Kia ora Raglan / Whāingaroa community. I, Fred Lichtwark, am standing on behalf of you for Waikato Regional Council
This will be my third term , it takes at least two terms to understand the complexities of Waikato Regional Council whose main role is to manage our natural resources.
I was born in Raglan at our then Raglan Maternity Hospital. I went to school here at our Raglan Area school.
I went farming on leaving school, then working on a trawler out of Raglan. Then travelled the world as a white-water river guide. Returning 30 years ago I decided I needed to clean up our then dirty harbour, it was dying.
I created Whāingaroa Harbour Care 27 years ago, started the plant nursery, collected local seed, grown and planted almost 2.5 million trees, and still planting with the help of our rural community, changed a landscape, returning life to our Harbour.
The most important thing to me now is heading off climate change, being smart about doing that, while still improving biodiversity, water quality, and water security .
And in doing that, creating employment opportunities for our youth, not just relying on Council to do it, by over-charging us in rates for what can be done cheaper and better by our communities.
Now I have the political experience and can walk the talk when it comes to environmental restoration. I think I am in the best position now to make positive change for us .
