Background of Warren Slater
 

Politics had apparently simmered away in my mind since an early age. As a child those things were not talked about, but I always wanted to know why. 
On a day to day basis, we all deal with politics in one form or another - like down to basic decision making. 

Some of us have a desire to expand on this. Obviously political interest is in my family’s blood. My elder brother John Slater was involved in politics from a young man and is presently involved today. He started as a junior in a major political party and toiled away through the ranks becoming president of the Party from 1998 -2001. 
My political beliefs may differ from that of my brother's, but I do have immense respect for his many achievements.

His eldest son, Cameron Slater (my nephew), is extremely pro active with a high profile political blog website. 

His second son, Adrian Slater (also my nephew) was honoured with honorary Seoul Citizenship. A link to his appearance on English speaking Korean TV.  Adrian has also been appointed in 2009 as head of SKAL International Seoul, a group of tourism professionals. 
Adrian returned in 2010 to Dubai as General Manager of Park Hyatt Dubai until June 2015. Adrian was then appointed back in Seoul as General Manager at the Grand Hyatt Seoul. A link to article and a link to Grand Hyatt Seoul.
He is doing exceptionally well in his profession.

 

Prior to the 1984 general election, after numerous meetings with Dr.Mark Sapsford, (who stood as an Auckland Central candidate) my wife and I attended a New Zealand Party meeting. After this meeting I was invited to stand as the candidate for West Auckland. 

The New Zealand Party was a new unknown identity led by Sir Bob Jones and after some consideration, I felt that I was not ready for such a challenge. I recently found the 
T-shirt from those days, but it appears to have shrunk somewhat! I decided the time was not right but would take an active interest in politics in general, attending many campaign meetings and observing strategies.
 

My Political Goals rekindled in 2006, after experiencing some difficulty with local council procedures - my wife and I started attending public local council meetings (approx 4 – 6 per month). 

After over one year of fighting red tape regarding an extremely minor matter - and going through the process of contacting the Council, the Office of the Ombudsman and then finally the Privacy Commissioner, at long last, this resulted in confirmation that we had always been correct on this issue.

 Having been given misleading information on our journey, we decided to be ongoing observers of the system. Our aim was to ascertain why such bureaucratic behaviour was being deployed by our councils. We also wanted to learn, while making observations, was the processes of local government. 
 

It was mid 2007 that I decided to stand in the upcoming elections for mayor and /or Councillor. On this trip we have met with many interesting people, some brilliant, some not so good and some you just wouldn’t want to be associated with. 

We have spent this time to build some good relationships with staff at both Regional and District councils and also some of the Councillors.

 We have had contact from many in our community and have genuinely given some good advice or helped in some of their situations. We have also been privileged with support and advice offered to us from many groups and individuals. 
 

There have been some issues in the town regarding sewage and also animal control. In both of these issues, we have been extremely pro-active, along with many others - and we believe we have made a difference. We have not finished with either of these issues yet and are still very intense with making more progress. 

 I am extremely proud to have been one of the organisers of the ‘Save our Harbour’ march in December 2008. We are proud to have made an impact on Councils - and alongside the people of Whangarei - we are paving a way forward to protect our treasured harbour from unnecessary pollution. 

We grouped with local hapu and showed Council, that united, we had great concerns with sewage issues polluting Whangarei Harbour.

I stood again as a candidate for both mayor and Okara ward councillor in the 2010 and 2013 elections. I was not successful but by going for 'quality' votes rather than 'quantity' votes now have some very sincere followers, which I sincerely appreciate. 
I  continue to watch the local political scene with interest and report accordingly on this website on the 'Whats Up' page.

I am fortunate to have both the inclination and time to contribute to the community before my ‘use by date’.



'A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader, a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves' ~ Author unknown