My 1st Pacific Peoples Advisory Panel Public meeting...

I'm supposed to be in Hamilton and Te Awamutu for the next couple of days for work but have ended up not going as have been very sick with the cold and now on med's and trying to nurse myself back to recovery between coughs and liquids to help with the  recovery process as thought to err on the side of caution rather than to travel and then to regret getting worse.

I also need to get better as next week starts an interesting journey into local politics in being on one of 6 advisory panels i.e. the Pacific Peoples Advisory Panel for the Auckland council as can be seen on the graphic. The other panels are:

1. Ethnic Peoples
2. Disability/ies
3. Rainbow communities
4. Seniors
5. Youth

We, as the Pacifc Peoples Advisory Panel, will be having our first Public meeting next week on 19 July at the Auckland Town Hall, level 2 from 5.30pm - 8.30pm. I think people are also able to link in on a smartphone/tablet/laptop but I need to check on the link to see if this is possible and will post on this blog closer to the event day.

The job of the panels, to my understanding although it's still early days yet, is to be able to give effective and sound advice from the different perspectives for Council to consider on various important events, ideas, information etc. and as a sounding board for some of Auckland Council's various departments. 

However, at the end of the day, the Mayor and Councillor's make the final decisions regarding all the different perspectives that they are aware of and that it their responsibility too. I must say that in past years I haven't really heard much of anything at all about the Pacific Peoples' Advisory Panel until I decided to apply for the position and I think it has been beneficial to have worked within various communities to know how things work.

Looking forward to much learning and sharing in days/weeks to come...