Climate Change

Emergency Management in Southland. Drought, flooding, earthquake, extreme winds, pollution, waste services, industrial waste, reuse & recycling. There are massive issues to deal with.

It appears that the media, & political broadcasts are too focused on economic growth through borrowed funds, reinventing the food and agriculture sector by limiting farmers, food distributors & other agricultural services through legislation & control.

The government’s focus appears to be narrow minded, & tunnel vision with government services, medicine & calling on international partners to introduce new services.

Instead of learning from history, & encouraging community engagement with creativity, the revised education system seems to be more focused on thinking that quality education is the foundation means promoting UN strategies.

Although there is a time for rules, we would be better of focusing much more strongly on services, where we can develop resources & services that empower all sectors for growth.


Environment

+ New waste management strategies to reuse waste locally, building relationships in community for micro-manufacturing using waste.

+ Work with food growers in the region, convincing them to diversify their food product range & distribute portions locally.

Atmospheres

+ Empower Southlanders to develop innovative, sustainable work & lifestyle practices.

+ Increase our capacity to prepare for emergencies, including the storage of water in the city, access to food & basic facilities.

Threats to New Zealand

Having been asked this week about what I consider to be the biggest threats to New Zealand at present…

Our biggest threat is being too serious, fearful & worried about our health.

Since the world is changing so fast lately, a major concern is the true wellbeing of people. Not just medical – but depression, anxiety, oppression, confusion, isolation, malnutrition, the quality of housing, & the housing of quality visionary ideas in parliament.

Unfortunately, economics; the income of people & the cost of living has a massive impact on all people from all walks of life. These are under strain. Service providers, consumers, & support systems all appear to be under strain as we respond to a shifts in focus & with further economic downturn forecasted.

LINK: New Zealand’s growth forecast to stall completely in 2023 – RNZ

New Zealand has something unique to offer. We need to prepare for challenging times over the next few years, but be visionary & take action to create the best way forward.

Vaccination

I have been asked about my views on vaccination & Covid-19

MY RESPONSE:
I am not a wellbeing expert, but would like to acknowledge that our bodies aren’t just reliant on pharmaceutical products.
Before I talk about vaccination, I feel to encourage everyone to eat spicy food, consider ways to increase vitamins, fibre, & nutrition we take in. I advocate for fun, fresh air, exercise & adventure. I encourage humanity to go on a spiritual journey & seek out how to be more amazing & resilient. Remember that pharmacy products come from the earth in some form – they are originally abstracted from foods & minerals.
Ok, now – the vaccination question. Science is great! Scientists can create amazing technology, & there is an immense amount of knowledge out there. Many industrial & medical breakthroughs, research & manufacturing, & product distribution are cutting edge.
The problem I have is that masks & vaccines are heavily promoted, yet the media & government seems to lack in general health & wellbeing guidance. In my own community I have seen a massive increase in anxiety & stress. But yet, I have also met a lot of people who have been exposed to Covid-19 without vaccination & yet remain strong without facing serious illness. Natural immunity is real; with exposure I have met people of all ages who are fine.
Food supplements & eating foods that are in season; foods which we can trace the origins of, & which we understand the manufacturing processes behind, whole foods, foods which the liver can process easily. Healthy living, community & fun to me are more important than medical interventions.
Natural products will continue to be extremely important in feeding our bodies. Some people might laugh at my recommendation, but I hope that we can all figure out how to have less toxins & more nutrition, less stress & more fun, less fear & more enlightenment. Instead of feeling dark, more feelings of light & love.
Being spiritually aware of God & love is having light shining inside of us. It is knowing that we have true value, more of what we are capable of, seeing beyond human limits. We all have a start, an end & a purpose on this earth – & I’m not convinced that vaccination will be the best fix for many of us.

Multiple Council Election

Q&A

Why are you standing in multiple districts? Are you concerned it may be seen as a cynical attempt to increase your chances of election?

