{"id":2931,"date":"2016-06-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-28T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/penny-bright-anti-corruption-campaigner-and-auckland-mayoral-candidate-says-open-the-books\/"},"modified":"2023-05-11T19:16:27","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T06:16:27","slug":"penny-bright-anti-corruption-campaigner-and-auckland-mayoral-candidate-says-open-the-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/greenplanetfm\/penny-bright-anti-corruption-campaigner-and-auckland-mayoral-candidate-says-open-the-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Penny Bright - Anti-corruption Campaigner and Auckland Mayoral Candidate says \u201cOpen The Books!\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Auckland Mayoral Candidate and public watchdog Penny Bright talks with Lisa Er.<br \/>\n    \n<\/p>\n<h3>'Activists get things done'!<\/h3>\n<p><em>\u201cIt's time to stop the commercialisation and privatisation of Council services and regulatory functions, and return to the genuine 'public service' model\u201d says Penny.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIt's time for we the people to take back control of our region, our assets and our resources!\u201d<\/em><br \/>\n    \n<\/p>\n<p>This October, voting Penny Bright for Mayor will not be just a 'protest' vote - but a vote for real change that will serve the public and the public interest<br \/>\n    - not corporate interests.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    <iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pMrVlkMPL_w?rel=0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"394\" width=\"700\"><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI'm fiercely and genuinely politically independent and work on an 'issue by issue' basis. My proven track record is 20 years experience in local government, defending the public &amp; the public interest, as a self-funded anti-privatisation &amp; anti-corruption 'Public Watchdog'.\u201d<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI am opposed to corporate control, locally, nationally and internationally, and am the only Auckland Mayoral candidate who is actively opposed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA).\u201d<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<p>Penny also asserts that it is time to 'roll back Rogernomics' which was based on the myth and mantra 'public is bad - private is good'.<\/p>\n<h3>Rogernomics neo-liberal philosophy embraces five basic principles:     <\/h3>\n<p>1. The rule of the market<\/p>\n<p>2. Cutting public expenditure for social services<\/p>\n<p>3. Deregulation<\/p>\n<p>4. Privatisation<\/p>\n<p>5. Eliminating the concept of public good or community.)<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIn my opinion, the only ones to have benefited from running public services in a more 'business-like' mode are those businesses which have been awarded the contracts.<br \/><\/em>\n<\/p>\n<p><em>However, if Government and Council public services are now being owned, operated and managed for private profit without cost-benefit analysis - then that, in my view is 'corporate welfare', to which I am totally opposed.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<p><em>Open the books - cut out the contractors - bring Council services &amp; regulatory functions back 'in house' under the public service model, and stop corrupt cronyism and corporate welfare.\u201d<\/em><br \/>\n    \n<\/p>\n<p>If elected Auckland Mayor, Penny Bright will ensure the rule of law is implemented and enforced regarding ratepayers and citizens lawful rights to open,<br \/>\n    transparent and democratically accountable local government.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI'm also totally opposed to 'democracy for developers' and question why all this 'growth' has to come to Auckland?<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<p><em>In my view, there should be a national population growth, migration and regional employment strategy.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Who benefits now from this 'One Plan' for Auckland, in my view, are property developers, foreign investors, bankers, land bankers, speculators and money-launderers.<\/p>\n<p>This is a 'Supercity' - for the 1%.<\/p>\n<p>The Auckland region is being run 'like a business - by business - for business, the mechanism for this effective corporate takeover being the 'Council<br \/>\n    Controlled Organisation' (CCO) model.<br \/>\n    \n<\/p>\n<p>It's time to stop the commercialisation and privatisation of Council services and regulatory functions, and return to the genuine 'public service' model.