Chris Mulcahy

Why is Victor Luca using the poor Matatā ratepayers as pawns in his re-election campaign?

They have not only had years of using septic tanks to collect their sewage while knowing that it is leaking and contaminating  their surrounding area, but now they are being treated as a political football.

As Dr Luca very well knows, the council has had a company carrying out independent monitoring of the contamination from November 2021 to May 2024. This organisation concluded in its written report that because of the geology and hydrology of the land around Matatā, residents are unable to dispose of the effluent safely using septic tanks.  This was then peer reviewed by ESR, at Mr Luca’s request. ESR agreed with the first report.

The council came up with a plan based on this information after working with Matatā residents and  local iwi. There is a cost and timeline for this.

Instead of accepting the science, Dr Luca set up a taskforce with no wastewater expertise to try and force his preferred result. Dr Luca is not an expert in this field, so his views are not a "professional” opinion, as he has claimed. He is not a professional wastewater expert.

In his report, Dr Luca claimed that the ESR was not aware that the local pub had put in a new septic tank in May 2023. This does not matter as the monitoring that took place over this time shows that this has not had a demonstratable influence on the results.

This crusade that Mr Luca has embarked on despite the scientific evidence before him is another example of why he is unsuitable to be mayor for a second term.

There is a road forward agreed to by the council with support from the local community and yet Dr Luca, in an attempt to placate his “no rate rises” constituency, has tried to come up with a new plan and then complains that no-one would support him at the council table.

None of us want to pay more rates, but we do want the issues dealt with in an evidence-based manner following a democratic process.

This misuse of the Matatā situation is similar to the time Dr Luca voted against his own long-term plan , despite being integral to its development. If a mayor is voting against his own long-term plan, he is either virtual signalling to his “no rates rise” group or has no leadership or influence over his councillors. Or both. I’m voting for Nandor Tanczos.