Whakatane Association Monthly Meetings
Wednesday 19-Jul-23:
Venue will be the Knox Presbytarian Church hall on Domain Road and the meeting will commence at 10am.
Deputy Mayor Lesley Immink
Bridging the Digital Divide
Abstract: The Eastern Bay of Plenty is well documented to be one of NZ’s highest deprivation demographics. Two lockdowns during the pandemic where children and teachers had to work online, you’d expect the government and Ministry of Education would ensure that all children at schools would have access to an appropriate learning device and reliable connectivity in their homes. Unfortunately not so! Lesley will give us a story of how one community’s life has being transformed with digital connectivity and how they are using those lessons Te Aka Toitū is assisting in bridging the digital divide.
Bio: Lesley is an experienced tourism and business professional, currently Deputy Mayor of Whakatāne District and Chair of Te Aka Toitū – a local digital connectivity trust. Lesley advocates for digital equity and believes that every family should have access to UBI - Universal Basic Internet, especially those who live in rural, remote and isolated communities
Wednesday 21-Jun-23:
Venue will be the Knox Presbytarian Church hall on Domain Road and the meeting will commence at 10am.
Mr Jack Nightingale will speak about education.
Wednesday 17-May-23: AGM
Venue will be the Knox Presbytarian Church hall on Domain Road and the meeting will commence at 10am.
Mr Greig Dean will speak about Health Reforms and Localities.
Wednesday 17-Aug-22: Venue will be the Knox Presbytarian Church hall on Domain Road and the meeting will commence at 10am.
Dr Victor Luca will provide de debrief of the Federation AGM which he attended and which took place in Wellington between 26 and 28 of July.
The guest speaker at the meeting will be Brendan Horan who used to be a New Zealand First MP. His talk is entitled 'Cancel Culture, Politics and People Today'.
Wednesday 15-Jun-22: Venue will be the Knox Presbytarian Church hall on Domain Road and the meeting will commence at 10am.
The guest speaker will be Mr Nandor Tanczos (Whakatane District Councilor).
Talk Title: Demystifying the Process
Whakatāne District Grey Power Association Inc. AGM
Date: 18-May-22
Venue: Knox Presbytarian Church hall.
Start time: 10am
Come to our AGM to be held at 10am on Wednesday 18th of May.
President’s address: ‘Who are we, where we’ve been and where we’re going?’
Join the discussions and cast your vote for committee officials.
Nominations are open and forms need to be given to the President, Vice President or Secretary no later than 4pm on the 17th of May.
Get involved and help change Aotearoa for the better!
Wednesday 16-Feb-22: Venue will be the Knox Presbytarian Church hall on Domain Road and the meeting will commence at 10am.
The guest speaker will be Mr Ian Finch who is an elected member of the Bay of Plenty District Health Board.
New Zealand Health & Disability System Reforms and What they Means for You
Mr Ian Finch
Bay of Plenty District Health Board
Biography
Born in the North of England (think Coronation Street) back in the days when dinosaurs ruled the Earth. Married To Sue for over 45 years (or as Sue says “2 life sentences and no option for parole!”)
Sue and I have 3 children 3 grandchildren 3I/2 horses and 2 cats ( the order of importance varies day to day!) I am an optometrist and Sue a midwife. We emigrated to NZ in 1991 and both of us consider Whakatane to be our turangawaewae. Over the years Whakatane has offered us the opportunity to be involved in cricket, soccer,horse riding, Rotary, optometric politics and most recently the District Health Board. We feel ourselves very privileged to be able to serve our community in both our business and our personal lives.
Abstract
The bones of New Zealand's present Health System were first laid down in 1938 with the Social Security Act of 1938. From the outset the system was supposed to guarantee:
- Universal availability and healthcare as a fundamental right without barriers to access;
- Equal access to the same standard of treatment;
- Preventive rather than curative focus;
- Integrated not fragmented services between primary and hospital-based care;
We clearly have not achieved this yet despite many subsequent reforms.
In my talk I will provide the lay of the land as far as the new reforms are concerned and what they may mean for the audience.
Wednesday 17-Nov-21: Venue will be the Knox Presbytarian Church hall on Domain Road at 10am on Wednesday the 17th of November. Guest speaker will be Mr Nigel Clarke who is Whakatane District Council's manager of solid waste.
Nigel will be putting us in the picture regarding what is going on in this important area and what changes we can look forward to in the future
There will be a second guest speaker also. Title of talk to be provided.
Wednesday 20-Oct-21: The venue will be the Knox Presbytarian Church hall at 10am on Wednesday the 20th of October. Our guest speaker will be Mr Bevan Gray.
Bevan is the General Manager of Infrastructure with the Whakatane District Council. He will speak to us about our water infrastructure and the three-waters reforms being proposed by central government.