The Wild Initiative

Today was the day that the Electoral Commission published the final election results after counting all the special votes, and confirming the counts made on election night. There were some changes from election night. One National Party MP who on election night was ahead by a small margin, has been overtaken by the Labour candidate on special votes. The final party vote (NZ has MMP, with some MPs chosen from the Party lists depending on the proportion of the vote the party gets) took two places from National with one going to Labour and the other to the Maori Party. The Maori Party won an electorate seat and therefore did not have to reach the 5% threshold to get List MPs, and on specials gained enough extra votes to qualify for two MPs. A fantastic result for them, and sure to be good for Parliament and the country.

I have added as an extra, a screenshot from my iPad of the final result for the Kelston electorate. This result was achieved by J without active personal campaigning (working only for the Party, and doing that successfully), is sure to raise her profile in the area, and is a big step along to being elected to the City Council in two years.

This afternoon I went to Grey Lynn Park. My blip is of the bank where a number of large trees were felled a few moths ago. As can be seen, more trees have been planted, although they have a lot of growing to do. The small sign idenitifies that the bank will n longer be mowed, as a joint effort by Council and The Wild Initiative to restore a more natural habitat, and prevent water and soil run off. Children will love playing on this bank now, and in the future when it will be even more complex and exciting