Kia ora, ko Pamela Grealey tōku ingoa, and I’m the candidate for Coromandel.

I live in Kapanga/Coromandel Town, and am actively engaged in my local community, through my various roles as a Business Advisor and Mentor, a Community Development Worker and as a volunteer at the Goldmine Recycling Centre and Refuse Transfer Station. I’m also a small business owner who believes that to be successful in the "new normal", all businesses must be socially and environmentally responsible.

We need to ensure that our rural and remote areas are not disadvantaged by lack of modern communications, both physical and digital. Lack of transport and connectivity to the outside world harms these environments and threatens to turn these communities into tourist attractions and ghost towns. COVID-19 has proven that those without these networks are first to suffer, and suffer disproportionally in a crisis as a result.

The Coromandel Electorate is home for one of the most extensive remaining areas of bush and native plants and animals in the North Island as well as extensive coastlines. The new future also demands immediate intensive work for restoration of our wild areas.

I am vehemently opposed to mining in and under Coromandel. This would only serve to wreak more environmental damage to the area and any economic boost would be merely temporary. We need to look to provide a more sustainable way to support the future of the area with more sustainable industry such as creating new green jobs around waste avoidance and waste management, embracing a circular economy, ensuring manufacturers take accountability for reducing and recycling their packaging, and incentivising the re-engineering of supply chains that reduce waste and promote reuse and real recycling here in NZ.

The “recovery” in the years ahead must not be a return to business as usual.

Please Party Vote Green.

You can get in touch with Pamela at [email protected]