Mawera Karetai

On October 9, 2024, Philip Jacobs, as part of the Whakatāne Action Group, wrote a letter to the Beacon making a strong statement against the proposed investment into Mitchell Park to make it a better, more functional community space.

He was vehemently opposed to the investment, calling it “waste”. He decried the investment into the park as “benefiting a private business”, with no regard for all the businesspeople who rely on the market to make their businesses work, or organisations such as the RSA who use the space.

He also quoted parts of the plan for the essential redevelopment of Rex Morpeth Park, which he and many of his group of WAGs have been criticising since day one.

Mr Jacobs and many of his former band of WAGs want the Rex Morpeth Park plan canned.

And they don’t want Mitchell Park to be made a community friendly space.

They, who have enjoyed the benefit of ratepayer investment into these spaces for many, many decades now bitterly and vehemently deny the rest of the community the same privilege.

Keeping all of this in mind, as I wandered around the Sunday Market this week, you can imagine my amusement to see Mr Jacobs at that same market he has so openly criticised, selling himself as a mayoral candidate.

Complete with his billboard and his impossible promises of lowering rates, Mr Jacobs shows us he is, among all the things he claims to be expert in, also an expert at hypocrisy in action.

Mr Jacobs is absolutely correct about one thing – we definitely do deserve better.