<br \/>\n    \n<\/p>\n<p>It's time for we the people to take back control of our region, our assets and our resources!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This time voting Penny Bright for Mayor will not be just a 'protest' vote - but a vote for real change that will serve the public and the public interest<br \/>\n    - not corporate interests.<\/p>\n<h3>Penny\u2019s Bio:<\/h3>\n<p>AT 61, Penny sees her life as an onion, with many layers to her life.<br \/>\n    \n<\/p>\n<p>Her formative childhood years were in the Wairarapa. She was brought up on a 6 acre lifestyle block in Carterton, where she picked strawberries in Greytown<br \/>\n    as a 10 year old, to help buy a pony with the required riding gear.<\/p>\n<p>From this she learned to focus, and work hard to achieve what she wanted in life.<\/p>\n<p>She did well academically, but chose not to go University, having discovered political activism in her 7th form year through joining the anti-apartheid<br \/>\n    movement.<\/p>\n<p>After a year of hitch-hiking around New Zealand staying at Youth Hostels in the days when you could just walk into jobs off the street, she got on a plane<br \/>\n    to Sydney with $200 in the bank - to see the world.<br \/>\n    \n<\/p>\n<p>She didn't get past Australia!<\/p>\n<p>In Perth West Australia, in 1974, she got involved in the first famous campaign against foreign military bases in Australia, and was part of the 'Long<br \/>\n    March' across Australia against the USA base at North West Cape.<br \/>\n    \n<\/p>\n<p>She decided to return to New Zealand to become more politically involved, and ended up working for 6 years in a home appliance factory in Masterton and<br \/>\n    working as a Union activist on the factory floor.<br \/>\n    \n<\/p>\n<p>Penny was made redundant in 1981 and so went to Auckland to live. She was one of the 12 people who organised the anti- Springbok Tour protests in Auckland<br \/>\n    in 1981.<br \/>\n    \n<\/p>\n<p>This resulted in her being listed as one of 8 'subversives' on then Prime Minister Rob Muldoon's SIS list, although she has never been able to get a copy<br \/>\n    of her SIS file, and the GCSB would neither confirm or deny whether she was one of the 88 New Zealanders who had been unlawfully spied upon.<br \/>\n    \n<\/p>\n<p>After working for 4 years as an electronics assembler in a 'brown goods' factory, and being eventually sacked as a Union activist for being an arguably<br \/>\n    effective Union delegate, Penny did a welding course at (then) Auckland Institute of Technology (AIT).<br \/>\n    \n<\/p>\n<p>She was first employed as a welder and then ended up doing an adult apprenticeship in a stainless steel fabrication workshop qualifying in Advanced Trade<br \/>\n    in Sheet metal Engineering, where she became New Zealand's first female CBIP (Certification Board for Inspectorate Personnel) Welding Inspector.<\/p>\n<p>After doing some production planning, Penny became a Quality Assurance Co-ordinator, whose job it was to help ensure that pressure vessels didn't blow<br \/>\n    up, and make sure that quality systems were in place so that the jobs that went out on the truck, were that which the sales people had promised, and<br \/>\n    the clients had ordered and paid for.<br \/>\n    \n<\/p>\n<p>After a change of company ownership when a number of people were made redundant Penny was subsequently hired as a Welding Tutor for 9 years at Manukau<br \/>\n    Institute of Technology (MIT), where she helped teach thousands of (mainly) men how to weld.<br \/>\n    \n<\/p>\n<p>So Penny had 16 years of working in a totally male-dominated environment.<br \/>\n    \n<\/p>\n<p>In 2000, she was made redundant from MIT, and having being fortunate enough to become mortgage-free that same year, Penny decided to work full-time on<br \/>\n    a self-funded basis on the political issues that she was involved with.<br \/>\n    \n<\/p>\n<p>These were mainly on the local government front, as a founding member of the Water Pressure Group against Auckland City Council's commercialised water<br \/>\n    services company Metrowater, and water privatisation.<\/p>\n<p>Penny has now been involved in local government issues in Auckland for the last 20 years. On the home front she has been together with \u2018a lovely man\u2019 who<br \/>\n    is hugely supportive of her, for over 10 years.<br \/>\n    \n<\/p>\n<p>Always campaigning with an element of humour, Penny signs her e-mails with,<br \/>\n    \n<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Her Warship\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>This interview was sponsored by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theawarenessparty.com\/home\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Awareness Party<\/a>.