Kia ora e hoa mā,

Apology for the silence if you have been missing our pitopito kōrero. Rest assured, our team here in Taranaki has not been idle. Some of you might not have seen the press releases on our involvement in the Waitangi Tribunal hearing on seabed mining and our call to shut down Methanex but participated in some of our protest actions. Thank you.

Notably, an Expert Panel for the Taranaki VTM (formerly TTR) seabed mining application has been formed under the Fast Track Approval Act 2024. Alongwith other groups, we have been invited to provide comments on the application, no later than 6 Oct. If there are any particular points you want us raise or emphasize, please let us know. The Panel is due to make a decision on 18 March 2026.

Thanks to funding from Toi Foundation, our Climate Fresk trained facilitators will be running a series of workshops until mid-2026, to empower communities and organisations with sound understanding on the systemic issues of climate change and to take actions that matter most. Stay tuned or get in touch if you are interested.

Cast your VOTE wisely

Local councils are where decisions that most directly affect the wider community occur. As far right agenda and disinformation running rampant globally and across Aotearoa, many council candidates are standing on the back of deep-pocketed funders with little interest for community wellbeing or te taiao the environment.

Never before are your votes so critical.  Please learn about your candidates, know what they stand for, get behind progressive candidates, and cast your vote wisely.

Our group provided inputs into a candidate questionnaire distributed by Ngāmotu Progressive who kindly collated the returned answers here. Please take a look.

We also encourage you to attend some local body election events, ask questions or support your favourite candidates:

Beer & Banter with NPDC Candidates, Tue 9 Sep 5:30-7:15pm, Shining Peak Brewery

NPDC Mayoralty event, Tue 9 Sep 7:30-9:30pm, Shining Peak Brewery

Stratford mayoral debate and TRC candidates, Wed 10 Sep 6pm, War Memorial Centre

Māori candidates meet and greet, Thu 11 Sep, 5-8pm, Whakaahurangi Marae, Celia St.

Meet the Candidates, Mon 15 Sep, 5-7pm. Hosted by Enabling Good Lives Disability Network NPDC Council Chambers (84 Liardet Street).

Meet New Candidates Standing for Council – Our second group, Mon 15 Sep, 7pm. Hosted by NP Ratepayers Alliance, Plymouth International Hotel.

Meet the Candidates, Thu 18 Sep, 1pm. Hosted by NP Positive Ageing, Age Concern and Grey Power, St James Church, Lawry St.

Meet the District-Wide Candidates, “Speed Date the Candidates”, Tue 30 Sep, 6pm. Hosted by Inner Wheel North, Plymouth International Hotel.

Voting begins on 9 September and closes on 11 October midday. It is recommended that you visit a polling place early or post back your voting papers by Friday 7 Oct 5pm to guarantee delivery before voting closes. 

Support Māori ward

Make sure you tick YES to keeping Māori ward in the poll. It is a basic act to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and enable fair representation so that tangata whenua have a voice in local decisions.

Watch and share this video by Kassie Hartendorp from Action Station.

Draw the Line on Crappy Local Politics

350 Aotearoa’s Draw the Line campaign asks candidates to publicly pledge:

• More council climate action and funding, not less
• Defend Māori wards
• Keep funding for community services (e.g. libraries, food banks, parks)

We are all encouraged to jump onboard this campaign to amplify these key messages. Look out for local events across the motu from 19-21 September.

Fridays for Future pickets Taranaki

We will likely resume Fridays for Future pickets later this month, potentially in collaboration with Palestinian Solidarity Taranaki. Get in touch if you want to join us.

E rua tau ruru

E rua tau wehe

E rua tau mutu

E rua tau kai

Tihei maui ora

Nā,

The team of Climate Justice Taranaki

PS: This post was last edited on 12/09/2025