As your next Mayor of the Far North District Council, I will be seeking a rates review that provides the best value for ALL ratepayers. This is because our region covers a large area with towns and people of different socioeconomic backgrounds and needs.

The Helicopter-Thinking Mayor is about swooping down to assess local matters while reaching high to deal with big-picture promises and global challenges.

That means UNITING, EDUCATING, AND INSPIRING THE FAR NORTH to fully realise the potential of our place in this country.

It means growing and learning together to tackle infrastructure deficits, the management, and treatment of water, and striking the right balance in dealings between local communities, central government, and the private sector.

It is about sharing the enormous possibilities of the Wai 262 flora and fauna and what that will mean for the nation's largest tribe, Ngapuhi, and our Far North community.

I will present the Far North as the Cradle of New Zealand's Cultural Heritage and Social and Economic Development.

To Unite, to Inspire, and Educate the Far North and the rest of New Zealand to respect that Cultural Heritage by Investing in the region with Innovation and World-Class ideas and technologies, to rekindle the spirit of Kupe and other pioneers who settled here.

It is about thinking in whole new categories, where we look at our options less as them vs us. Less as either/or/ More as "BOTH AND."

As befits the Helicopter-Thinking Mayor, Let us look beyond the sky, to the cosmos.

In September 2021, the Future Space Capability Webinar was hosted by Defence Geospatial Intelligence (DGI). It was a high-level discussion addressing the major challenges of the defence and government geospatial intelligence community, from London beginning at midnight New Zealand time. The discussion lasted over four hours. Key questions emerged:

How does commercial space support the future of economic growth and national security? How can nations and industries work together to collaborate in space?
How can we be more "Q" and less "007"? Space is seen as 3C - Contested, Congested, and Competitive, not unlike the "Wild West" of centuries ago.
There is a global move towards space as a COLLABORATIVE domain.

Geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) is a broad field that encompasses the intersection of geospatial data with social, political, environmental, and numerous other factors

Already, with cutting-edge technologies, Space is impacting GEOINT on Earth -in transportation, science, land, sea, and air partnerships, and human and political geography.

GEOINT is a great career for people already working in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In the Far North, GIS professionals already work about protecting people and mitigating damage to critical services and infrastructure.

With economic and environmental challenges on the horizon, we need strategies in place for disaster relief and disaster and threat response. Keeping our whanau and communities safe in the event of a natural disaster.

By leading with GEOINT in this age as we have led with Cultural Heritage, the Far North will be using the best technology to enable the best decision making in the gathering and processing of complex information.

As your Helicopter Thinking Mayor, I will make this happen!

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