Media Release, for immediate release, Monday 14 January 2013

Time To Acknowledge Tauranga And Western Bay Of Plenty District’s Community Champions

Tauranga and Western Bay of Plenty residents now have the annual opportunity to recognise the dedication of their local voluntary groups – with entries for the TrustPower Tauranga Community Awards and TrustPower Western Bay of Plenty District Community Awards now open.

The Awards, which are run in partnership with the Tauranga City and Western Bay of Plenty District Councils respectively, are open to all voluntary groups and organisations working to make these regions a better place to live.

This year over $10,000 is up for grabs for voluntary groups and organisations that are entered into the TrustPower Community Awards.

Anyone can enter a voluntary group or organisation for the Awards – voluntary groups and organisations can even enter themselves.

TrustPower Community Relations Representative Teresa Partridge is looking forward to acknowledging many voluntary groups out there who deserve recognition.

“Tauranga and Western Bay of Plenty are both community-minded districts that have an impressive volunteering culture. I’m looking forward to learning about what these volunteers have been achieving, and I hope to see the community come on board to recognise these unsung heroes.

You have the chance to say ‘thank you’ to these volunteers who work hard to improve the community – just by filling out an Entry Form. It takes just a few minutes of your time to enter a voluntary group but it will make a real difference to the volunteer groups you are recognising,” says Mrs Partridge.

Entry Forms for the TrustPower Community Awards are available from each Council office or service centres respectively or can be completed online at www.trustpower.co.nz/communityawards. Entry Forms can also be received by calling Teresa Partridge on 0800 87 11 11.

The awards cover five categories; Heritage and Environment, Health and Wellbeing, Arts and Culture, Sport and Leisure, and Educational and Child/Youth Development. Category winners receive $500, runners-up receive $250 and the Supreme Winner will take home $1,500 and an all-expenses paid trip to the 2013 TrustPower National Community Awards. Last year’s TrustPower Western Bay of Plenty Community Awards Supreme Winner was Pirirakau Incorporated Society and the Supreme Winner of last year’s TrustPower Tauranga Community Awards was Age Concern Tauranga.

Entries for these Awards close at 5pm on Friday 15 March 2013.

Website: www.trustpower.co.nz/communityawards

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Public Address Link:
A (Sweary) Analysis Of Urgency Abuse And
The Consititution

Keith Ng: You’re looking at the Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) for the Public Health and Disability Amendment Bill. Basically, the courts said that the Government had to pay family members who looked after people with disabilities (because not doing so was discriminatory), so the Government passed this law to say: “Yeah nah.”

The RIS isn’t just redacted for the public – it was redacted for MPs. *Parliament* voted on this, with all the relevant facts blacked out.

Sure, it’s understandable, right? If you’re passing a law that’s really dodgy, you don’t want advice from civil servants saying “uh, this is pretty illegal” to be public. But actually, that’s not really a problem here, because in the same piece of legislation, THEY SAID THEY CAN’T BE TAKEN TO COURT. More>>