The Star: January 23, 2020

The Star Thursday January 23 2020
14
OPINION
The coming week
in our history
January 23, 1855: A huge
magnitude 8.2 earthquake hit
Wellington, having a profound
impact on the development of
the city. Land raised from the
harbour – along with additional
reclamations – formed much
of modern Wellington’s central
business district. The earthquake
also drained notoriously swampy
areas in the Hutt Valley and
Wellington, including the site of
the Basin Reserve cricket ground.
January 24, 1980: The
government ordered the Soviet
Union‘s ambassador, Vsevolod
Sofinsky, to leave the country
within 72 hours after he allegedly
delivered money to the pro-Soviet
Socialist Unity Party.
January 25, 1974: The
opening ceremony of the
‘Friendly Games’ featured
performances by schoolchildren
and a Māori concert party. Next
day, Canterbury runner Dick
Tayler ensured the success of the
Games with a surprise victory for
the host nation in the 10,000m
track race.
January 26, 1984: A
record one-day total of up to
84.8mm of rain caused extensive
surface flooding in the streets of
Invercargill, Riverton, Ōtautau,
Tūātapere and Bluff.
January 27, 1962: Peter
Snell breaks the world mile
record at Wanganui’s Cook
Gardens, shaving 0.1 seconds off
Australian Herb Elliott’s 3½-yearold
record. Snell ran 3.54.4.
January 28, 1901:
Wellington blacksmith William
Hardham served in South Africa
with the fourth New Zealand
contingent. He was the only New
Zealander awarded a Victoria
Cross during the South African
War.
January 29, 1842:
Auckland’s Anniversary Day
commemorates the arrival of
Lieutenant-Governor William
Hobson in the Bay of Islands in
1840.
IT’S AMAZING what a kick in
the backside can do sometimes.
Late last year Chief
Ombudsman Peter Boshier gave
the city council a rip snorter of a
kick up the bum.
It was in the form of his
findings into an investigation
into culture at the city council
and concerns over the release of
information to the public.
Firmly in his sights were
senior managers.
Boshier’s report was scathing,
leading to many more kicks in
the backside for the council,
namely from the news media.
The report was released in
November; probably lucky
for some who had sought reelection
in the October local
body elections.
But as reporter Louis Day
reveals in today’s Star, the city
council appears to be well on the
way to rectifying many of the
problems identified in Boshier’s
report.
This is being led by the new
council chief executive Dawn
Baxendale who through no
fault of her own was highly
scrutinised when she got the
role last year.
Twenty-eight of the 90 action
points identified in Boshier’s
report have been completed, 44
have been initiated, 17 are yet to
start and one has been delayed.
The two key issues in Boshier’s
TWENTY TWENTY marks the
beginning of the first year of what
is an incredibly significant decade
for our city and region.
Not only will we mark the
10th anniversary of the first of
the earthquakes that changed the
course of our city’s history, we
will see many more milestones
achieved.
It was a great to start the year
seeing Christchurch at number
24 in the New York Times top-52
places to visit in 2020.
This ties in well with the announcement
that American Airlines
will connect North America
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
When a kick up the bum works
report were a culture of fear and
the flow of information from the
former chief executive’s office to
and our region later in the year
with direct flights between Los
Angeles and Christchurch three
days a week.
The new convention centre,
Te Pae, will open in October
this year. This will reinstate
Christchurch as a world-class
conference destination, as well as
From the
editor’s desk
Barry Clarke
Mayor
Lianne Dalziel
councillors and the public.
Boshier found rank and file
staff and middle managers were
serving as an entree to the wider
region.
Delegates adding in extra
days to look around while they
are here, bringing partners
who book tours and events,
or bringing the whole family
back for a holiday, not to
mention all the word of mouth
too frightened to raise issues
with their bosses.
He also found the system
of staff reports which should
have gone to publicly-elected
councillors for perusal and
onto the public was flawed to
a point information was being
withheld.
The finger was pointed clearly
at the former CEO’s office. That
situation was rectified in June of
last year as Boshier progressed
through his investigation.
So overall, the city council
deserves credit for acting
fairly swiftly on Boshier’s
recommendations.
It’s amazing what a kick up
the bum can do.
barry@starmedia.kiwi
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A lot happening for Christchurch in 2020
recommendations they will make
to friends.
We are quickly reclaiming our
status as the country’s friendliest
and most helpful host city and
region.
He Puna Taimoana hot pools
will open in New Brighton in
March, bringing a real boost to
this seaside village.
And there is a lot more happening
too in 2020.
We can see the way ahead, and
we can take on the remaining
challenges we face with
optimism, recognising that they
are also opportunities.
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