<br \/>\n    \n<\/p>\n<p><strong>PENNY BRIGHT\u2019S ACTION PLAN TO ENSURE 'OPEN, TRANSPARENT AND DEMOCRATICALLY ACCOUNTABLE' NZ GOVERNMENT AND JUDICIARY:<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>1) Make ALL 'facilitation payments' (BRIBES) illegal.<\/p>\n<p>2) Legislate to create a NZ independent anti-corruption body, tasked with educating the public and preventing corruption.<\/p>\n<p>3) Legislate for NZ Members of Parliament (who make the rules for everyone else) to have a legally enforceable 'Code of Conduct'.<\/p>\n<p>4) Make it an offence under the Local Government Act 2002, for NZ Local Government elected representatives to breach their 'Code of Conduct'.<\/p>\n<p>5) Make it lawful, mandatory requirement for Local Government elected representatives to complete a 'Register of Interests' which is available for public<br \/>\n    scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p>6) Make it a lawful, mandatory requirement for Local Government staff, responsible for property or procurement, to complete a 'Register of Interests' which<br \/>\n    is available for public scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p>7) Make it lawful, a mandatory requirement for Local Government Council Controlled Organisation (CCO) Directors and staff, responsible for property or<br \/>\n    procurement, to complete a 'Register of Interests' which is available for public scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p>8) Fully implement and enforce the Public Records Act 2005, to ensure public records are available for public scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p>9) Make it a lawful requirement that a 'cost-benefit' analysis of NZ Central Government and Local Government public finances must be undertaken, to prove<br \/>\n    that private procurement of public services previously provided 'in house' is cost-effective for the public majority of tax payers and rate payers.<\/p>\n<p>10) Legislate for a legally enforceable 'Code of Conduct' for members of the NZ Judiciary, to ensure that they are not 'above the law'.<\/p>\n<p>11) Legislate to provide a publicly-available NZ Judicial 'Register of Interests', to help prevent 'conflicts of interest'.<\/p>\n<p>12) Ensure ALL NZ Court proceedings are recorded, with audio records available to parties who request them.<\/p>\n<p>13) Legislate for a publicly-available NZ 'Register of Lobbyists, and 'Code of Conduct' for lobbyists.<\/p>\n<p>14) Legislate for a 'post-separation employment' ('revolving door' ) quarantine period from the time officials leave the public service, to take up a similar<br \/>\n    role in the private sector. <\/p>\n<p>15) Legislate to make it a lawful requirement that it is only a binding vote of the public majority that can determine whether public assets held at NZ<br \/>\n    central or local government are sold, or long-term leased via Public Private Partnerships.<\/p>\n<p>16) Legislate to make it unlawful for politicians to knowingly misrepresent their policies prior to central or local government elections.<\/p>\n<p>17) Legislate to protect individuals, NGOs and community-based organisations, who are 'whistle-blowing' against 'conflicts of interest' and and alleged<br \/>\n    corrupt practices at central and local government level and within the judiciary.<\/p>\n<p>18) Legislate to prevent 'State Capture' - where vested interests get what they want, at the 'policy' level, before laws are passed which serve their vested<br \/>\n    interests.<\/p>\n<p>Policy of 2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate Penny Bright-&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Authorised by Penny Bright 86A School Rd Kingsland Auckland.<\/p>\n<p>Want to help? e-mail - <a href=\"waterpressure@gmail.com\">waterpressure@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cOpen the books,\u201d is Mayoral candidate Penny Bright\u2019s catch phrase. She hasn\u2019t paid her rates for 9 years, and won\u2019t until Auckland Council tells us how our rate payers money is being spent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2323,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2931"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2931"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3364,"href":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2931\/revisions\/3364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourplanet.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}