Waitematā Local Board has bid farewell to long-serving member Richard Northey, who is retiring at the end of this electoral term.
Richard has served 46 years in the public sector, 38 of them as an elected member.
Completing three years on the inaugural Auckland Council as a councillor and nine years on the Waitematā Local Board, as well as service for Auckland City Council and central government, he helped achieve some significant outcomes for Tāmaki Makaurau.
These include the Aotea Centre, major extensions to the central library and the art gallery, the creation of Q Theatre, Te Rimutahi public space in Ponsonby and some notable facilities in the Maungakiekie-Tāmaki area.
A champion of the arts, culture, equal rights and opportunities, community development, peace, and the environment, Richard speaks of his less visible achievements too. They include the disability rights policy he drafted when he was first elected to central government in 1979, the arts and culture policy, the annual Auckland Arts Festival, Auckland achieving age-friendly city status, adopting the international convention on the rights of women, and becoming a city of peace.
During the local board’s final business meeting before the October local government elections, Auckland Council chief executive Phil Wilson acknowledged the significance of Richard’s contribution.
Speaking of Richard’s time across all his roles in council, Phil described him as “diligent”.
“When you chaired the policy committee it was apparent to all of us the depth of thinking that you brought to the table in terms of those policy matters, always thoughtful,” says Phil.
“Kia kaha, go well.”
Richard reflects on what it means to represent his constituents, saying:
“As elected members in our governance role, we need to work to make the best decisions for our communities both for now and in the future; not coming from anecdotes, but using researched evidence, proven scientific data, and the expertise available from our committed council staff, as well as the views from the broader diverse spectrum of views in our communities. And we should also be committed to the policies and values that we campaigned on.”
Throughout his public life, Richard feels he has done his best to live his values, including his belief in “the equal and wonderful value of every human being”.
Fellow elected members thanked Richard for his contribution to the board, and remembered the ways he had acted as a mentor to many of them over the years.
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