ANSWER:
If you look at the establishment of the Murihiku, both from Maori & Scottish roots – you will see that they worked together & that our ancestors embraced the pioneers, who travelled throughout the South. They brought resources into each region, created routes for travel. Maori & European settlers worked together to map out each area, name the places, provide & distribute locally, and to thrive. There were strong minded people among them who did a lot of good. I want to find & encourage those people to be the best they can be; to serve & care.

We have massive potential to draw together beyond just our own direct settlements.

  • Queenstown can positively influence Te Anau & Invercargill.
  • Rural Southland draws all of the centres together & it is a provider – of food, adventure, grounded people, & stunning scenery.
  • Invercargill is a major engineering centre for the South. It is the biggest city, which is growing massive infrastructure for the coming times – including the world class Internet, shopping, & innovative businesses.
  • A large percentage of Invercargill’s people are inventive.
  • Invercargill can learn from Queenstown, & Queenstown has perspective, savvy people, style & charisma that we all need.
  • We have an enough food in the South to provide balanced nutrious living to everyone, & more..


We each have resources that should be be shared locally. It is local people who need to connect with each other.
This is not something that should be entirely managed by government initiatives. This is about people, connecting with people. I believe that we are vessels, & I am here to empower, not to have egotistical power.

I believe that each person is here for a reason & we each have massive potential to positively transform the area we choose to develop. I am good at linking people together & activating ideas. So I will offer that.

Motivations

A lot of people have asked about my motivations for standing for election this October 2022

ANSWER:

I am a design thinker. I am working on building heaven on earth.
My home is the South of New Zealand & I belong here.
I see the need for people to connect together more strongly throughout South.

I have stood for local body elections twice, for Mayor & Councillor in 2019, and for Invercargill City Councillor in 2016. This is not new for me.

I am from the South.
I know that strongly.
I belong here in the Southern New Zealand.

This place is my heritage, my now & our future.
This is the adventure land, the place of great food, fun & freedom.
We have massive potential.

Centralisation is a big focus now in government.
But I am here to promote local resilience from the grass roots, to strengthen community, & to encourage us to have character; share our resources & help each other.

My vision is to encourage us to bring out our gifts, talents, passions & embrace opportunities – to raise up the best in people; to encourage & motivate each of us to engage & care.

#GoStevey

Why am I Standing for Three Councils?

I am offering to build collaborative links between Central Otago, Southland District, & Invercargill.

It is my view that each area can benefit from having one local representative who is able to connect directly with the people & contribute to Council decision making with the view to build a resilient localised economy.


I am running for Invercargill City Mayor, Southland District Councillor & Queenstown Lakes District Councillor simultaneously with the intention of attending all meetings & building a collaborative link between Invercargill (our largest centre), our regions throughout the South, & Central Otago.

My Connection to Invercargill
My Connection to Mararoa Waimea
My Connection to Queenstown

A lot of people have openly criticised me for standing for three Councils simultaneously, which would strengthen my capacity to connect more strongly with people & affect developments all over Southern New Zealand, from Invercargill throughout rural Southland & into Central Otago.

My offering to the public is not one of greed, but rather a very uncomfortable undertaking which has been put forward in response to a government & increasingly globalised world who is looking for ways to centralise services & have more say over how every day people run their lives.

Instead of joining them, I am looking for ways to empower the very people that are being subjected to massive changes – from the grassroots up, by the people for the people. I’m looking for ways to unite & empower ordinary people.

Transforming our world for the better can be best done by us.

We need to decide what we want & to develop it. It’s kind of simple. We must encourage each other to have the faith & guts to go for what we really want. This will involve reallocating resources, connecting together, thinking about each other’s needs, developing & sharing locally, drawing on knowledge.

Having love & integrity first, this is where local body representatives need to be at.

I just give a rip & am not afraid to get uncomfortable if it means crafting out a way forward for you & us. This matters. It actually matters because we matter.

You are here for a reason – that is what I am sure of. You are breathing & alive for a reason. Everyone of us has a purpose for being here; & if we don’t know what it is then we need to look beyond our limited self understanding & see the light shining then walk toward it..

