Correction:
The person pictured at the Local Government New Zealand conference awards dinner was Beca chief executive Amelia Linzey, not Ngā Iwi Toopu o Waipā’s Maria Huata (Kirikiriroa Kaunihera). The News apologises for the error.
24 July 2025
Waipā District Council told The News it was sending one staff member – chief executive Steph O’Sullivan – to last week’s local government conference in Christchurch.
Award presentation: Beca chief executive Amelia Linzey, Waipā Māori ward councillor Dale-Maree Morgan, principal strategic planner Vanessa Honore, group manager Strategy Kirsty Downey, mana whenua representatives Poto Davies and Gaylene Roberts, Te Awamutu-Kihikihi councillor Marcus Gower, Beca communications advisor Regan Powell. Photo: Mark Tantrum
But a day after The News was published, the council released a cropped photo showing two other staff members – Vanessa Honore and Kirsty Downey – at the conference awards’ ceremony where the council won the “Super Engaged Tū Hononga Award for its ‘Ahu Ake, Waipā Community Spatial Plan’ consultation.
The announcement caught The News by surprise and prompted a swift editing of its preview of the event which had quoted the council saying only one staff member was attending the conference.
In response, a communications spokesperson told The News it had limited its response on numbers to conference attendees.
“The staff members pictured did not attend the conference, just the awards dinner.”
However, the awards ceremony and a gala dinner were published in the conference programme on LGNZ’s website.
Cropped out of the council’s photo but seen in the same LGNZ version were councillors Dale-Maree Morgan and Marcus Gower, another iwi representative and the contracted communications staffer.
The cost of attendance for Morgan and Gower came from the budget allocated for elected members’ professional development and was approved by mayor Susan O’Regan.
The News asked who had paid for the other attendees. The council had not responded by the time we went to press.
The council recently revealed, through a Local Government and Official Information Meetings Act (LGOIMA) request, that Ahu Ake had cost more than $1.71 million, including almost $1.5 million in consultancy fees.
That did not include staff costs. The World Café workshops, which were instrumental in Waipā winning the award, cost $186,000.
See: Local Government NZ conference programme
Waipa ran its first ever World Café as part of Ahu Ake – Waipā Community Spatial Plan. Photo: Supplied.
