricula are underpinned by values of Excellence, Innovation and Inquiry.

Tikanga Maori and the Principles of the Te Tiriti o Waitangi are infused in to all 3 of our national curricula.

Nationally, as far as I see, we have a huge expansion of ECE Centres, indicative of our commitment to getting young kiwis to learn, as early as possible.
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I don't know of any other country that has so many different types of Educational facilities at ALL Levels of Education.. reflective of the countries ability to cater to diverse learning needs, gifts and talents at all levels.
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The Ministry of Education has recently released plans to CELEBRATE Educational Excellence. Something rare, but also something to reward the amazing things happening in Education across our Nation.
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Unlike other countries with multi-levelled bureaucracy, All of our state-schools are directly connected to the Government and are ready to receive help and assistance.

Our best authors still write books for our kids. Our artists still teach our kids to be creative.

Our teachers are highly trained and have experiences that make them leaders in their field internationally. Our teachers are sometimes unsung heroes.

We have one of the BEST Education systems in the world. The result is that people, [comparative to all nations across the planet] are highly skilled. All thanks to an incredible Education system.

For the most part, these highly skilled people are in jobs, where those very people are creating a new future for the World!!
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I know that there is always a lot of room for improvement and many many almost insurmountable challenges.

But bit by bit, day by day, as we try.. we are Proving that we CAN meet these challenges.