Housing

Across Invercargill alone there are many hundreds of homeless people, living in government rented accommodation at a high price, being fed, clothed & sheltered by tax payer money. It is good to have social services, but this needs to be rethought.
While some live in caravans, cars & on he streets – most are staying temporarily in massively overpriced government funded accomodation.

Council building departments should focus on non-regulatory services as mentioned in the Local Government Act – which provide educational resources & a supportive/advisory approach to small building projects. Instead of elevating regulatory red tape procedures & building inspections – we should be looking at ways to empower local people to create small buildings & using local timber, local resources, reused industrial waste, new technology to create small buildings owned by the occupier that go on private & public land.

When we take responsibility for building our own futures, we become more well & contented, balanced & grounded.

Housing is a huge topic, because everyone really needs a home..
Not only is there an international shortage of houses, but Southland & Otago face the common global challenge of dealing with dated housing stocks & associated services.

Many of the houses that our people live in, with their connections to water, sewerage & storm-water are now reaching, or exceeding the age of 100 years. This means that they are deteriorating at the core & no longer structurally sound or waterproof. Compared to the rest of the world, we are very fortunate in the South of New Zealand to have small populations & great wealth.

House prices are an issue however, even for those most fortunate (as is the cost of living). But what can we do about our poor? How can the middle class & rich even manage?! On some level all people struggle to maintain balanced living & a high standard of housing! Any person who has built a home, or been involved in the construction of a new dwelling knows that it is immensely time consuming, expensive & stressful to complete a new build.

A large part of the solution is small buildings. Small buildings are permanent structures that support an existing dwelling.

Small buildings can have various uses. They are bedrooms, lounge rooms, art & project spaces, workshops, distribution spaces, offices, or can have any other purpose!
Oftentimes small buildings are less than 100 times cheaper to build than your average home is! They are deliciously warm, easy to manage & comfortable.
Let’s start a dialogue about housing in the South, & how we will solve it, even in these testing times..

AUTHOR: Stevey Chernishov

Three Waters

Three waters has logistical & priority issues – it massively in-debts each region without a solid promise of being able to provide the solutions we need.

I have a problem with our water being taken & managed by a new corporate entity, which is run by a closed circle of insiders – an entity that potentially could be sold off in the future.

At the base of it – local body assets would be cheaply sold/shifted & rented straight back to their previous owners, to decentralised services that promise efficiency but likely cannot efficiently address the fact that Invercargill needs the replacement of over 400km of underground drainage, sewerage & water pipes (which is aging 100+ years now).

Hawea is the fastest growing residential area in our ‘zone’ with major infrastructure needed. Other smaller centres may not be able to get the workforce to update & expand their services.

Water services should not be repositioned as planned. This is a big conundrum.

Commentary on Priorities for 2022 Local Body Election

A lot of discussion has been coming up about the role of councillors & a mayor. Many are questioning their capacity to do the right thing, make change, policies, the value of experience on council [being inside the system already vs fresh perspective\insight\creative approaches].

Threads on social media seem to repeatedly raise concerns about democracy, voting, who does the work, & the authority of councillors & a mayor. Some have gone as far as saying that councillors should be removed [this thought seems to align with ‘the news’]. Discussions on social media are taking place about government & their interaction with local councils – asset reallocation & liberal strategies managed by overarching bodies (For example: 3 Waters & Polytechnic mergers).
I say that what the South needs is a new localised collaborative feel, brought by the local people. We need our own people making decisions, improved vibes, fun, freedom & locally driven shifts in the way things are done.

My great concern is that the system we know no longer has the influence it once had. Locally & nationally. So, instead of seeing councillors & mayors as major change makers & advocates for the interests of the people – I suggest we we would be best to see that these people are your closest personal connection to existing corporate societal systems.

It is the grass roots movement & links to resources that need to be focused on.
Rather than just giving more power to the globalised world we are seeing emerge – it makes more sense to link together as strongly as possible; to build new systems & services from the ground we are standing on.

What do you want your life to look like? What are your personal priorities? What are your needs?